Memory is fundamentally a buildable skill that can be trained, much like learning to drive or ride a bicycle, according to Sania Alam, founder of the US-based memory-training organization Futuristic Learning. Alam, who has coached athletes to set six Guinness World Records, notes that today’s environment is uniquely challenging for memory retention. The constant bombardment of information, combined with the rapid rise of social media and AI, often leaves the mind fragmented and overwhelmed. According to but the times we are living in are not conducive to maintaining a strong memory. “We are in an age where we are bombarded with information,”, Alam. “At the same time, AI has come in, and social media is growing. Black-cab taxi drivers learning routes in London have shown that the hippocampus actually increases in volume. According to gruneberg, who is 86,, To always make a note of appointment times. “There is something called ‘prospective memory’ that does not improve, to say the least.
Professor Barbara Sahakian, a psychiatry expert at the University of Cambridge and co-author ofBrain Boost: Healthy Habits for a Happier Lifeemphasizes that the most effective way to protect cognitive function is by keeping the brain active through constant learning. In a 1995 study published in the British Medical Journal alongside Martin Orrell, Sahakian argued for the importance of continuous mental engagement to reduce dementia and Alzheimer’s risks, famously characterizing the need as a choice between “use it or lose it.” In 1995, Sahakian published an article in the British Medical Journal with Martin Orrell, emphasising the need to learn new things to reduce the risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s – in other words “use it or lose it”. “Keeping our brains active through learning and remembering, we drive the neural circuits and keep them functioning better for longer,” she says. “Studies with medical students studying for exams and. A common example is “Richard of York gave battle in vain” for remembering the order of colours in the light spectrum (and the rainbow).
You do not need an expensive, intensive course to see improvements; simply picking up a book is a scientifically backed approach. Sahakian notes that reading both fiction and nonfiction has proven benefits for brain cognition and mood. However, technology often disrupts this by forcing us to multitask. “We are rapidly switching our attention from one thing to the next,” she explains. This constant shifting impairs our ability to focus, making it difficult to concentrate when deep work or sustained memory retention is required. All of these things are ageing our brains. So that you can start using your own brain instead of relying on gadgets, because these days we can’t even memorise our own number, let alone an emergency contact.”, how can we tackle this? “My suggestion would be to get your hands on any course that teaches you memory techniques. Experiments have shown that students who have mobile phones in class do not perform as well in tests; even having a mobile phone that was off next to you acts as a distractor of your attention.”. Thinking of a route that you know well and placing things to remember along that route, is really helpful with recalling a shopping list, for example. “You put the first item in your driveway, then the, in everyday life. The goddess Venus clears it all up and puts it into a bag and throws it. According to it lands on the Earth … It goes on like that, making each planet into an object or a person, and making them into a story, so they link from one to the next,”, Kermode. “In competitions we memorise thousands of digits, which I couldn’t just naturally do by sitting and repeating them to myself. Two looks like a swan, so 2 October could be a swan sitting on a pumpkin, if you’re trying to remember a number. And it should be quite detailed, so you can imagine things happening inside it, it should be related to it. For instance, for GCSE biology, one of the topics is platelets.
Memory champion Katie Kermode, who has held numerous world titles since entering competitions in 2008, insists that mastery is not a result of magic, but of specific technical practice.
She frequently utilizes the “journey” technique, which involves mapping out known routes to store information. By mentally placing items—such as a grocery list—along a familiar path, the brain can more easily retrieve the data. This builds upon the “memory palace” method rooted in the work of Ancient Greek poet Simonides of Ceos and championed by the late expert Tony Buzan. Similarly, you can create a “memory palace”, which has its roots in the work of the Ancient Greek poet Simonides of Ceos and was more recently popularised by the memory expert Tony Buzan, who died in 2019. “I tend to use. When trying to memorise something, Kermode advises using the journey technique, which she learned when she was nine to memorise the order of the planets in the solar system. “A thermometer breaks, and the silver Mercury goes everywhere. And I thought of a dinner table, i thought of plates.
Kermode uses visualization to turn abstract concepts into tangible objects. For example, to recall a birthday in October, she might visualize a pumpkin. For numbers, she treats the numeral two like a swan, potentially visualizing a swan perched atop that pumpkin. She also champions “spaced repetition,” a method of reviewing material at increasing intervals to move information into long-term memory. However, she remains practical about daily reliance on tools, admitting she uses alarms regularly to track appointments. Here, memory experts share their advice on how to improve your power of recall.
For those preparing for academic tasks, former Swansea University psychology lecturer Dr. Michael Gruneberg suggests using acronyms and mnemonics. He advocates for reading a topic thoroughly before selecting several key points to compress into an easily recalled phrase. Kermode further suggests utilizing digital slide decks to organize complex subjects, assigning distinct, detailed backgrounds to each subtopic to act as a visual anchor in the mind. Too. “Each topic of your speech can be in a different location, and if you’ve got sub-points to make within that topic, you can visualise that within the location, it can be used for remembering a speech or presentation. Choose a background for the slide that represents that topic.
Flashcards serve as a valid tool, yet Kermode warns they are often misused. Many people rely on them solely for review rather than using proper memorization techniques to encode the information initially. Above all, researchers agree that physical rest is a non-negotiable factor. “Sleep is really important for your brain to work in an efficient way,” says Kermode, adding that sleep deprivation significantly hampers the ability to memorize new information quickly. According to a lot of people aren’t good at visualising,, Kermode.
Alam agrees, noting that “brain fog” is a direct consequence of skipping necessary rest, as the body’s circadian rhythm is designed around natural sleep cycles. When struggling to commit new data to memory, Alam recommends incorporating regular naps. This allows the brain the essential time it needs to process, categorize, and store information, ensuring it remains accessible whenever it is required.
