Losing my memory?

going un-reg

Hey guys..I'll try to explain this as best I can...but I'll find it hard.

I've noticed over the last few years (in my late 20's now) that I find it hard to remember basic things. I seem to be able to remember the oddest of things , often they are completely irrelevant things. but whenever I've studied something, two days later I cant articulate that information in my mind at all. I'm a designer and I've always remembered things by visuals in my mind, if that makes sense. So when It comes to remembering facts/dates/specific information I fall flat on my ass.

I dont know what to do about this as sometimes it's embarressing. Having and intellectual conversation with a friend or family member can just go to the dogs often, as the information I know I've learned, just disappears before I have a chance to say it.

Does anyone else experience this? My diet and lifestyle over the last while has been better than it ever has been and its still the same.

Is there anyone who I'd be able to go to without going to an expensive specialist? This is so frustrating for me , as on the whole I'm a very articulate person. I talk well, I'm very personable and confident. Its just this nogging of mine lets me down so many times. I was never really an acedemic person in school. It bored me so much.

I do get bored easily, maybe thats a sign of A.D.D? it would make sense regarding some situations in my past.


I've recently took up a passionate interest that involves understanding and remembering alot of information, and it upsets me because even though I know I've watched it, read it etc. I try talking about it and it's no where near as good as I'd want it to be.

Anyone have any advice?

Thanks...

jdivision

Wouldn't be right to give medical advice but post your diet in full in the Nutrition & Diet forum, list what's wrong and you might be surprised by answers

jackthelad321

going un-reg wrote: »

Hey guys..I'll try to explain this as best I can...but I'll find it hard.

I've noticed over the last few years (in my late 20's now) that I find it hard to remember basic things. I seem to be able to remember the oddest of things , often they are completely irrelevant things. but whenever I've studied something, two days later I cant articulate that information in my mind at all. I'm a designer and I've always remembered things by visuals in my mind, if that makes sense. So when It comes to remembering facts/dates/specific information I fall flat on my ass.

I dont know what to do about this as sometimes it's embarressing. Having and intellectual conversation with a friend or family member can just go to the dogs often, as the information I know I've learned, just disappears before I have a chance to say it.

Does anyone else experience this? My diet and lifestyle over the last while has been better than it ever has been and its still the same.

Is there anyone who I'd be able to go to without going to an expensive specialist? This is so frustrating for me , as on the whole I'm a very articulate person. I talk well, I'm very personable and confident. Its just this nogging of mine lets me down so many times. I was never really an acedemic person in school. It bored me so much.

I do get bored easily, maybe thats a sign of A.D.D? it would make sense regarding some situations in my past.


I've recently took up a passionate interest that involves understanding and remembering alot of information, and it upsets me because even though I know I've watched it, read it etc. I try talking about it and it's no where near as good as I'd want it to be.

Anyone have any advice?

Thanks...

My own memory is shocking. I do tend to remember things i am passionate about, but some people just have greater memory retention than others. My own brother has taken fits of drugs over the years, drank like an irishman, and he still has a stunning memory. I used to have one like that but it has lessened severely. I did well in school but, as it is largely a memory test, i used tricks to help me remember things.

I can't offer you advice on memory. There are books by Tony Buzan that are meant to help you improve you memory through exercies. Might be worth a look. However it'll take a lot of dedication, as theses things always do.

I know how annoying it is to forget stuff. I read things and forget them immediately. My girlfriend and me read the same books and discuss them (we're in Asia traveling) and when she reads a book she recalls every stupid detail, i miss these things even though i concentrated closely. And she flies through books, i usually do get distracted after a few mins.

It might be worth noting here that filtering out memories is (i've read) a product of a healthy mind. I remember a study years ago saying that a mind that declutters regularly is working fine. Hard to say really.

I don't know about ADD but a lot of people are dreamers, I dont't know if that is a medical condtion. I'm sure a few medical practitioners would dianose me as ADD but it would be unfair. I just get bored easily too.

I hope you find some constructive thoughts here. If you are worried about it there's a glut of things, books etc., you can do to try to improve your memory. Otherwise a specialist may allay some of your concerns.

Jack

going un-reg

Thanks for that jack.

I've a feeling its got to do with how I've lived my life for the past few years. Not reading often and not researching alot of things. I think that the more acedemically minded you are, your brain is trained to retain information and details more than say someone in my positions where alot of my knowledge just comes from my talent for art/designing.

Maybe my mind is decluttering, maybe too much. Having said that its getting rid of information that I want to hold onto. Maybe my method of retaining information is flawed, how my brain interprets information and how it stores it.

I'd even thought of going to get a CAT scan a while ago but I never did, they're not exactly cheap! just on the off chance there was something physically odd with my brain. :rolleyes:

Fizzical

Learning new material is not easy, never was. "Whenever I've studied something, two days later I cant articulate that information in my mind at all" - just means you've got to treat it as something to be learned. If it was that easy to remember stuff, everyone would have 600 points in the Leaving!

Ask someone for help in how to study. For example, skim the material first to get the overall gist of it. Then read it carefully, marking out important points. Then go back and learn those important points. Then write them down from memory.

The next night review your summary, and try to write it down again etc. After a couple of nights, give it a break for a couple of days, then do it again. When you're well familiar with the main points, re-read the whole thing to flesh it out. Then try telling somebody what it's all about.

Just reading something rarely works. You must write it and tell it to someone - then you'll have it.

When you get used to it, you'll get much quicker.

jackthelad321

Fizzical wrote: »

Learning new material is not easy, never was. "Whenever I've studied something, two days later I cant articulate that information in my mind at all" - just means you've got to treat it as something to be learned. If it was that easy to remember stuff, everyone would have 600 points in the Leaving!

Ask someone for help in how to study. For example, skim the material first to get the overall gist of it. Then read it carefully, marking out important points. Then go back and learn those important points. Then write them down from memory.

The next night review your summary, and try to write it down again etc. After a couple of nights, give it a break for a couple of days, then do it again. When you're well familiar with the main points, re-read the whole thing to flesh it out. Then try telling somebody what it's all about.

Just reading something rarely works. You must write it and tell it to someone - then you'll have it.

When you get used to it, you'll get much quicker.

Glad to see this post, i reminded me of how i did well in my leaving cert. I used a book by that guy i was talking about, Tony Buzan. It was called use your head. A chapter was devoted to memory. It's something like what you have mentioned Fizzical.

First, you wite down all the stuff, short hand on a que card. Shorten things, make it neat and small, but packed with info. Keep this in pocket (not hard, they're the size of a wallet) Next go over the info for an hour one day, revise for a half hour the next day. after a few days look over it again for 10 mins, and maybe once more in a few days for a few mins. Basically there was a chart that logged typical memory retention in the vast majority of people.

Most memory retention, immediately after learning and imbibing, is around 80% ,of a reasonably complex idea. That retention falls to about 10-15 % in a few HOURS. You may think you remember it perfectly, but you don't. After a week it's under 5%. That's what his book says anyway. The graph makes it look even more drastic, like a very steep rollercoaster.

So revising things in the manner i mentioned keeps the retention at around 80% or higher which, after 3 or 4 disciplined revisions, should become Long-term Memory. So the graph looks more like a heart beat in a hospital monitor, before flatenning out at 80% or higher.

Naturally i never use this anymore, :oeven though i think it worked brilliantly for me all those years ago.

Yea, Tony Buzan is actually very good.