Perhaps there was a time when we did not need memory skills, but I don't think that time is now. Whether you are a Boomer, a Senior Citizen, middle aged, building a career, or a student, the flood of information is overwhelming, and sorting straight through it and choosing what to try and commit to memory does take a skill all of its own.
My brain is 62 and I have noticed that it occasionally doesn't recall just the right word for the information that I want to convey, which worries me.
I do not want that normal aspect of Boomer life and function to grow into anyone other than an occasional Senior Moment, so I am finding into memory skills.
As an undergraduate I read the Harry Lorayne materials because I wanted to find a way to get good grades without any work, so I could party more.
Unfortunately, those memory skill tactics did want an effort, so I never completed them.
In the interim, however, researchers have discovered some things about the human brain which apply directly to our memory skills.
The first of those capacities, which we can improve by the way, is called neurogenesis, which means we grow new neurons every day, and those new neurons migrate to the hippocampus, which is an leading part of the human memory apparatus.
Not sure about you, but I think bigger is best when it comes to your brain and its memory skills, and the other other human brain capacity which is understood more clearly now is neuroplasticity, which is the term used to tell what happens in the middle of neurons when they learn something new.
Neuroplasticity can happen within minutes of new learning, but the brain is an energy effective organ, and it will delete circuits and connections that are dormant, so quarterly practice of studying is required.
Enhance Memory Skills, Neuroplasticity, and Neurogenesis?
We can improve neurogenesis and neuroplasticity it turns out, by taking care of what the experts are calling the pillars of brain fitness, which are corporal activity/exercise, cusine along with getting your brain lots of antioxidants and omega 3 fatty acid, good sleep, effective stress management, and novel studying experiences, which is the pillar where we may be able to use computerized brain fitness programs effectively.
The brain fitness experts say that the novel studying sense pillar should consist of experiences like studying a new language or a new musical instrument, because the expanding level of complexity and opening for about 80% literal, answers during practice optimizes neuroplasticity and neurogenesis.
Not sure about you, but I do not have a lot of time ready for a studying a new language. I struggle with my kids jargon, let alone Spanish, so I have looked into the computerized brain fitness programs as an alternative to languages and instruments, in part because of my victorious experiments with tools like Eeg Biofeedback and heart rate variability biofeedback, and what I read in a very spirited e-book called Brainfit for Life.
The authors discuss study on the dual n back task which increases fluid intelligence, which seems to me like the intelligence we use to discriminate in the middle of competitive factiods.
So I went finding for a version of the dual in back to try out, and I highly recommend that you try it.
It is addictive and frustrating, and it will quickly teach you how fast your concentration wanders from the task at hand, and as you move straight through the varied challenges, I guarantee that you will notice an revision in your memory skills.
Having discovered Brainfit For Life I began to look for other programs, and discovered the work of Michael Merzenich,Ph.D. Who is one of the world's leading experts on neuroplasticity, and he has put together some computerized programs that have had an excellent impact on the memory skills of Senior Citizens and Senior citizen Drivers.
If you have tried a memory skills schedule prior to your exposure to one of the computerized programs, I know you will like the short practice, which is also engineered to keep your concentration focused while you work on the neurons in the memory skills circuitry.
It is a relief not to have to practice all those associations and mnemonics.
Hope you enjoy.
