| How to Increase Your Short Term Memory Posted: 05 Aug 2021 01:00 AM PDT It's always frustrating to forget why you walked into a room, or to forget someone's name right after being introduced. Before worrying that annoyances like these are signs of a memory problem, try out some simple techniques that may naturally enhance your short term memory. And here's some more good news—the list of advice and tips provided below is a great place to start! [Edit]Focus on what you want to remember. - Focusing intently for 15-30 seconds may help the memory stick. Scientifically speaking, short term memory only lasts around 15-30 seconds—after that, the information is either discarded or moved to long term memory. Therefore, focusing closely on a new piece of info for 15-30 seconds can keep it in your short term memory and may help transfer it to your long term memory.[1]
- To remember the server's name at a restaurant, then, give them your full focus when they introduce themselves, then work to keep repeating and thinking about their name for around 15-30 seconds.
[Edit]Engage multiple senses. - Using your senses increases focus and builds memory-helping associations. When you meet someone new, listen carefully and look directly at them as they state their name. Repeat their name immediately afterward. Shake their hand and feel their grip. Even take notice of their perfume or cologne! The more sensory associations you build, the more firmly the memory is encoded.[2]
- Repeating a name, or anything else you want to remember, out loud is always a good way to help strengthen a particular short term memory. Listen to yourself saying the word or phrase, and keep doing so with regularity.
[Edit]Utilize mnemonic devices. - These visual and verbal techniques really help with multiple bits of information. Do you still remember learning "Roy G. Biv" in school to keep track of the order of colors in the rainbow? Mnemonic devices can really stick in your memory! Try constructing colorful, even silly visualizations or verbalizations to help encode a group of things in your short-term memory.[3]
- For instance, picture a pile of trash falling onto your head when the clock strikes six to remind you to take out the trash each evening.
- Or, if you're trying to remember the name of your new co-worker Peggy, imagine her dressed as a pirate with a "peg leg."
- Singing the "ABC Song" to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" is a familiar childhood mnemonic that uses an auditory cue. Mnemonic devices can use a wide range of number, color, and other cues.
[Edit]Try "chunking" items into groups. - Break up more complex things into manageable, organized pieces. Chunking is related to mnemonics and is the principle behind using hyphens to break up 10-digit phone numbers in the U.S.—remembering individual groups of 3, 3, and 4 numbers is easier than recalling a single string of 10. It works even better when you can create associations within each "chunk" — for instance, maybe the "3015" section of a phone number contains the jersey numbers of two of your favorite athletes.[4]
- Remembering a grocery list might be a challenge, but can be made more manageable by grouping the items by category—dairy, produce, meat, etc. Six smaller shopping lists is easier to recall than one larger one.
[Edit]Lay out structured associations. - Memorize the primary pieces of info and how the secondary pieces relate to them. In other words, prioritize remembering the most vital information, but also focus on memorizing the structure that connects this vital info to the less important material you also want to remember. Essentially you're creating a mental "bubble map"[5]—where the central bubble contains the main info and is connected by lines to surrounding bubbles containing supporting info.[6]
- For instance, say you're at a family reunion and are struggling to keep track of the names of four distant cousins, each of whom also has a spouse and kids. For each family group, commit the name of your cousin to memory first (the "central bubble"), then build associations ("lines") with that name to the names of the other family members (the "surrounding bubbles").
[Edit]Keep your brain active. - Regular mental stimulation may benefit your brain health and memory. Just like your muscles weaken from physical inactivity, brain inactivity may lead to mental decline. It stands to reason that a more active brain is likely to be a more healthy brain, and that having a healthy brain will benefit your short term memory.[7]
- The simple act of having a conversation with another person can benefit your brain health and memory. In addition to talking, consider playing chess, doing puzzles together, or engaging in other activities that challenge your brain to work harder.
- Stimulate your mind when you're alone as well. Instead of passively watching TV, try reading a book or writing a letter to an old friend.
[Edit]Try brain training exercises. - Brain training benefits can be overstated, but they may help with memory. There are countless brain training apps and programs out there, and some of them make memory-boosting claims that go well beyond any solid evidence. That said, it's reasonable for you to try several free or low-cost brain training options based on the possibility that they will benefit your short term memory.[8]
- When evaluating brain training apps and programs, look for ones that are affordable and that don't make outlandish claims.
- Ther memory benefits of DIY brain training options, like flash cards and puzzles, are also scientifically unclear—but they can be fun to do regardless! Consider giving the following a try:
- Memorize a string of cards in a deck of cards. See how far through the deck you can get!
- Have someone set a bunch of everyday items on a table. Look at the table for about 10 seconds, then turn around and see how many of the items you can recall.
[Edit]Eat a brain-healthy diet. - Healthy food choices are good for your brain and may improve your memory. By and large, the healthy, balanced diet you should strive to achieve for overall health is also what is needed for a healthy brain that is better primed to encode memories. Eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, add in lean proteins and whole grains, and cut back on saturated fats, sodium, and sugars.
- The MIND diet (which is a hybrid of the DASH diet and Mediterranean diet) appears to slow down cognitive decline. It prioritizes leafy vegetables, berries, nuts, olive oil, occasional fish consumption, and reduced red meat consumption.[9]
- Drink plenty of water as well. Dehydration negatively impacts the brain along with the rest of the body.
[Edit]Exercise regularly. - Exercise increases blood flow to your brain, which benefits it overall. Regular exercise, even as simple as walking, boosts the flow of blood—and with it, oxygen and nutrients—your brain needs to be healthy and strong. Moderate-intensity aerobic exercise, which gets your heart pumping faster and increases your breathing rate, even seems to increase the size of the part of your brain that's responsible for memory.[10]
- In general, adults should aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise per week for overall health benefits.
[Edit]Get adequate sleep. - Good sleep habits increase your focus and may help encode memories. It's easy to see how being tired and groggy makes it harder to remember things. On the other side of the coin, being alert and focused—thanks to getting adequate, high-quality sleep—improves your short term memory capabilities. In addition, research indicates that high quality sleep helps to encode existing memories so that they "stick" much better.[11]
- Sleep needs vary by person, but, in general, getting 7-9 uninterrupted hours of sleep each night will allow your brain and body to adequately rest and recharge.
[Edit]Address existing health issues. - Both illnesses and treatments for illness can impact your memory abilities. In the same way that a healthy body fosters a healthy mind and therefore healthy memory abilities, unhealthiness and illness can hamper your memory skills. Any circulatory problem that affects blood flow to the brain—high blood pressure, for instance—can have a negative effect on short term memory. But other conditions like diabetes, thyroid problems, cancers, and so on can likewise have an impact.[12]
- Depression can also negatively impact memory abilities, particularly because it can impede your ability to focus.
- Some medications are known to have short term memory problems as part of their side effects. Talk to your doctor if you're concerned that your medication may be a factor in your memory issues.
- While it's true that short term memory loss is one of the first signs of Alzheimer's disease, the significant majority of people with short term memory problems do not have that condition.
[Edit]Reduce your memory demands. - Tricks like taking notes help cut back on your memory workload. Simple techniques like jotting down notes, keeping a voice recorder handy, or tying strings on your fingers can really help you make it through your daily routines. Using them won't directly improve your short term memory, but they can reduce the demands on your memory and therefore reduce your chances of forgetting something.[13]
- Sometimes the best way to remember something is to let a sticky note or your smartphone calendar do the "remembering" for you!
[Edit]Related wikiHows - Your short term memory can be thought of as the "holding tank" your brain uses to temporarily hold information while determining whether to filter it out (and forget it) or move it along into your long-term memory.[14]
- While much remains to be discovered, some experts estimate that your short term memory can hold about 7 items of information at one time, for a period of time of typically 15-30 seconds.[15]
- If you're worried that you have a genuine memory-related issue, see your doctor. In the unlikely event that you are diagnosed with dementia or some other memory-robbing condition, nourish and exercise your brain and body, and work with your medical team to develop the best regimen of medications for your specific case.
[Edit]References [Edit]Quick Summary |
| How to Organize Books Posted: 04 Aug 2021 05:00 PM PDT If your books are starting to pile up all over the place or you find yourself perpetually digging through stacks looking for that novel you've been meaning to read, it may be time to reorganize. Luckily you have a ton of choices when it comes to how you organize and display your books. There are no right or wrong ways to do this, so feel free to try out several methods to see what feels right for you. You can even combine a handful of different organizational styles to create something totally unique to you! - Separating books by genre will make it easier for you to find books fast. You might have one shelf for romance novels, another for poetry collections, and a third for experimental fiction. By separating your shelves by genre, you'll build a mental map of where everything belongs. You also won't need to worry about putting books back in the perfect slot, since a book that belongs on a given shelf can go anywhere on that shelf.[1]
- This is a particularly good solution if you tend to go through phases in your reading where you get super into historical fiction one month, then move on to nonfiction science books another month, and so on.
- This may not be the best choice if a majority of your books fit into one genre. If you have 6 shelves worth of literary theory but only a handful of Greek plays, there won't be a ton of variation from shelf to shelf.
[Edit]Alphabetically - Sorting by the author's last name is a classic way to organize. If you have an especially large collection, sorting by author will make it a lot easier to locate a given book when you want it. Looking for a book written by James Joyce? Just find the "J" section! It doesn't get much easier than that.[2]
- If you struggle remembering names, this isn't going to be an ideal solution. You're probably going to end up spending more time digging than you'd like when it's time to grab a certain book.
- This may not be the best choice for you if the idea of Raymond Chandler mystery stories sitting on a shelf next to Noam Chomsky's political theory strikes you as a strange combination.[3]
- For a visually-striking look, organize your books by color! You could put all of your white books on one shelf, red books on another, followed by yellow, and so on. Alternatively, you could go for a "spectrum" look where your red books bleed into orange, yellow, green, blue, and black. This can make for a stunning display, and guests are sure to be impressed when they see your library![4]
- This is also a super good idea if you have a great visual memory and you don't have a lot of trouble remembering what book covers look like.
- While the rainbow-style of color organization is undoubtedly the most popular, you can absolutely play around with it. You could put patches of white books around your shelves, throw in some vertical stacks of red books, and throw some randomized rows in there.[5]
- If you don't have a very diverse collection cover-wise, or you've got a bunch of books with multicolored jackets, this may be a tough way to organize since your collection may look imbalanced or disorganized.
[Edit]Subject - For a narrower collection, arranging the books by subject makes sense. If you're a huge poetry buff, you could separate your Romantic collections, postmodern books, and objectivist poetry. If you're super into historical nonfiction, give World War 1 its own shelf, the Civil Rights Movement another shelf, and books about the United Nations in another area.[6]
- This is an especially good way to sort your collection if you have a massive interest in one particular type of literature, since you can break your organization down ever further as your library grows. Someone who reads a lot of scientific nonfiction might break it down further into books about genetics, books about hormones, and so on.
[Edit]Chronology - Sorting by publication date is a cool way to present a collection. People don't do this very often, but it may be neat to see history visualized on your bookshelves. You can start with the classics and work your way forward to keep the older books at the top of your shelves, or work from the present back so that your most modern books are the most visible.[7]
- This is an especially interesting way to arrange your books if you're a huge fan of history, or you own a lot of historical nonfiction.
- If your collection contains a ton of books from one period of history—like most of the books you own were printed after 1950, for example—this will be kind of tricky. You can do it, but you may need to reference the inside of each book's jacket to double-check the publication date, and this may not feel particularly intuitive.
- If you have any rare or unique books, put them at eye level. This way, when guests are perusing the titles sitting on your shelves, they'll see the most interesting books you own immediately. Organize the rest of your books from most interesting to least interesting, with the dullest books in your collection sitting at the bottom. This should also make it quite easy to remember where specific books are, since you'll have an intuitive sense for where you would have put each text.[8]
- If you just can't find a way to sort your books where your most interesting titles are the most visible, this is a great way to do it.
- You can even place a few plants or knick-knacks on your top shelves to separate unique mini-collections you own and want to highlight.
- You might have the first edition of each Harry Potter book up top, leaning against a plant, followed by a stack of Jane Austen novels from the early 1900s. By separating your books, they'll stand out even more on the shelves.[9]
[Edit]Personal Attachment - Put your favorites up top and your least favorites at the bottom. This is going to be totally subjective, but it may be fun to spend an evening taking the books down and appraising how you feel about it. Did a book radically change your life? Top shelf it goes! Do you only hold on to that dusty old etymological dictionary for reference purposes? Keep it on the bottom shelf.[10]
- If you have a really large collection of books, this may make it hard to keep track of where things are. However, you could combine this with a genre or subject style of organization to make it easier.
- For example, you could stack all of your poetry on the left side of every shelf, with your favorites on top, followed by nonfiction in the middle of each shelf, and fiction on the right side.[11]
[Edit]Utility - Put the books you use most often at eye level to grab them fast. Reserve the bottom shelf for books that you're extremely unlikely to revisit in the future. This is an especially good idea if you don't have a huge collection, since it won't take you very long to scan each shelf for the book you're looking for.[12]
- This is especially smart if you have a bunch of reference books because you're in medical or law school.
- For modular or asymmetrical shelves, you can sort by size for a unique take. Put all of your largest books on the shelf with the most vertical space. Place all of your smallest books together on the smaller shelves. Your collection will have an elegant Feng Shui where your shelves feel balanced and cleanly arranged.[13]
- You could also arrange them by height from left to right. Put your tallest books on the left side of each shelf and work your way down to the smallest books. This will create an interesting cascading effect on each of your shelves.[14]
- You can still do this if your shelves aren't modular or asymmetrical. Use a combination of vertical stacks of book and horizontal rows to group books of nearly-identical sizes together. This will have a unique aesthetic effect where your shelves look simultaneously uniform and varied.
[Edit]Acquisition Date - Do you forget to read all of the books you buy? Try this! Put your favorite childhood books all the way on the bottom right and start working your way up. At the top left of the shelving, place your newest purchases. This is the perfect solution if you buy a bunch of books at once and then forget to read them, since you'll always have that "to read soon" section sitting at the top left![15]
- Over time, you will eventually fill your shelves out with books arranged in the order you read them. How cool is that? You'll have this little visual record of your reading habits over the years!
- You don't have to store all of your books in one location. If you've got a particularly special set of books, or you want to spread them out around your house for decorative reasons, go for it! Each mantle, windowsill, and end table can be a place to showcase your collection.[16]
- If you don't own a large collection, you don't necessarily need to organize them using any kind of particular system.[17]
[Edit]Related wikiHows [Edit]References [Edit]Quick Summary |
| How to Sleep with Straight Hair Posted: 04 Aug 2021 09:00 AM PDT To make your straight hair look great when you wake up in the morning, you have a few easy bedtime options to experiment with. A very popular way to keep your hair straight overnight is by wrapping it in a silk or satin scarf. You can also try other techniques like sleeping on a silk or satin pillowcase, using products, or keeping your room cool. [Edit]Wrapping Straightened Hair - Apply an overnight protecting serum to your hair with your fingers. To help preserve your straightened hair, use an overnight serum that's low in alcohol and high in keratin protein to sleep in. Squeeze a dime-sized amount of serum onto your fingertips, and work the serum into your hair using downward strokes.
- Part your hair down the middle in the back. You will need to have your hair in 2 sections for this wrap technique. Use a comb or hair pick to make a part in the center back of your head. Tilt your head down, place your comb or at the back of your head and center it to create the part.
- If you have a side part in front, you can create a middle part there as well to have an equal amount of hair in both sections, but it's optional.
- Brush your hair out while keeping the part. Brush out your hair, first brushing it forward away from your new part in the back. Then brush the front towards the back on each side, so that you have 2 evenly sized chunks of hair on each side.
- It may help to loosely tie a hairband around 1 side to keep it from joining the other side as you start the next step.
- Wrap each half of your hair tightly around the back of your head. Gather the hair on the left side of your head, about midway up in the back, as if you were going to make a pigtail. Bring the section tightly over the back of your head, so that the ends rest on the right side of your head and secure it with 1 curved bobby pin if your hair is newly styled. Do the same thing with the right section of hair, wrapping it tightly around the back of your head toward the left.
- If you have a left side part, wrap your hair going to the right. If you have a right side part, wrap your hair to the left.
- If you secured either section of hair with an elastic band while parting it, remove the band before starting to wrap your hair.
- If your hair is very long, you may need to wrap each section around the front of your head and then back toward the back again. Be sure to keep it tight against your head.
- Secure the ends with curved bobby pins. After both sides of your hair are tightly wrapped around your head, use curved bobby pins to pin the ends in place. The curved pins should form to your head to reduce the number of dents they make in your hair.
- If your hair is very long and you had to wrap it around the front of your head too, you may need to add a few more curved pins to secure all of it in place.
- Purchase a silk or satin scarf. There are many head-wrapping scarves to choose from, but the best ones for preserving your hair overnight are silk or satin. These materials reduce friction between your hair and your pillow, thereby eliminating frizzy ends when you wake up. You can choose any bandana-style, turban-style, or neck scarf, just so long as you can wrap and tie it around your head.[1]
- Large wrapping bonnets are also available, but these may allow too much room for your hair to move around and are better used on large braids or locks. Try to stick with a scarf that you can wrap and tie firmly to your head.
- Wrap your scarf around your wrapped hair to keep it in place. Take your scarf and wrap it tightly around where you wrapped your hair. Place it flat against the back of your head, bring the sides up, and tie a knot in the front of the scarf so you don't have to sleep on the knot.
- The scarf will hold your pins in place and prevent your hair from moving while you sleep.
[Edit]Maintaining Straight Hair Overnight - Brush wet, naturally straight hair out and dry it completely before bed. If your hair is mostly straight or just slightly wavy, try shampooing and conditioning it before bed. Brush your hair with a paddle brush or wide tooth comb to remove tangles, and either allow your hair to air dry or blow it dry using your brush and downward strokes with the blow dryer.[2]
- Be sure your hair is completely dry before going to bed, since even a bit of dampness can cause waves or frizz overnight.
- Use shampoos and conditioners labeled "smoothing" and don't contain sulfates, which dry out your hair and make it frizzy.
- Apply an overnight straightening treatment to coarse or frizzy hair. If your hair is naturally coarse or frizzy, use a smoothing oil, serum, or cream before you go to bed. Good products to use contain Argan oil or coconut oil. Squeeze a dime-sized amount of product on your fingers and rub it through your hair from the roots to the tips.[3]
- Comb the product through your hair with a fine-tooth comb to ensure that you get every strand coated.
- Try a loose top-bun for an easy morning. Brush your naturally straight or straightened hair out and up toward the top of your head. Use an elastic hairband to make a loose ponytail, then create a bun by wrapping your hair in a circle around the center of the ponytail. Fasten the bun loosely with a fabric scrunchie.[4]
- In the morning, remove the bun and brush out your hair until it's straight.
- This technique works best combined with others, such as sleeping on a silk or satin pillowcase or using overnight straightening serums.
- Keep your bedroom cool. Sweating at night can increase curls and hair frizz. Set your thermostat or air conditioner so that your bedroom remains as cool as you can stand it, or leave windows open on cool evenings.[5]
- Reduce oil with dry shampoo on fine, straight hair. If your hair is naturally straight and fine, it may be prone to oiliness. Instead of washing your hair every night, try using a dry shampoo to control the oil and maintain volume in your hair. Spray the dry shampoo about away you're your roots and allow it to sit on your hair for 1 minute before working it into your roots with your fingers.[6]
- If you're using powdered dry shampoo, use 1 or 2 shakes of powder at your roots and begin massaging it into your scalp. Add more to different places on your roots as needed.
- Use a volumizer before bed. If your hair is naturally fine and straight, it may benefit from a volumizing tonic. Squeeze a dime-sized amount of tonic on your fingers and run your fingers through your hair when it's damp.[7]
- For added volume, secure your hair in a top-knot, loose bun, jumbo rollers, or braids after applying the tonic.
- Sleep with a silk or satin pillowcase. If wrapping your hair in a scarf doesn't sound appealing, you can gain the benefits of having silk or satin against your hair overnight by buying a pillowcase made from 1 of these materials. The pillowcase will reduce the amount of friction against your hair as you move your head throughout the night.[8]
- Look for silk or satin pillowcases online in department stores where bedding items are sold.
- Even if you do not use a scarf, it's still recommended you wrap your hair to minimize tangles while you sleep.
[Edit]Things You'll Need - Silk or satin scarf
- Wide tooth comb and paddle brush
- Overnight straightening oil, serum, or cream
- Silk or satin pillowcase
- Elastic hairbands and fabric scrunchie
[Edit]References [Edit]Quick Summary |
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