Brain Fitness Tip of the Week: Paying Attention to Improve Your Memory

In teaching a class on memory for people over 50, I found out a number of interesting things. One of the most important is that it confirmed something that I already knew from research studies – many apparent memory problems are actually problems with paying attention.

It looks as though your mother may have been right when she said “Pay attention!” Several studies have shown that lapses in attention may affect what you remember. As I often tell my patients, if it doesn’t get into your brain, you’re not going to be able to remember it.

As part of a brain fitness class I taught last year, we did a memory exercise drawn from a workbook about memory titled The Memory Workbook (by Douglas Mason, Michael Kohn, & Karen Clark). In the exercise, everyone looked at two cotton balls and spent a few minutes learning to appreciate their color, texture, and shape. By the end of the exercise, everyone felt that they could tell the two apart, and remember each one clearly.

What does this seemingly trivial exercise show? If you pay close attention to something you can remember it better.

What does this have to do with those troubling memory lapses? A lot. As we get older, attention doesn’t focus as automatically as it did when we were younger. We’re more easily distracted. The solution is to focus, focus, focus:

• If you’re doing something mundane such as washing the dishes, spend some time using your senses to appreciate what you’re doing. Think about the warmth of the water, the smell of the soap, and the sounds the water makes.
• If you’re taking a walk, don’t spend the whole time thinking about what you’re going to do later. Take time to attend to the wind in the trees, the colors of the leaves on the trees, and the sensation of weight in your shoes.
• When you’re driving, don’t lapse into a coma while thinking about where you’re going. Think about where you are, and check the mirrors to see who’s in back and on your sides. This has a bonus: it may make you a better driver.
• If you meet a new person and want to remember his or her name, take a few seconds to rehearse the name in your mind. Use the person’s name as soon as you can. Say “It’s nice to meet you, Bill (or Mary)” rather than just saying hello.

These are just a few examples of ways to enhance your attention during every day life. If you try, I’m sure you can find many other ways. Let me know if you find them.

You can get the The Memory Workbook at Amazon on a store link that I set up. Click here to go to the store, and browse this and other books on brain fitness.