Maximize Your Memory @ Research-backed tips to boost your memory
Research-backed tips to boost your memory, from a six-time world speed memory champ
Photographic reading
First of all, a good reading technique will undoubtedly
be a time investment with double the returns. In other words, it will give us
the ability to develop a reading speed above and beyond the norm (at least
three or four times faster). It will also give us the ability to memorize the
information we are reading with greater ease, thereby considerably reducing the
number of times we must review the material.
The average reading speed is
approximately 200 words/minute, which:
• Makes us lose time.
• Makes us lose concentration.
• Hinders our ability to retain information, given the
greater gap between each idea.
In order to practice
‘photographic reading’, your eyes must move along a page with a series of very
quick jumps, actually stopping on each one of the groups of words (within the
same line) that you are going to ‘photograph’. These pauses should take between
0.25 and 0.75 seconds. These pauses or stops—rather, these photographs—should
be taken of groups of four to six words. The text that we are reading should be
positioned horizontally, not at an angle (like we do when we write). This will
foment faster eye movement. We should also read at a distance of at least 30
centimeters (around 12 inches) from the page.
Do not read from left to right.
Read the whole line of text at once, as if you were taking a photograph of it.
Then, making little jumps, carry on toward the bottom of the column until you
have finished reading the whole text.
Make quick jumps and pause for a
short time, an instant, on the line that you are reading in that moment. You
can use a pen or a pencil, and signal each line you read with it, so as to
enable your eyes to move quickly and precisely down the page.
Academic and competitive exams
The Ramón Campayo System, the most effective memorizing
system, consists of three clearly defined parts:
1. Personalization of the subject matter.
2. Memorization.
3. Review.
To personalize the subject
matter: After reading over our first raw topic, we should then go back and read
a key point from this topic. We will then create a summary, point by point,
changing the order of the facts and information as we deem necessary or
logical. (We might put facts found at the end of the subject matter notes, at
the beginning of our summary.) It is very important that our summary contains
all of the pure facts from the initial topic. It is also important that, when
you start developing your summary, you pay close attention to the main ideas,
as well as the most graphic parts. In other words, put all of the most general
information and that which we can somehow see “photographically” at the
beginning. It is also a good idea, if we don’t have enough time to make the
summaries, to write out associations between the pure facts in a separate
notebook.
With a well-written summary, we
will save a lot of time, not only when we try to understand and reason out the
topic, but also when memorizing and reviewing it. Reading speed also plays a
big part here, and I remind you that you have to read the summaries many times
in order to memorize them correctly. If some part of our initial subject matter
is very complicated, even too much to summarize it, it would be best to forget
about it for the moment, and frame it or mark it with a pen in order to find it
easily in the future.
Tips that work
It is a good idea to rest for five to 10 minutes every 30
or 40 minutes when studying/memorizing, and 10–15 minutes every hour. This
gives the subconscious time to assimilate and organize the information. Plus, it
will be easier to be motivated and concentrate knowing that, every half hour or
so, we can take a relaxing break. We can use these breaks to have a cup of
coffee, a soda, or a snack, take a walk, or simply relax. However, it is not a
bad idea to change rooms or atmospheres and forget completely about the work.
No mental reviews, even if you feel you should.
It is not a good rule of thumb to
memorize after a main, heavy meal; it is better to rest at this time, or at
most, review.
On the contrary, the best time to
memorize is after getting up and having a light breakfast. Also at
mid-afternoon, if we are awake. It is preferable to review at night; although,
as we will see further on, any moment in the day is good for reviewing.
This means, for example, that it
would be a shame to review in the morning, given that it would be a waste of
mental energy, unless everything is already memorized or we don’t have the
material to be memorized in that moment.
Boost brain power
The minerals, phosphorus and magnesium, and vitamins, A
and D are very useful in this respect.
Phosphorus is found in milk and
milk products, eggs, whole-grain cereals, nuts, chocolate, and legumes
(chickpeas, peas, beans, lentils, and soy). Magnesium is found in unrefined sea
salt, whole-grain cereals, nuts, chocolate, and legumes. You also need vitamin
D, which is found in cod liver oil, and we also produce enough in our skin when
we get some sun. Vitamin A is found mainly in animal livers and, outside of
meats, in carrots, parsley, and sweet potatoes.
Consistent, moderate physical
activity, is very desirable, because it clears and relaxes our minds. Doing
exercise tones our bodies and improves our blood flow, which is also something
to think about and appreciate. Finally, I would like to stress the importance
of getting enough rest and sleep. Besides not being as productive as we can be,
this make our minds unwilling to do any activity.
— Extracted with permission from
Ramón Campayo’s Maximize Your Memory, published by Rupa
Source | Mumbai Mirror | 5th February 2018
Regards
Prof. Pralhad Jadhav
Master of Library &
Information Science (NET Qualified)
Senior Manager @ Knowledge
Repository
Khaitan & Co
Twitter Handle | @Pralhad161978
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