How to Make New Memories Stick
Recalling an event, person or experience you hadn’t thought about in years can be very satisfying. But how do you keep new memories from slipping away and requiring extra effort to extract them years from now?
One way to make sure your brain processes and stores new information for easy retrieval is to maintain your physical health, says neurologist Alessandro Biffi, MD, who heads the Aging and Brain Health Research Group at Massachusetts General Hospital. The state of your physical and psychological health when a memory is being made will also impact its durability. “Optimal health makes it more likely for memory to be stored,” Dr. Biffi says. “That includes being well rested and managing your stress. That means the brain is more likely to store new information and have the ability to retrieve it later.”
That’s good advice, and there are other things to keep in mind as you try to manage your daily supply of new facts, figures, names and other details you don’t want to lose.
Store as You Go
As you acquire new memories that you don’t want to lose, make a concerted effort to preserve them in photos, journal entries, and even songs. Think of how you learned your ABC’s—in a song (that sounded suspiciously like “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”). Matching new information with a familiar melody or using other mnemonic devices can be helpful.
Noting in a calendar or planner a bit of information you want to hold onto can be very helpful. At the end of the year, you’ll have a nice record of the people you met or the places you visited—all of which will serve as cues to keep those memories alive.
Talk About It
Dr. Biffi explains that simply spending more time thinking and talking about what you’ve learned can help reinforce it and make it more easily recalled. “It helps to be proactive about learning,” he says, suggesting that the more you can contextualize new information and break it down, perhaps combine it with well-established memories, the greater the odds that you will remember it.
As part of this process, you can always quiz yourself on what you’ve learned or think about how the information might connect to something else you already know. Quizzing yourself and linking new information to old are two tried and true methods of making new memories stick.
Other Memory Tips
Other strategies to help you store new information include:
Establish routines. This applies more to remembering where you left your keys and that sort of thing. Putting things in the same place or following a routine to make sure the stove is off and the doors are locked will help ensure that you don’t forget a thing.
Review new information. The more you remind yourself of what you’ve learned or re-learn it, the better the chances are that you will memorize it.
Eat a brain-boosting diet. Foods with lots of antioxidants and other nutrients to support brain function include blueberries, salmon, broccoli, and green tea.
Get enough sleep. If you’re not getting at least seven to eight hours a night, review your sleep hygiene routine or consider seeing a sleep specialist. Sleep is a highly active time for the brain to process and store information, while also clearing out unneeded data.
The simple recipe for keeping your brain sharp enough to recall both old and new information is to maintain a healthy lifestyle and keep your brain engaged. Learn new things and challenge your mind every day to keep your cognitive skills strong for as long as possible. MMM
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