Improve Your Memory

Ever since I entered college, I have been obsessed with improving memory. You see, I am pretty intelligent, but my memory has never matched my other intellectual skills. Normally, as soon as I finish studying for a test, I forget the information. If I am determined enough, I can keep it in to my mind for as long as it takes to pass the exam, but for no longer. Unfortunately, in college there is much more material to memorize than there ever was before. I barely made it through my first semester because I kept forgetting facts. I feared that if I didn't find a way to improve memory, I would probably fail a few classes. That was definitely something I did not want to do.

There are all kinds of different ways to improve your memory – so many that it is hard to remember all of them! Basically, they all break down into a few simple categories. You can improve memory through supplements, through mental exercises, and through self hypnosis. Many people start with supplements because they promise to improve memory with no work on your part. Unfortunately, they rarely deliver. I know that I was unable to improve my memory by taking these pills. All I did was waste money that I could have spent on memory improvement books.

Those books were quite a bit more successful. Although they take a long time to improve memory, they do eventually work. They have a lot of interesting techniques in them based on the way that memory works. If you can list things in different ways in your head, you can take advantage of the way that memory tends to group multiple pieces of data together. For example, if you can remember facts in chunks of three or four together, you can fit much more into your brain at once. The techniques are explained in simple ways that allow you to practice them over and over again until you get them right. Although these books don't deliver on improving your memory overnight like they say they will, they still do help in the long run.

Of course, the most novel way to improve working memory is through self hypnosis. A lot of companies sell hypnosis tapes they claim will help you improve memory by reprogramming your brain To function in a more efficient way. This is almost entirely nonsense. Although in theory hypnosis works, in practice you would be much better to work on improving short term memory through exercises.

Copyright 2007, Free News Desk