poor short term memory and disorganization?

15 Ways to Improve Our Memory:

1. Convince yourself that you have a good memory that will improve. Too many people get stuck here and convince themselves that their memory is bad, that they are just not good with names, that numbers just slip out of their minds for some reason. Erase those thoughts and vow to improve your memory. Commit yourself to the task and bask in your achievements -- it's hard to keep motivated if you beat yourself down every time you make a little bit of progress.

2. *Keep your brain active. The brain is a muscle, and regularly “exercising" the brain actually does keep it growing and spurs the development of new nerve connections that can help improve memory. By developing new mental skills—especially complex ones such as learning a new language or learning to play a new musical instrument—and challenging your brain with puzzles and games you can keep your brain active and improve its physiological functioning.

3. *Exercise daily. Regular aerobic exercise improves circulation and efficiency throughout the body, including in the brain, and can help ward off the memory loss that comes with aging. Exercise also makes you more alert and relaxed, and can thereby improve your memory uptake, allowing you to take better mental “pictures."

4. *Reduce stress. Chronic stress, although it does not physically damage the brain, can make remembering much more difficult. Even temporary stresses can make it more difficult to effectively focus on concepts and observe things.

Watch as little Television as possible. Try to relax, try practicing yoga or other stretching exercises, and see a doctor if you have severe chronic stress/anxiety.

5. *Eat well and eat right. There are a lot of herbal supplements on the market that claim to improve memory, but none have yet been shown to be effective in clinical tests (although small studies have shown some promising results for ginkgo biloba and phosphatidylserine). A healthy diet, however, contributes to a healthy brain, and foods containing antioxidants—broccoli, blueberries, spinach, and berries, for example—and Omega-3 fatty acids appear to promote healthy brain functioning. Feed your brain with such supplements as Thiamine, Vitamin E, Niacin and Vitamin B-6. Grazing, eating 5 or 6 small meals throughout the day instead of 3 large meals, also seems to improve mental functioning (including memory) by limiting dips in blood sugar, which may negatively affect the brain.

6. *Meditate Daily. Research has proven that people who regularly practice "mindfulness" meditation are able to focus - concentrate much better and statistics show that daily practicing Mindfulness Meditation improves our memory. Mindfulness Meditation is the type practiced most in many countries and is easy to learn. Studies at Massachusetts General Hospital show that regular

mindfulness meditation thickens the cerebral cortex in the brain by increasing the blood flow to that region. Researchers have proven that this enhances attention span, focus, and improves memory. An excellent How To Manuel on Mindfulness Meditation is called "Mindfulness in Plain English" by Henepola Gunaratana.

7. *Organize your life. Keep items that you frequently need, such as keys and eyeglasses, in the same place every time. Use an electronic organizer or daily planner to keep track of appointments, due dates for bills, and other tasks. Keep phone numbers and addresses in an address book or enter them into your computer or cell phone. Improved organization can help free up your powers of concentration so that you can remember less routine things. Even if being organized doesn’t improve your memory, you’ll receive a lot of the same benefits (i.e. you won’t have to search for your keys anymore).

8. *Sleep well. The amount of sleep we get affects the brain's ability to recall recently learned information. Getting a good night's sleep – a minimum of seven hours a night – may improve your short-term memory and long-term relational memory, according to recent studies conducted at the Harvard Medical School.

9. Take better pictures. Often we forget things not because our memory is bad, but rather because our observational skills need work. One common situation where this occurs (and which almost everyone can relate to) is meeting new people. Often we don’t really learn people’s names at first because we aren’t really concentrating on remembering them. You’ll find that if you make a conscious effort to remember such things, you’ll do much better. One way to train yourself to be more observant is to look at an unfamiliar photograph for a few seconds and then turn the photograph over and describe or write down as many details as you can about the photograph. Try closing your eyes and picturing the photo in your mind. Use a new photograph each time you try this exercise, and with regular practice you will find you’re able to remember more details with even shorter glimpses of the photos.

10. Give yourself time to form a memory. Memories are very fragile in the short-term, and distractions can make you quickly forget something as simple as a phone number. The key to avoid losing memories before you can even form them is to be able to focus on the thing to be remembered for a while without thinking about other things, so when you’re trying to remember something, avoid distractions and complicated tasks for a few minutes.

11. Create vivid, memorable images. You remember information more easily if you can visualize it. If you want to associate a child with a book, try not to visualize the child reading the book – that's too simple and forgettable. Instead, come up with something more jarring, something that sticks, like the book chasing the child, or the child eating the book. It's your mind – make the images as shocking and emotional as possible to keep the associations strong.

12. *Repeat things you need to learn. The more times you hear, see, or think about something, the more surely you’ll remember it, right? It’s a no-brainer. When you want to remember something, be it your new coworker’s name or your best friend's birthday, repeat it, either out loud or silently. Try writing it down; think about it.

13. Group things you need to remember. Random lists of things (a shopping list, for example) can be especially difficult to remember. To make it easier, try categorizing the individual things from the list. If you can remember that, among other things, you wanted to buy four different kinds of vegetables, you’ll find it easier to remember all four.

14. Build your memorization arsenal. Learn pegs, memory palaces, and the Dominic System. These techniques form the foundation for mnemonic techniques, and will visibly improve your memory.

15. Venture out and learn from your mistakes. Go ahead and take a stab at memorizing the first one hundred digits of pi, or, if you've done that already, the first one thousand. Memorize the monarchs of England through your memory palaces, or your grocery list through visualization. Through diligent effort you will eventually master the art of memorization.

If she is functioning OK, she may not have a problem...I have a friend who is organized to the point of OCD, and my house is all aclutter...I have a great memory, but organized I am not. Sometimes, I remember the craziest things - little details from a 5-minute conversation 2 years ago...I remember things that the most organized people do not. My disorganization bugs them to no end, but I don't care - I'm functioning just fine without having my whole life scheduled and organized.

It sounds to me like she has the 5 loaves of bread in her fridge because she doesn't care about shopping...she just knows that when she goes to the store, she picks up bread. I don't know if it has anything to do with memory, she just attends to different details than other people. Sometimes what we think is imortant to us is not important at all to someone else...organized or not.

So, before deciding that she has short term memory issues, or perhaps that she would need tools to improve her memory, consider that what she does works for her. Maybe she doesn't want to be organized...these types of people frustrate the heck out of organized folks. If something is important to her, or is causing her significant problems, then framing the issue in a way that she'll pay attention to it will help. Again, if she doesn't care about it, she probably won't change anything.

I can't keep track of my keys, but I remember where my hammer is, and I remember when I used it last...keys are something I use every day, but the hammer I use maybe once or twice a year. My wife has gotten so sick of me not being able to find my keys, that she has forced me into a 90% habit of putting them on a keyholder near the door. I still lose them 10% of the time...I suppose I could recover hours of my life if I just put the keys in the same place every time, but I'm not wired that way and never will be. More importantly, it doesn't really matter to me, no harm, no foul.

I've had this kind of problem since I had a stroke eleven years ago, but I try to concentrate on only one thing at a time, I write down what I don't want to forget on a calandar that has big squares for the dates, Then I put back things where they belong right after using them. I don't take medication from the bottle, I have my own system. I put them out on my kitchen counter and if I do not remember, I look there and if the medication is not there it means I did not take it! If it's not, I did take it". This is how I organized myself and it works for me!

Good luck dear Heart.

Good luck to your friend,

And thank you for your concern.

GBY.

Well, my short-term and long-term memory are both still pretty much OK, though recently I've noticed there are some particular things that I don't remember instantly, but have to think about for a minute, such as the name of my primary care doctor. I changed doctors not long ago. I'm 75. How about medium-term memory? Mine may be slipping. We recently went to a restaurant that I don't remember being at before. However, both my wife and her mother say we were there together early last year.

when you notice a person in a situation like this (if it in fact was a problem to them they would acknowledge it and change it or seek professional help to solve it, or people close to them like a husband, a parent would point it out to them) you'd think either it's a learned trait from childhood (maybe other family members doi t), they are doing it intentionally to take off some stress or to lean on someone else (could be a trust issue, could be just laziness) or unintentionally, or subconsciously to take off some stress, and it could be a result of something that transpired in their life. If it's a problem for her then it's up to her to determine if she wants to consider the above. If it's not a problem to her then why would you be concerned, it's "her" life. I realize you want to help her because you think it's wrong, bad, not neat to do those things, but she sounds quite comfortable in the way she does things. Maybe she doesn't want to change, and, if she did then she would change it herself. If you point those things out to her she may be bothered, and, her husband may get edgy as well. You ask how can she overcome that? well, if she felt it was a problem and was ruining her life she could start by talking with a psychologist and finding out why she does it, ease that reason, then find other ways to change that behavior like intentionally watching everything she does and then change it as it occurs. Could be as easy as retraining herself.

This is me, sometimes. Go see a chiropractor. It is what we call neurologically switched. There are techniques he can show you or do for you. Does she have jaw pain? Get headaches frequently? Have had previous head, neck injuries? This happens much more than we know. Now, when I start running into doorways or stumbling (I broke my elbow yesterday playing wiffle ball and tripped over NOTHING-I was switched) go get a really good adrenal supplement from the health food store. It will help. I use a product called Eye Lights, it helps with focus. Go on line to eyelights.com. Great product! follow the directions and enjoy better focus.

poor short term memory disorganization

I have this problem myself.I notice that when i`m taking my thyroid meds and med for adrenal fatigue,i am better at remembering things.I know you don`t want a diagnoses,but alzheimer`s runs in my famliy and i have been freaked out about it happening to me,so i have done some reseach on the internet.,and i believe that alzheimers has to do with lymes disease in the final stages,also untreated thyroid disease.There are supplimets that can improve memmory,ginko biloba DMG,,gotu kola,yerba mate,blessed thistle.I take these suppliments and it helps my memmory.Also detoxing the body helps to concentrate better and remember things.Check out lyme and rife machines.

A small, hand held tape recorder. Use it to record the things you need to remember.

Post it notes on the wrist. These have been around only a short time, they are worn on the wrist so they are handy all the time. Get them at an office supply.

lists, calendars and date books. I had to write everything down and keep a notebook with me for a while until I got better organized and things started to come to me instead of me having to work so hard to remember and keep things straight. Now I have it all down to one large calendar that has big boxes where I can write a lot down and keep it where I can always see it. That has helped me a lot with my scatteredbrain tendencies

Hey thats me

You can write notes, but you forget them

You can spend a lot of time organizing but never get organised.

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