How to Soundly Improve Memory

Can't find the car keys again? Don't remember where you left your eyeglasses? There is a better chance of finding Jimmy Hoffa than locating your wallet? Sometimes these annoyances are just that -- annoying. Other times they make you late for that really important meeting or picking up the kids from soccer practice on time.

Often, we can laugh these small incidences off, but why settle for that? Researchers may have just uncovered a simple way to improve your memory during sleep.

Neuroscientists (brain specialists) at Northwestern University recently conducted a small but interesting study that demonstrated that playing sounds associated with objects (such as the sound of keys jiggling) during a person's sleep helped their memory regarding these items when awake.

The sleep-memory connection certainly is not a new scientific concept. Researchers have concluded over the years with various forms of sleep-memory studies and interventions that, basically, improved sleep equals improved memory.

Here I will review the basics of "sleep hygiene" and some sleep-memory "games" -- and hopefully help you to not only sleep more soundly -- but also remember where those car keys are in the morning!

1 Start a good night's sleep with a routine ritual and good sleep hygiene. Getting ready for bed should be a winding down of your day and not a rehashing of events either great or small (see link to article in Resources below).

2 Make sure your sleep memory is not being diluted by a physical issue such as the common condition of sleep apnea. Sleep apnea can literally range from brief to prolonged periods of breathlessness during sleep that deprives your brain of much-needed oxygen.

Consider oxygen "brain food," and if your brain is not getting the "food" it needs, it will take the partial "food" that is available and use it for vital functions. So your brain is actually very smart; it takes whatever oxygen or "food" is available and utilizes it for life-sustaining functions first, before it bellies up to the memory bar!

4 Have someone play a simple recording of your car keys jiggling while you are asleep. This is a simple way to "replicate" the study done at Northwestern University to see if listening to sounds associated with objects during your sleep can improve your memory. The recording should be played after you have fallen asleep and needs only to at the "whisper" level of sound. One or two playbacks should do it.

5 Play some "brain games" while you are awake. These are exercises for the mind that activate several different neurological functions and "pump them up," which in turn helps with memory during sleep (see link in Resources).

Source: Net