How to Improve Memory and Learning Skills?

Intelligence quotient is a measure of relative intelligence and is measured by the formula

Mental age X 100

Actual age

Approximately sixty eight percentage of people in any population have average intelligence of (IQ: 85 -110). Intelligence quotient is determined mainly genetically and influenced by factors such as nutrition, environmental and cultural factors. Intelligence quotient is not a static phenomenon. Positively influencing factors like good health, mental equilibrium and pleasant challenging environment will improve the intellectual functioning of the individual.

The growth of the brain occurs till the first five years of life. The growth of the brain is influenced by the health or ill health of the mother.

If you are pregnant and thinking about the ways to improve the brain power of your baby, start now!

A pregnant mother must take adequate amount of quality nutrition and enough fluids. Freshly cooked and clean food covering adequate proportions of all the nutrients must be given to the pregnant mother. This has to be educated to the masses in India as we can still see many mothers here who are anaemic and with poor physical health.

Hereditary factors and difficulties during delivery also influence the growth of the brain.

The various other functions of the brain like thinking, learning and memory, analysis and problem solving, control and expression of a wide variety of emotions are learned up to 18 to 20 years of life. It is very much influenced by the family and school environment, peer group, health of the person and the stimuli the brain receive during this period. Ways to improve your memory may be strengthened around these factors.

Attention span of human beings is very less during childhood. Gradually as the child grows he learns to pay attention for more time. Even then there are individual differences and the ability to pay attention is influenced by different factors.

If a child or adolescent has taken food 5 or 6 hours ago, the glucose level in the blood drops down to 60 mg per 100 ml. This state is known as hypoglycaemia and it will impair the attention span. On the other hand, if the child had too much of food just before studying, there will be a rush of blood supply to the stomach depriving the brain of enough blood. This will make the child drowsy and unable to concentrate.

So if you are a student, and have to study continuously for many hours, take good food items frequently in small quantity. This will supply enough glucose for your brain to function for a long time.

Physical ill health of any kind can impair concentration and attention. Pain and discomfort act as distractors. Other distractors are negative emotions like sadness, anger, jealousy and inferiority feelings, television, others playing and conversing etc.

• Active involvement: Memory is improved when there is active involvement from the part of the learner. Students may argue that they are having an active involvement while reading textbooks. But that is not enough. Learning actually takes place if you prepare your lessons as if to teach somebody else. In the practical settings, you can even teach your friends or class mates what you have learned. When you prepare yourself for teaching, you will look in depth into the concepts, their linkages and cross linkages and refer more books to make things clear. This kind of active learning improves memory and attention span.
• Motivation: There are two types of motivation. External motivation and internal motivation. External motivation, as you know is the praise and pressure from friends, family, teachers and school etc. An individual should be internally motivated and should enjoy learning if the facts are to be retained for longer time. Internal motivation to know about the subject and to solve the problems improves memory in children.
• Improve your memory by taking tests: Tests are useful in recollecting facts as well as comprehended information. Tests usually have questions of different difficulty like recall, comprehension and application. When you take a test on the portions covered for example from previous years question papers, you are actually exercising your brain at these different levels and your memory and understanding about the subject improves.
• Improve your memory by spacing study sessions: The study material should be distributed over different sessions. It helps in in depth understanding of the subject as the student learns it in small portions.
• Be relaxed to improve memory: relaxed state of mind helps the learner to grasp more and retain more. Relate the new information to what you already know and try to make linkages and cross linkages with the concepts already known.
• Analyse your own strategies: learn to monitor your own learning. Do frequent assessments about yourself and decide how you can improve your learning. Decide on when to study, what to study, how much to study….
• Revise…… Revise……..Revise…..

1. Small frequent good food – Ensures glucose to brain
2. Good sleep – Ensures good physical health
3. Pure thoughts –Ensures good mental health
4. Calm environment –Minimises distractions
5. Space study sessions – Minimises load and makes you relaxed.
6. Take tests – Prepares you to answer questions with different levels of difficulty
7. Revision – Ensures confidence
8. Learn to teach – Ensures internalisation of knowledge.

Good Luck with your Examinations :)