How to Improve Memory Without Any Effort

There is a very simple method to strengthen short and long term memory; This method is useful for both students and Alzheimer's patients.

When trying to learn new information, most of us think that making a lot of effort will be effective. However, what we really need is to do nothing for a short time. After learning something, if you sit aside and relax for 10-15 minutes, you will see that you remember the information you have just learned much better.
It is necessary to take regular breaks during learning and not do anything that will occupy the brain during these breaks in order not to interrupt memory formation. Resting the brain without looking at e-mails, smartphones, the internet or doing anything...
This is a method recommended not only for students but also for diseases such as memory loss and dementia. Experiments show that the capacity to learn and remember is increased with this method, which was not noticed before.


The first data showing that memory could be strengthened by resting the brain without engaging it in any way were revealed by the German doctor Georg Elias Muller in 1900. In one of his experiments, participants were asked to memorize some meaningless syllables, and after a short time, the group was divided into two and half were given a new list to learn immediately, and the other half after a six-minute break.
When the test was taken an hour and a half later, it was seen that those in the group who took a break had learned 50 percent of the list, while those who did not take a break had learned an average of 28 percent of the list. This finding showed that memory is especially sensitive after learning new information, and trying to learn something new immediately will have a negative effect.
These findings were not given much attention until the 2000s. Until important research in this field was conducted by Sergio Della Sala from the University of Edinburgh and Nelson Cowan from the University of Missouri...

The importance of rest

These researchers were examining to what extent it was possible to improve memory by resting the brain, especially in people who had suffered a neurological damage such as a stroke. They gave the subjects a list of 15 words to learn and gave them a test 10 minutes later. In some experiments, subjects continued to focus on standard cognitive tests, while in others they took brief rests in a dark room without sleeping.
Dinlenen hastaların, ezberlemeye çalıştıkları kelimeleri hatırlama oranı yüzde 14'ten yüzde 49'a çıkmıştı. Durumlarında hiçbir ilerleme olmayanlar ise ağır hafıza kaybı olan iki hastaydı. Diğer hastalarda gözlenen gelişme ise onları nörolojik hasara uğramamış sağlıklı insanlarla aynı kategoriye yerleştirmişti.
Daha sonraki sonuçlar daha da etkileyiciydi. Katılımcılardan bazı hikayeleri dinlemeleri, bir saat sonra da onlarla ilgili soruları yanıtlamaları istendi. Dinlenme şansı olmayanlar hikayedeki bilgilerin sadece yüzde 7'sini, dinlenenlerin ise yüzde 79'unu hatırladığı görüldü.


Later studies showed that these rest periods also improved spatial memory in healthy subjects. This state of development continued a week after it was first learned, affecting young and old alike. It was observed that rest had a similar effect in stroke patients as well as those in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease.
The subjects were asked to sit and rest in a quiet, dimly lit room without taking a phone or other distracting device with them. Meanwhile, it was observed that better results were obtained if they did not focus on a specific subject.
In another study, subjects were asked to recall a past or future event during rest, but their recall rates were not as efficient in subsequent tests.

How is memory formed?

When information is first transferred to memory, it must go through a process of consolidation for long-term recall. It used to be thought that this happened during sleep; Because during this time, an increase in communication was observed between the hippocampus, where memories are first formed, and the cortex, and new neural connections that would enable remembering later were formed and strengthened in this process.
Maybe this is why we remember things better after we learn them before going to bed. Later, in a study conducted at New York University in 2010, it was seen that this situation was not limited only to sleep, but that similar neural activity occurred while awake and at rest.
Perhaps the brain uses the moments when it is free to reinforce the things it has recently learned, and the absence of extra stimulation at this time makes this process even easier. Possibly because the neurologically damaged brain is exposed to more interference from external stimuli, these rests are more effective, especially in stroke and Alzheimer's patients.
Experts say that setting regular rest breaks of 10-15 minutes during the day, without any distractions, will benefit everyone in terms of better remembering new information.



To remember better:

• Test yourself. Forcing yourself to remember the information you have learned is much more effective than passive reading.
• Do your work at intervals. Review the information you learned today a few weeks later, when you are about to forget it.
• Explain it to yourself as you learn. In this way, you ensure that what you have learned is consolidated in memory.
• Add variety. Learning different subjects together can sometimes be more effective than studying a single subject in detail and for a long time.