Last time, we asked readers for their memory hacks, the little tricks to keep on schedule and do what we need to do when we need to do it. …and we asked readers to take an informal survey of some memory hacks.
Apparently most of us are old school. More than half of the 143 respondents use paper notes and check them daily…
“As a chronic list maker – I have paper lists for everything! While I still keep my paper lists handy (grocery list, to do that day/week list, etc) & keep them handy to add to, a long time ago I wrote myself a ” REMINDER FOR THINGS TO DO” that I keep in my email “Draft Box” (and yes the CAPS intentional).”
–Dianna M
Next came the 13 percent who rely on phone apps or other technology..
“I eliminate the paper and use an app like Samsung notes. I take notes and have multiple lists…. Everything I need is on my phone.”
– Chris H
Other readers sent in their tips and suggestions using tech, but I personally like this “belt and suspenders” approach…
“I made reminders/list on paper and then take a photo with my phone so I do not have look for the paper…”
-Carol C.
A lucky 11 percent of readers don’t worry about their memory at all.
“I relax and say whatever information I’m searching for will reveal itself to me. After a short time I find it does. So don’t stress or worry and I hope it will help you I believe if you do it pushes your information away.”
-Cherryl K.
A few – about 4 percent – spoke to their doctor about their memory, and even fewer (2 percent) took memory vitamins.
Low-tech, no tech Memory Hacks
The comments by readers Dave A., Deborah S., Ruth G., Bobbi S., Blanqui G. and others offer several low-tech, no-tech memory hacks. Check them all! And as you check, remember these wise words:
“Not to panic but take a certain forgetfulness in stride is very important…”
-Barbara C.
That’s it for now, but we’ll keep the comments open so you can add other tips and tricks. And thanks to Pat M for the kind words! We do it all for you!
Original content below
I remember a Gary Larson comic of a kid in a classroom raising his hand and saying “May I be excused? My brain is full.” It used to make me laugh. Now I give a rueful chuckle. It’s funny because it’s true. My brain is too full, and my memory can’t handle the load.
Some years ago I was an active trivia fan. (My late husband and I were in a league at a local bar and we often ran competitions. After he passed away I did it solo.) As a player, my teammates would remark at how quickly I could mentally retrieve a stray fact. We’d win pretty regularly at the Night Cafe – and all the bars that came after.
Memory Lapses
I began to suspect those days were over when I couldn’t instantly retrieve the name of the guy who sang “Calendar Girl.*” (Answer below.) Later, it took me several days to summon up the name of an early – and famous – actress and director (at left) of classic noir films. ** (Answer below). I kept wanting to call her Aldo Ray!
Yesterday….
My memory was pretty rock solid. After years of rote memorization in my grammar school, I had a pretty good memorization muscle…I’d memorize poetry for fun.
Now, I’m not so adept. It can take an hour or even a day for a stray fact to bubble up to the surface, if ever. A recent news report about aging and memory had a comforting angle on this. Maybe Larson was right, after all. Maybe the accumulation of years of stray facts causes my memory lapses, and not the neutron bomb of aging: Alzheimers. That’s the fear that lurks behind every time I go into a room and can’t recall why.
Memory Hacks
I am not at the point where I’ll take ‘memory vitamins” advertised on TV, although one doctor says diet can help. However, I have a set of memory hacks to help:
- “Reader” eyeglasses all over my home.
- I put my keys on a hook by the door the second I come in, so I don’t lose my keys
- There’s a checklist by my door for keys, cash, phone, shopping list, etc. before I leave.
- I wrote my landline password, pin # and account number on a piece of tape in back of my home phone, so I don’t have to hunt if I call tech support.
- At staff meetings I take notes to help me retain what’s discussed and decided.(I prefer email, though, because my computer has a much better ‘handwriting” than me!)
Are you concerned about your memory? Take our informal poll – one answer only, please:
But what about you? What technology do you use to help you remember? What are your memory hacks? Let us know in the comments!
Virge Randall is Senior Planet’s Managing Editor. She is also a freelance culture reporter who seeks out hidden gems and unsung (or undersung) treasures for Straus Newspapers; her blog “Don’t Get Me Started” puts a quirky new spin on Old School New York City. Send Open Thread suggestions to editor@seniorplanet.org.
Answers:
*Neil Sadaka
**Ida Lupino
COMMENTS
31 responses to “Open Thread Update: Speak, Memory”
Wondering if anyone has used any of the advertised over the counter supplements and if they think they work??
I have thought of trying them but they are quite pricey:/
I relax and say whatever information I’m searching for will reveal itself to me
After a short time I find it does
So don’t stress or worry and I hope it will help you I believe if you do it pushes your information away
I am glad to hear of someone who doesn’t get too bent out of shape for memory lapses. I find that there is just so much I can keep in my head after 80 years.
Thanks
I love the comment from the British show “New Tricks”: Unlike the universe, my memory is NOT constantly expanding!
Knowing that, I use my PC as much as I can to remember things for me:
Notepad: For whatever I’m dealing with, I save notes about it in Notepad and save it with a clever name.
X1 Search – for something like $100/year, I only need to remember a couple of words that I’ve stored, and it finds it in an email, document, spreadsheet or whatever anywhere on my PC in seconds!
As a chronic list maker – I have paper lists for everything!
While I still keep my paper lists handy (grocery list, to do that day/week list, etc) & keep them handy to add to, a long time ago I wrote myself a ” REMINDER FOR THINGS TO DO” that I keep in my email “Draft Box” (and yes the CAPS intentional).
Here I keep a running list of things to do like:
Call Mary
Check calendar for upcoming Bdays
Take Donations to Thrift Shop
Clean out Paper Files
I look at this about once month & on rainy days!
I tried to “vote, 3 times, but was told “invalid data”
Invalid data 1
What do you do to help your memory?
+ I spoke to my doctor.
I take “memory vitamins.”
I use apps on my smartphone.
I use notes to myself and check them daily
I use a special digital or non-digital gadget (digital tracker, pill dispenser, smartwatch alarm, etc.)
I’m not worried about my memory.
I spoke w/my Doctor and took some test even
Lots of good suggestions! Not to panic but take a certain forgetfulness in stride is very important. I have never mastered the brain games for remembering names etc but depend upon friends to help me fill in the gaps. Also, I use a large bulletin board and tacks to put up business cards – doctors, restaurants etc – plus the list of friends phone #s and e-mails. And favorite recipes. Etc etc.
I have never been good at remembering names, especially of people in films or sports as I’m not interested. For people I meet, if I repeat their name out loud and perhaps ask to spell it to clarify it sticks in my brain!
Memory Hacks
On my smartphone, I have a note for each organization and place I frequent & check for info
I concentrate on what I have to remember. I can’t recall something I haven’t paid attention to in the first place.
Where appropriate, I break it down into smaller parts. On the iPhone when I get a secondary code to sign in, It’s easier to remember 123 456 than 123456. For some reason, I can remember a telephone number as 123 456 78 90 rather than the traditional 123 458 7890.
I have a little bell attached to my keyring. That way I can easily check whether I have it by its jingle or shaking my purse or pocket, I can also hear it if I drop the keys. The louder and jinglier the key group, the better for me.
There are two excellent MD’s who have documented research with positive results for improving memory:
David Perlmutter, MD, who started with his “Grain Brain” series and has since written more. I’m on his email list and receive a wealth of information and interviews, etc.
Dale E.Bredesen, MD, “The End of Alzheimer’s, The First Program to Prevent and Reverse Cognitive Decline”. Look up his website.
Thanks for the info
I made reminders/list on paper and then take a photo with my phone so I do not have look for the paper.
GREAT IDEA TO USE FOTOS INSTEAD OF PAPER NOTES but I keep forgetting to!
I eliminate the paper and use an app like Samsung notes. I take notes and have multiple lists. I even have lists for recommended books and movies. I tie my shopping list to my Google Home app so I can ask Google assistant to add an item to my list at any time. The calendar apo doesnt give me a noticeable enough reminder so I set alarms for appointments. Everything I need is on my phone.
Being organized helps. Keep things in the same place every day; keys, wallet, phone. If you think of a small task, do it immediately; paying a bill, putting your credit card and receipts away, making a phone call. Task postponed is a task forgotten. Make a to do list for the day in the early morning, it will help you stay focused. Keep a running list for your groceries taped to the refrigerator and yes, remember to take it with you when you go shopping!
Having a Mom who had Alzheimer’s and having been tested myself 2X, but told mayb it was Attention Deficit, i am constantly writing To Do Lists, but have always done this and do sometimes add to my Notes on my Tracfone as well… Was recently recommended green tea w/gingko to help w/concentration…?
To help my brain get exercise, I look at a list of words and try to remember them in order. I often have to go back to the list for help. It’s not easy but I can feel the brain is working and needs exercise and practice.
I was recently widowed and notified my bank. In my bank account payment center I had many accounts set up with ebilling and often automatic payments to be sent out. I found out that all records in my payment center, along with my ebills and activity were deleted. I was told since my husbands ss was the one used for our joint account, when he passed, the bank deletes all data. Please let people know this will happen to them so they can keep paper bills with full acct numbers.
Wow! Good to know! Thanks. Sorry for your loss.
Wow. That’s good information. Thank you!
When I am “stumped” I either “sleep on” a topic or go about my business. Inevitably, the answer bubbles up to the surface. (This is a technique I’ve used all of my life).
Senior Planet has helped me in many ways:
It fulfills the Bible verse:
Ask, and it shall be given,
Seek and you will find.
Knock and it will be opened!
Thank you Senior Planet!
thanks for the kind words, Pat – we do it all for you!
If I am trying to remember a name or ? I go thru the alphabet and think of names beginning with “A”. Then “B” etc. Works sometimes. Or I just put hints into Google for names.
Exercise..body awarness..post-it notes..keep it simple.
I’ve used the alphabet to recall names for most of my life and it works about 90% of the time.
Another trick:
mne·mon·ics, Making up a phrase with the first letter of each work as a key to what you need to remember. My husband thought of one for the items in my purse I need to check at each activity so I don’t walk off without them; Every Good Works Keep Children Peppy=Glasses, Wallet, Keys, Calendar, Phone. This was more difficult than just memorizing the original list, but it has, indeed, helped upon occasion.
Like it, BC.
How ’bout just: Good Works Keep Children Peppy? One less letter to recall.
/LA
I also use mnemonic devices. I think of crepe paper to recall the name of the crape myrtle tree, and I think of the plagues in biblical Egypt to call up a variety of the locust tree. To create my main password, I took the first letter of every word in a loving statement by my mother and threw in an icon and a number.
I’ve learned not to worry too much. Sometimes the fact will bubble up later. Also there are triggers that can help–i.e. Ida Lupino is probably under “women directors” listng on the internet. This isn’t cheating, it’s working with what you have
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