8/14/2019 10. Drink in Moderation

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/10-drink-in-moderation 1/10

 

10. Drink in ModerationBefore you settle in to read this article, you may want to get yourself a glass of wine. Surprised that suchdebauchery begins our list of memory improvers? Well, hear us out. Memory and alcohol have an interestingrelationship.

Stockbyte/Getty ImagesCheers to your health!

First off, you'll notice we didn't advocate bringing the entire bottle back with you. Too much drinkinghandicaps the memory, as anyone who's ever woken after a binge with a fuzzy recollection of the nightbefore can attest. And one component of a DUI test shows how overconsumption of alcohol can immediatelyaffect the brain: Even simple mental tasks like counting backward and reciting the alphabet can becometricky under the influence. Alcohol abuse will have a negative effect on the cells of the brain related to

memory.But as long as you're not pregnant and able to maintain control of how much you drink, there's evidence thatlight to moderate alcohol consumption can improve memory and cognition. Though more research needs tobe done, some studies have found that moderate drinkers do better on certain tests of memory andcognition than nondrinkers and heavy drinkers [sources: Victoroff , Minerd]. There may be some long-termeffects as well. A French study that followed almost 4,000 people over the age of 65 found that light drinkers,who consumed up to two glasses of wine a day, were 45 percent less likely to develop Alzheimer's diseasethan nondrinkers [source: Victoroff ].

But as we said, don't start tipping back beverages if you have certain risk factors, such as a family history of alcoholism. No one is recommending that teetotalers start drinking, either. Resveratrol, one of theflavonoids in red wine that's believed to have special benefits for blood vessels, is also in red grape juice.

If you tend to drink when you're sad, head to the next page for some information on how your blues affectyour brain.

9. Seek Treatment for DepressionAnything that causes major stress in life, including anxiety or  anger , will eventually eat away at the parts of the brain that are responsible for memory. Chief among these stressors is major  depression. Depression isoften misidentified as a memory problem since one of the main symptoms of the condition is an inability to

8/14/2019 10. Drink in Moderation

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/10-drink-in-moderation 2/10

concentrate. If you can't concentrate on schoolwork or the information needed to complete a task on the job,then you may feel as if you're constantly forgetting things. As it is, you're not even able to concentrate longenough to learn them in the first place.

altrendo images/Altrendo/Getty ImagesCan't concentrate at work? It may be depression.

Depression causes an increase of cortisol levels in the bloodstream, which in turns elevates the amount of cortisol in the brain. With the help of brain imaging devices, doctors have been able to see how thatincreased cortisol diminishes certain brain areas, chief among them the hippocampus [source: Tan]. Onestudy showed that people who had been depressed, even if it was years ago, had suffered a 12 to 15percent loss in the hippocampus [source: Victoroff ]. Since the hippocampus is the clearing center for short-term memory, prolonged depression demolishes the brain's ability to remember anything new.

Additionally, depression affects the types of things a person is able to remember. While everyone's brain isselective about which memories make it into long-term storage, people with depression seem only able toretain negative memories [source: Crook]. That means there's a neurological reason why a person with

depression remains obsessed with the one time a loved one forgot a birthday or anniversary, even if it wasremembered every other year.

But happy memories needn't be lost forever to someone battling depression. Medications for depression,including selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), have been shown to jump-start the process of cellregeneration in the hippocampus [source: Tan].

The next item on our list can help fight depression while it improves memory as well.

8. Get Moving

8/14/2019 10. Drink in Moderation

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/10-drink-in-moderation 3/10

Ariel Skelley/Photographer's Choice RR/Getty ImagesA brisk walk can be the best exercise for your brain.If you've ever taken a break from work or studying to take a quick walk around the block, you mayunderstand the rationale for this next tip. Exercise not only exercises the body, it exercises the brain as well.

Obesity is a risk factor for many diseases and conditions that eventually wreak havoc on the brain, includingstroke and Alzheimer's disease. Without regular exercise, plaque builds up in the arteries and blood vesselslose the ability to pump blood effectively. While you may know how plaque buildup leads to heart attacks,you may not think about the way your brain is gasping for breath as well.

The brain depends on energy received through a constant intake of oxygen and nutrients from thebloodstream, and when those nutrients don't arrive, the brain's ability to work is compromised. So to keepthe blood moving to the brain, you're going to need to get up from your chair (after you finish reading thisarticle, of course) and get the blood pumping. It doesn't matter what you do -- a brisk walk, a swim and evena dance move or two can all provide a good mental workout. Studies show that the more physically active aperson is, the greater his or her cognitive performance [source: Victoroff ].

Keep a lookout on your brisk walk for interesting images -- you'll need them for the memory tip on the nextpage.

7. Visualization and AssociationA picture's worth a thousand words, as the saying goes, so turning a list of random words into images mayhelp you remember the words better. Explaining this method works best by example, so let's say that youneed to remember that a parent-teacher conference is taking place at three in the afternoon. Take a momentand think of a visual image for three -- let's say that you and your son just love reading the story of the

"Three Little Pigs." Visualize those three little pigs. To remember what exactly you have to do at three,picture your son's teacher cavorting with the pigs out in a meadow. Sometimes, the more unique the image,the easier it will be to remember. Here's another example: say you place your eyeglasses on the kitchentable. When you do so, imagine your eyeglasses eating all the food on the table. Later, when you'rewondering where your glasses are, your brain has this image in the bank.

8/14/2019 10. Drink in Moderation

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/10-drink-in-moderation 4/10

Insy Shah/Gulfimages/Getty ImagesTrying to remember to pick up butter before much more time flies by? Visualize butterflies!You can use visualization to remember an entire list of things if you associate the images together. Say thatyou need to remember to take the following things to your SAT exam: a No. 2 pencil, a calculator, your IDand a snack for the break. You can create a visualization that links all of the images together in a ridiculousstory. Picture your pencil as a snake, curving itself into the number two. That snake just loves calculators, soit winds itself around the calculator, using its hissing tongue to press the buttons. When the snake pushesone of the calculator buttons, the calculator turns into a camera and snaps the snake's picture for an IDphoto. All of this calculating and picture-taking has worn the snake out, so it wants a snack of pretzels.

Sure, it sounds bizarre, but you can't deny that it also sounds fun. Visualization is at the root of many of thememory tips left to go on our list, so go ahead and practice by visualizing yourself heading to the next pagefor another memory tip.

6. Pay AttentionEight seconds is more than just a length of time that bull riders try to stay atop a bucking bronco, it's theamount of time you need to completely focus your attention upon something to effectively transfer it fromshort- to long-term memory [source: Crook]. No matter how wonderfully you can conjure up entertaining anduseful visualizations for incoming information, the skill will be useless if you're not paying attention to whatyou need to remember in the first place.

8/14/2019 10. Drink in Moderation

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/10-drink-in-moderation 5/10

Purestock/Getty ImagesIf you pay attention when you meet someone, you have a better chance of remembering a new name.Sometimes we can't remember things because we never got the information into the memory bank to beginwith. Like an absent-minded professor, we all have moments where we put down keys or an important bookwithout noticing. Or we scribble phone numbers or one-word reminders on Post-It notes, thinking that's allthe information we'll need later. However, without paying attention to why you need the information and itsvalue to you, that Post-It is useless.

Try to stay in the present and really pay attention to the task at hand, whether it's learning new informationfor a job or meeting new people. Minimize distractions such as music, television or cell phones to focus fully.One way to stay mindful of even the smallest actions is to repeat aloud what you're doing; as you take off your eyeglasses, say aloud "I am putting my glasses on the kitchen counter." While talking to yourself mayfeel awkward, you'll be grateful to find your glasses easily later.

When meeting new people, we can often be more obsessed with how we look and the impression we'remaking than truly paying attention to the other person. Simply staying focused will boost your ability to

remember the names of new people. But we're not done with faces and names yet. Since that area istroublesome for so many people, the next tip is all about using some of these techniques to attend partieswith ease.

5. The Name GameThis memory tip builds upon many of the tips we've learned so far. When you meet a new person, it'simportant to pay attention to the name and the face. As soon as you learn the name, repeat it back to theperson by saying, "Nice to meet you, so-and-so." It's not a cheap trick; researchers have found that peoplehave a 30 percent better chance of remembering a name when they repeat it as soon as they learn it[source: Herold].

8/14/2019 10. Drink in Moderation

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/10-drink-in-moderation 6/10

David De Lossy/Photodisc/Getty ImagesRemember a blond girl with a lamb and you're well on your way to remembering Katie Lambert.Then it's time to put those visualization and association skills to work. Let's say you're meeting a personnamed Katie Lambert, who just happens to be this humble writer's editor. First, you want to repeat the name,but you also want to start looking for identifying features that will help you with the visualization andassociation. Check out the person's hair, nose, mouth, cheeks and eyes. Katie has chin-length blond hair, soyou might take that feature and combine it with her last name, Lambert. Suddenly you're picturing littlelambs with blond hair frolicking about. You name one of those lambs Katie to help you with your image, butyou also take the "kat" from her first name and imagine little cats running around as well.

If you wanted another way to remember "Lambert," you could picture Katie on the "lam" with "Bert" from"Sesame Street." You could also use rhymes or a celebrity she resembles to make the association. If all elsefails, you could just focus on how you would describe her later to a police sketch artist if you were to hear that a girl named Katie Lambert had committed a crime. Whatever it takes to remember her name and facetogether.

But enough about a HowStuffWorks editor committing crimes! Let's head to the next page for another valuable memory tip.

4. ChunkingMaybe you have no problems remembering your grocery list or names and faces but you repeatedly stumbleover your PIN number, Social Security Number or license plate number. Chunking may be just the memory

method for you. You've used chunking if you've ever read off a phone number  as three sets of numbers asopposed to one long 10-digit number. Chunking puts a large amount of information into more manageablechunks so that you have less to remember.

8/14/2019 10. Drink in Moderation

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/10-drink-in-moderation 7/10

Martin Barraud/Iconica/Getty ImagesBreaking information into smaller chunks makes it easier to manage.Let's tease out the phone number example even further. Say you use this phone number every day but cannever remember it: 404-760-4729 (for the record, that's the main line at HowStuffWorks). First, the areacode -- do you love golf ? Picture hitting a golf ball twice; you might yell, "Fore! Oh! Fore!" Then let's say youhave seven children and you were born in 1960. By great coincidence, your soccer   jersey number was 47,and you'll never be able to forget that the Great Depression started in 1929. To remember how to callHowStuffWorks, you just need to think, "golf, kids, year born, soccer jersey, Great Depression." Make a funstory out of it: Golfing with the kids in the year I was born while wearing my soccer jersey was more fun thanthe Great Depression. You'll never forget how to call us again.

OK, maybe that's not the handiest way to remember our phone number. The associations made with certainnumbers will be different for everyone. What's important is to look for patterns and numbers associated withmemorable things for you. Then you can break a long list into more manageable chunks.

Chunking's not limited to remembering numbers, though. Anything can be reduced to smaller chunks. Say

that you need to send an e-mail to George, William, Greg, Jim and Jane. If you remember to invite the 2 G's,the 2 J's and one W, then you're set. If you have a long shopping list, try grouping it according to sections of the store, so that when you get to the dairy section, you'll know you have a few items to look out for.

Do you know your way around the local grocery store by heart? You may be able to put that knowledge touse with our next tip.

3. Method of LociThe earliest recorded mnemonic device comes from Ancient Greece. One night, a poet named Simonideswas called upon to recite a poem at a banquet. By some stroke of luck, Simonides briefly left the banquethall, right when the entire building collapsed. Because the bodies of those that remained inside were sobadly mangled, Simonides identified the dead for their families by recalling where people were sitting at thetime of the accident. This memory device of associating things with a place or location became known asthe method of loci, and it was all the rage for teaching in Ancient Greece. If you've ever said, "in the firstplace" or "in the second place" when rattling off a list, then you're using a modern derivative of the method of loci.

8/14/2019 10. Drink in Moderation

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/10-drink-in-moderation 8/10

Phillip Jarrell Photographer/Taxi/Getty ImagesUse your familiarity with a place like the bus stop to remember other information.In using the method of loci, you're essentially piggybacking the information you need to remember on top of information that would be near impossible for you to forget. For example, it would be hard for you to forget abus or  subway route you use every day, or the setup of your own house. If you select between five to sevenlocations on these routes or in these places, you can use the landmarks to remember a list of errands byusing the visualization methods we discussed earlier.

For example, let's say that you've selected places you pass daily on your commute to the office. You driveby a large yellow house, a fast food chicken restaurant and a tire shop. You need to remember to stop by thestore to get detergent, bread and orange juice. For each familiar place, visualize an association with an itemon the list. You could envision the detergent dripping down the sides of the yellow house, making the yelloweven brighter. You picture the chickens eating pieces of bread thrown to them in their chicken coops, andyou could imagine tires trying to move through a rising river of orange juice. You can expand the list withmore landmarks as needed, and then when you arrive at the store, you just pull up this route information andthink of your visualizations.

For another tip that uses familiar spaces with a twist, go on to the next page.

2. Use Your EnvironmentTying a string around your finger to remember something has become a bit of punchline, but the reasoningfor it makes sense. By putting something in your environment slightly askew, you create a visual reminder for yourself. The key, as with other methods, is to take the time to create a strong visualization for whythere's a string around your finger before you mindlessly tie it on.

You can use other things in your environment as well. If you don't want to invest in string just yet, you couldswitch a ring, bracelet or watch from one hand to the other as needed to remember things. For example, if you needed to remember a doctor's appointment, you could visualize a large wristwatch wrapped around

8/14/2019 10. Drink in Moderation

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/10-drink-in-moderation 9/10

your doctor. If it bothers you too much to switch hands, try just turning the watch upside down or switching aring so the stone points downward.

Zia Soleil/Iconica/Getty ImagesPutting a pony in your bedroom may be an extreme example of using your environment to remember 

something, but an object slightly out of place can serve as a helpful reminder.There are other things you can manipulate in your environment as well. If you wake up in the middle of thenight with a thought you don't want to forget, make an association with something on your nightstand, like analarm clock or a book. Then place the object on the floor. The next morning, when you trip over the item onyour floor, you can bring up the visualization. You can also move furniture slightly if that helps. If you havetrouble remembering to take morning medications, place your  toaster on its side. When you stand it back upagain, you can take your medications, enjoy some toaster waffles and then return the appliance back to itssideways position in preparation for the next morning. Move your telephone from one side of the desk to theother, depending on whether you have phone calls to return.

You could also place things that need to leave the house on the floor in front of the door to serve as an

obvious reminder, or you could make use of the doorknob itself by hanging things on it. For example, if youreturn from home day after day without the dry cleaning you meant to pick up, place an empty hanger on thedoor. Put it on the front seat of the car, and it will serve as a daylong reminder of an errand you need to run.

Practice using your environment right now: Click "next page" to see our last tip for memory.

1. Practice Makes PerfectMaybe you're thinking that some of the tips in this article sound a bit too easy. And that's the beauty of them-- but to get the full benefit, you're going to have to practice. Not everyone immediately begins creatinghelpful visualizations or using the method of loci to remember things, but when your brain becomes trainedto think that way, it will become easier.

8/14/2019 10. Drink in Moderation

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/10-drink-in-moderation 10/10

Paul Bradbury/OJO Images/Getty ImagesIf you can't remember that grocery list, your memory skills may just need more practice.You can look at almost anything as a chance to practice these memory tips. If you're out to eat at arestaurant, randomly assign the people around you a name. Introduce yourself to them in your head andgive them identifying features. Enjoy your appetizer, then look back around to see how many names youremember. It can also make the time fly by when you're standing in line at the bank or waiting in a doctor'soffice. You can do the same things with people in newspapers or magazines.

Speaking of newspapers and magazines, you can practice your ability to pay attention by reading an articleand then explaining the article to someone else. Do you have all the details down, or do you need to paybetter attention when you're reading? After enjoying your favorite television program, see if you canremember the outfits that various characters wore throughout the show. If you can remember the smalldetails, then your memory is getting good exercise.

One of the simplest ways to practice these methods is to teach them to someone else. By explaining withexamples, you'll be reinforcing them in your brain.

If you want to practice your ability to pay attention to what you're reading, there are plenty of great articleson memory and the brain for you to use on the next page.