Imagine having all of your memories vanish one by one, until you are essentially much like a over-sized newborn baby. Alzheimer’s disease is a disease that affects a persons memory, and can be devastating to the diagnosed loved-one’s family. This article will give you and your family some tips for coping with the emotional stress involved with this disease.
When trying to commit a large amount of information to memory, having several shorter study sessions is significantly better than having one long study session. The reason for this is that it takes several separate instances of reviewing the material in order to commit the material to long term memory. Holding the information in long term memory will allow you to more readily recall the information than if it was stored in short term memory.
Exercise your brain. Using your memory and other thought provoking functions of your brain daily, will help keep your mind and your memory sharp. Do puzzles, drive a different way to work and memorize something every day. You will see an improvement quickly and less of a decline as time moves on.
If you want to have a better long-term memory, then you need to get in the practice of regular stretching and other exercise. These exercises keep the brain’s arteries open, and this is important because the brain is responsible for 15 percent of your body’s blood flow. Stretching also increases energy, flexibility and relaxation, which all help towards improved long-term memory as well.
Like an actor does before putting on a play, rehearsing what you learn is a great way to improve your memory. If you are attempting to study, recite the problems and answers aloud, and you will absorb the information easier, and ultimately, retain it more efficiently. This is a great way to improve your overall memory.
A useful memory tip for anyone needing to recall particular types of information, is to work on minimizing distractions in your surroundings. Competing stimuli can actually impede recollection and prevent easy access to stored information. By seeking peace and quiet, it will be easier to retrieve the desired data from your mind.
Improve memory with mnemonics. Use an acronym to remember lists of related things. For example, ‘Homes’ is used to remember the names of the Great Lakes: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie and Superior. The first letter of the words in a sentence can represent a list of letters that you have to remember. For example, “Every good boy does fine” can be used to memorize the notes on the lines of a treble clef: E,G,B,D and F.
Just like a muscle, with your brain it is use it or lose it. Constantly train and exercise your brain to stave off cognitive decline. Do word searches, sudoku, and crossword puzzles to keep your brain active. In this way you will surely slow down memory loss, and keep your brain’s skills sharp.
When you’re having trouble remembering something, like when you’ve been studying for too long and can’t focus on the information anymore, try getting outside and taking a walk or jog. This will help you clear your head and get more oxygen pumping to your brain, thus letting your brain work at a higher capacity.
If you find that you are losing things as soon as you set them down, try dedicating a spot to them. Make sure that you are putting your keys in the same spot every day. Make a spot for your glasses or the book you are reading. If you make a habit of putting everything in its place, forgetting where they are won’t be a problem.
Utilize all of your senses. You may have already heard that smell is a powerful sense in relation to your memory. This is true. When trying to recall something, don’t just look for a picture of it in your mind. Try to remember how it smelled or felt or even tasted.
Keep lists and write things down but do it in the appropriate place. Keep your addresses and phone numbers written down in a contact book, but keep your shopping list on a specific notepad on the fridge. The act of writing the list will help you remember those items, while knowing where the list is will keep you from forgetting that too!
If you are having a hard time remembering things, you may want to put information with a picture. For instance, say you want to remember where a certain store is and there is a big oak tree in front of me, tell your mind to think of the oak tree.
Use all of your senses to help your memorize. All of your senses use different portions of your brain, so you will not have to work as hard to recall the information. Visualize the item, smell it (if you can) and taste it (if it is food). The more effort you put into visualizing the object, the easier it will be to recall.
A common trend today is something called “brain training” which is the equivalent of exercise for the brain. Give it a try to improve your ability to focus, remember, and solve problems. The three basics of brain training are memory, visualization and reasoning. Do things that practice those three concepts to improve your brain’s functioning.
Try using mnemonic devices to aid in recall. A mnemonic is a way to remember information. One mnemonic is word association. Think of a word or phrase you are familiar with to remind yourself of the thing you wish to remember. Rhymes, songs, and humorous images make good mnemonics.
Many people use visualization to remember information. Try visualizing what you wish to remember, create mind pictures, draw diagrams or charts to aid in remembering information in textbooks or during lectures at school. The mind is very effective in remembering visual details and recalling images, even images long-forgotten.
As discussed in the beginning of this article, Alzheimer’s disease is a debilitating disease that affects your memory. Watching your mother or father’s memory, deteriorate in-front of your eyes, can be one of the most painful experiences that life has to offer. Apply the advice from this article to help you and your family cope with this devastating disease.
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