Find out how to improve memory and understand how to use this instrument to make the work flow better. Also, use the tips to make the agency more productive, innovative and with lean processes. Work your memory and stimulate creativity, even when working under pressure.
For those working in the creative field, understanding how to improve memory can be an interesting skill to maintain high performance. In the case of an agency, this quality contributes not only to management and better productivity in monitoring processes, but it is also important for those who work in the creative area, favouring inspiration and the emergence of ideas.
In this article, we have put together 8 tips that you can apply to have better memorization. Take the opportunity to implement these habits, understanding how to extend the exercises to the entire agency. Thus, you benefit the professionals’ daily lives and ensure a more efficient workflow.
1. Have a good diet regularly
Although the work in an agency is intellectual, food will affect or favour the functioning of the brain. Of course, it is not the place to propose fasts or force everyone to drink green juice and eat bamboo shoots for lunch.
However, it is possible to offer lectures with different perspectives on the effects of food on the performance of employees.
The most interesting thing is that most of the items on the good list for memorization also stimulate creativity. That’s because they are foods that nourish the brain. We find in this list:
- blueberry;
- nut;
- cauliflower;
- broccoli;
- bitter chocolate;
- green tea.
It is also good to avoid excess sugar, as it produces an energy pump that generates a high level of disposition, however, for a short period of time.
This type of food is also known as an energy thief. In addition to hindering the memorization process, it will leave the brain running more slowly.
2. Create a rhythm to improve memory
To understand the importance of rhythm, you first need to know how the memorization process takes place. We can say that memorization happens in 3 different stages.
At first, known as the acquisition period, we are exposed to information or the fact for the first time. It is when experiences happen and from it, you absorb all the learning about a certain situation.
Then, we go through an assimilation process. With the high number of stimuli to which the brain is constantly subjected, it is not possible to store everything that happens. Therefore, there is a sort of screening at that moment that defines whether the memory will be short or long term.
Thinking in this way, we can understand why people carry certain childhood memories, but they usually cannot remember what they had lunch with the previous week.
Finally, there is a process known as recovery, which consists of activating memory. For example, when you can remember the name of the customer or, more impressive, the CNPJ number of his company.
The relationship between rhythm and the memorization process happens in several ways. The creation of routines favours the brain to understand (and remember) what comes next. So, if the team meeting takes place every Thursday at the end of the working day, everyone will be ready for it.
It is important to understand which rhythms (or routines) favour memorization and to implement them. Conversely, lengthy meetings every week can generate a negative memory in the group.
3. Learn how to improve sleeping memory
Our brain is immersed in liquids that are responsible for the exchange of substances with the body. It is through this path that the necessary nutrients are taken for the functioning of the mind, as well as the release of toxins. While you are awake, it is as if the brain mass swells, preventing fluids from flowing freely.
When sleeping, a detoxification process takes place, as this mass deflates and allows exchanges to happen in the proper way. In addition, during sleep, there is also a neuronal reorganization process. The formation of the neuronal network (the connection between neurons) is responsible for being able to process certain types of information.
That is why sleep is so important for the memorization process. What’s more, this relationship is so linked to the productivity of creative tasks that great artists and inventors, like Thomas Edison or Salvador Dalí, used to nap after lunch. The painter was dozing on a chair with a bunch of keys in his hand. Thus, the keys fell when he slept, making noise and awakening him with productive ideas.
We also realized the importance of sleep and its relationship to the memory and performance of employees by watching startups like Google. In these work environments, there is a space reserved for employees to take a nap.
4. Practice physical activities regularly
The more intellectual a job is, the more the person should move. Perhaps you know the famous verse of the Roman poet Juvenal “healthy mind, healthy body”. After all, physical exercises contribute to the proper functioning of the brain and the preservation of memory. Some benefits of exercising frequently are:
- increased blood circulation, which favours brain oxygenation and nutrition;
- cell renewal, including neurons (a process known as neurogenesis);
- production of hormones or neurotransmitters, such as endorphins, dopamine and serotonin, responsible for generating a sense of well-being, in addition to being linked to the ability to pay attention and also to learn (or to memorize).
So creating programs to encourage exercise at the agency can be a good idea. They don’t have to be time-consuming activities like gym workouts, which last around an hour. There are work gymnastics that last from 15 to 20 minutes and can already contribute to the memory and good mood of the team.
5. Adjust your posture and strengthen your memory
From good memory to the perception of improvements in executive management, a good posture can help a lot in work environments like in a communication agency.
For ancient Chinese science, there are energy channels that flow in our body and their main path is through the spine. Therefore, to ensure that the energy flows, allowing for good memorization and awareness, it is necessary to have good posture.
As for traditional science, the correct posture also favours adequate breathing. This allows for greater oxygenation of the brain and, consequently, better memory and ability to concentrate. In this case, good posture also contributes to an improvement in reasoning. So, if you decide to implement workplace gymnastics at the agency, take the opportunity and offer exercises that improve posture.
6. Do brain exercises
When you exercise the body, activating certain muscles, they develop and become more strengthened. The same thing happens with the mind: the more activities for the brain, the more efficient it becomes and the greater the resolving capacity in trained exercise.
Today there are several activities and games that can be used for this, such as:
- Memrise- an app aimed at training or learning a new language with a focus on memorization;
- Fit-brain- gathers several activities focused on logical reasoning, speed, concentration and also memory capacity;
- Lumosity- similar to the previous app, it has a paid version and a free version that releases 3 different games every day. It counts with scores and compares the player’s performance with the age group and the person’s own evolution.
7. Use acronyms to remember
Sometimes time management has not been very well done and the deadline is almost over. To reinforce the urgency of the request, you ask for ASAP. However, contrary to what it seems, this is not just millennial slang, it is an English acronym that means As Soon As Possible, or “as soon as possible”, in free translation.
Acronyms consist of the use of words or phrases that help to memorize other things. In the courses for Enem it is very common for teachers to create acronyms for students to memorize the most diverse contents, from physics formulas, historical facts to the periodic table.
8. Bet on the mind maps
You may be familiar with mind maps and how much they contribute to organization, planning and studies. They can also be an excellent action to help with memorization. After all, if you are able to transform large blocks of information into some topics, you will assimilate the subject dealt with more easily, just like in the scheme of acronyms.
Did you see how improving memory can be simple and even fun? You can create habits and develop this personal skill, but there are also several actions that can be implemented at the agency to transform the mindset of employees and optimize the performance of the teams. For this, it is important to make everyone aware of the purpose and importance of changes.
Exercises for memory at the time of reading
Concentration: when we are reading a text, we often have to go back to the paragraph, because we realize that we are reading, but we are not understanding. At this moment, we can analyze if we are not with excess interfering stimuli around, as these can impair reading concentration.
Quiet environment: to read an important document, go to an environment where there is no interference (there is no television on, the phone does not ring incessantly and without people talking around). Maintain the correct posture in the chair, so that the discomfort caused by the bad posture does not make you restless and disturb the comprehension of the text.
Absorbing the most important information: use a blank sheet of paper to cover the lines you are not yet reading, that is, visualize one line at a time and try to mark, with a highlighter pen, at least two important words from each paragraph and then reread the underlined words to better absorb the information.
What to eat to improve memory?
Food is also important for improving memory, and foods rich in omega-3s, such as salmon, sardines and flax seeds, for example, and antioxidants present in fruits and vegetables, contribute to maintaining the brain. functional.
What to avoid?
In addition, one should avoid foods rich in simple sugars, such as cakes, cookies and chocolate, and choose to eat whole carbohydrates, such as bread, pasta and brown rice and / or oats, for example.
What are the best techniques for exercising memory?
According to experts, the best techniques for exercising memory are those that stimulate the brain to function differently than usual. Just make small changes in daily activities, so that they become a challenge for your memory. You can:
- wear clothes in the dark;
- walking back and forth inside the house;
- take different routes to move around the city;
- use your left hand if you are right-handed (and your right if left-handed) to brush your teeth or comb your hair;
- read a magazine upside down.
In addition to stimulating the brain to get out of the routine, maintaining healthy eating habits, practising physical activities and taking good care of the emotional also contribute to keeping memory up to date.
How to improve memory in old age?
With aging, it is common to experience episodes of forgetfulness or disorientation, which can compromise the quality of life of the elderly. To get around these problems, the elderly need to have an organized routine, in order to perform their activities one at a time. Doing hobbies, such as crossword puzzles or game of seven mistakes is extremely valid, and the beneficial effects of these activities for memory have been scientifically proven. Reading is also an activity that exercises memory and can be optimized, for example, if the elderly person is encouraged to tell family members about the events in the history read.
And memory during pregnancy, how is it?
During pregnancy, lack of attention and memory lapses are common and happen due to hormonal changes during this period, especially the increase in progesterone.To better cope with the situation, the pregnant woman can do hobbies to stimulate memory, create lists with the activities of the day and even use the cell phone alarm to remember the most important tasks. In addition, avoiding stress and taking good care of sleep are also tips that help improve memory throughout the gestational period.
Is it normal for us to be a little more forgetful with age?
Losing memory should never be considered normal, but it is natural that a decline will occur throughout life, as we no longer have some neurons as the years go by. By the age of 40 or 45, we lose a little mental agility and quick thinking. But losing memory is not part of aging.
Because of this drop in mental alertness, we start to have more attention problems and our reasoning is a little slower, which is quite confused with memory failures.
How to differentiate between normal memory failures and those that may be due to some disease?
The main difference lies in how the problem affects your routine. The natural reduction in mental alertness does not cause major problems. Usually, the complaint is done by the person himself, not by others.
Can you avoid the loss of mental alertness that comes with age?
The recommendation, therefore, is to focus on the good old combination of healthy eating and physical exercise.
In addition, it is also important to keep your brain always active: study new languages, learn a musical instrument, read a lot, do group activities, socialize and talk frequently with your friends and family.
Do new technologies make our brain lazier?
It is too early to say anything on this subject - if we think in evolutionary terms, the arrival of technologies is absolutely recent and there is no way of saying whether or not it is affecting the brain.
But the experts suspect not: what happens is that we fail to develop some skills to take better care of others. We are able to handle several types of information at the same time, for example. It is a multifunctional aspect that is unusual and we have not developed it recently.
It is worth paying attention to the self-demand that we end up creating in keeping all the information we receive throughout the day. It is not you who have been forgotten, it is the volume of information that has surpassed your retention capacity.
It is quite a common thing to complain about the memory itself. I myself think mine is not as good as it was when I was young. But, when you start having problems at work, you forget important commitments and other people start to notice it, it is recommended to seek a medical evaluation.
Another important difference is the speed with which these failures happen: the natural loss of age is slow and gradual. Pathological signs evolve rapidly.
Can young adults also have memory failures?
The recommendations are the same for all ages: if forgetfulness starts to disrupt your routine and performance, see a doctor.