Health: Simple steps to improve memory for students

Memory is the God given faculty to human beings for being able to recollect things known or learnt in past. Every person needs this faculty for efficient working whether at home or at work. Students need this more as they have to face exams to climb on the next step in their lives. The first thing needed to enhance memory is to study at a suitable time of the day. Early morning time is the best one for this purpose. After all, nature has devised this time for all living beings to be in their best form physically and mentally. One should look around and see all birds and beasts. They can be seen moving about actively at this time. Human beings are no exception. The mind is very fresh at this time and whatever one reads will be grasped and retained immediately. To get up very early daily, a person has to go to bed early. This will be possible only when students cut their frivolous past times like loafing around in pubs till late night and sleep early. It is a healthy mind which will retain and recall more information. Healthy mind lives in a healthy body. Good nutritious fresh food with plenty of fruits and vegetables is necessary to keep body healthy. Regular physical exercise helps in this process. Leave bed early, do some physical exercise and sit down to study. You will definitely see the difference as to how much you are able to understand and retain. Avoiding intoxicating addicting substances like alcohol and smoking is a measure to keep body healthy in long run.When ever free, one should try to count numbers forward and backward mentally. Doing so is a very good exercise for activating and stimulating the mind This simple exercise can be done while travelling or waiting for a transport or some person at some place. Similarly when a student takes a break after studying some subject, say for food or a shower, he or she can revise mentally what he has been reading up to that moment. Before sleeping, spend some minutes sitting on the bed and recollect all events of the day. This reinforces the ability of the mind to retain things. Try to keep cool all the time. Getting angry or excited on petty matters disturbs the mind and blocks the memory. Similarly it is important to avoid negative thoughts entering the mind. Negative thoughts also block the mind. Keep your mind full of positive and cheerful thoughts which will keep the mind cheerful and enthusiastic for doing more work. Use your free time to read or write something. This keeps the mind stimulated. Advancement in electronic information and entertainment has its uses, but depending on it totally is not very ideal for a learner. When an individual reads or writes something it is an active exercise of the mind which helps in keeping all information stored in the mind. While when one gathers information electronically, it is put away immediately for future use and mind is not much activated. Focus on the work at hand and try to do it with full concentration. Many people tend to think of some other work after starting one. They may leave the first one undone and begin doing another. While doing the other task, he starts thinking of some work which ha to be done the following day. Net result is nothing is done whole heartedly. This state of cluttered mind is not good particularly for students. If they do not read with fixed concentration, even reading for hours is useless as the mind will not retain much. A student should try to meditate few minutes each day. There is a misconception regarding meditation that it is something to be done by old or retired people or those seeking spiritual advancement. This is a myth. Meditation is a measure to relax the mind absolutely and make it more focused. If one tries to cultivate the habit of meditating daily from a young age it is certainly going to help him or her always in life. It not only helps in improving memory but also keeps the mind tranquil and disciplined which is a prerequisite for doing good quality work. It is said that an average human being utilizes only one fourth of the capacity of his brain. When one improves his memory, more grey cells of the brain will be stimulated providing a razor sharp memory. All students desire to score more and to obtain this they need to improve their memory. I wish good luck to all students for the forthcoming academic term. The author is a specialist in Internal MedicineE-mail – rachna212002@yahoo.co.uk