Improve my memory, improve my me????, inprove. Sheesh, my memory is going. Improving your memory is a big preoccupation of a lot of people. Most of the time, we hear about folks with Alzheimer’s disease trying to find ways to improve memory, but in reality almost everyone wants a memory boost now and then. I first tried to improve my memory when I was in college. I had pretty poor study habits and very difficult classes, which resulted in me having to cram a lot for last-minute exams. Usually I would do well, but sometimes I would completely blank out on something. I never knew when it was going to come, and sometimes the results could be disastrous.
There were many different strategies I would try to improve my memory. One of the first ones I tried was getting a little bit of exercise and eating better. This did make a difference in the short run, but it wasn’t really all that sustainable. I simply had too much to do. I couldn’t exercise every day, and sometimes I had to grab meals at the last minute – Ramen noodles, refrigerator meals, and such. Anyway, even when I did use these tactics it didn’t always improve my memory that much. I knew I needed something more powerful.
There are many different folk beliefs about improving your memory, and all of them seem to have some merit. One way I tried to improve my memory was by taking health supplements. I increased my intake of vitamin B and certain amino acids meant to boost memory performance. This did seem to have some effect, and overall I was retaining knowledge much more efficiently. I still did have those occasional freak out when I forget everything, but they were less frequent.
I also tried to improve my memory by studying more efficiently. This may seem obvious to some people, but for me it wasn’t. You see, I had always bad that study habits and made up for it by my high intelligence. I could study at the last minute lying on my bed with my books scattered all over the place and still generally do well. I soon found out that when I studied in a more systematic way, however, I would do even better.
The one method that really improved my memory more than anything else was getting enough sleep. It started when I crashed out two days before a test. I had intended to use the whole time studying, but I was just too exhausted. I slept for something like 16 hours and woke up more refreshed than I had been feeling in months. I was surprised by how efficiently my mind seemed to be working and, sure enough, I remembered everything I needed to for that test.
