Remember this
Can't seem to remember what you had for lunch, your best friend's birthday, or the homework assignment your teacher just handed out? The more we seem to cram onto our phone these days, the less we rely on our brains to keep track of our to do lists. Is this ruining our memory?
Personally, I think it is. Have you ever heard of the phrase, neurons that fire together, wire together? This essentially means that the nerves in our brain that fire every time we complete a task become stronger as we continually complete the task. This makes it less taxing on the brain to perform the specific skill, and keeps the neurons from dying since they are constantly in use. On the other hand, when we don't use a set of nerves in our brain, they die off in order to make room for new neurons that we will use. This whole process of neural pruning is our brain's way of spring cleaning.
To put two and two together, when we write everything down in our phone then ditch the ideas until our phone alerts us, we aren't rehearsing the neurons involved in making memories. By not constantly thinking about the wedding you have to attend in two months, the paper due at the end of the week, or the dinner date you have tonight, we aren't exercising the neurons of our brain. When one of those fateful days happens--the one where you forget your phone at home--it's inevitable that you will not remember all of what you were supposed to that day. Or else it takes a large amount of effort to verbalize and write down a to do list at the end of the day. But there are ways to stay sharp.
Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse. Rehearsing, or constantly thinking, about a specific memory will cause the brain to encode it and store it for a longer period of time. Then it will be more easily accessible when you want to recall it as well. This is why teachers are constantly nagging us students to start studying a few days ahead of time for the upcoming test. The constant rehearsal of vocal for a language class will cause the words to stick. I can vouch for that. And rehearsing doesn't necessarily mean that you must verbalize to memorize. Writing and rewriting works just as well. And my personal favorite: word association. This involved pairing a word with a picture that you create in your head. For example, when I am memorizing items on a grocery list, as I am reading the list, I write the word butter and visualize a melting stick of butter in a pot on the stove. Fun fact: the weirder the picture you create in your mind, the more likely you are to remember it. If I write the world butter and think of sticking my feet in two sticks of butter and wearing them as ice skates, I likely will draw up the image long after I am done grocery shopping.
It may take some effort to begin with, but after some practice, using your brain instead of your phone will help keep your mind active and lead to slower mental degeneration later in life. Just like physical exercise is good for the body, mental exercise is important too.
XOXO,
Rachel
Personally, I think it is. Have you ever heard of the phrase, neurons that fire together, wire together? This essentially means that the nerves in our brain that fire every time we complete a task become stronger as we continually complete the task. This makes it less taxing on the brain to perform the specific skill, and keeps the neurons from dying since they are constantly in use. On the other hand, when we don't use a set of nerves in our brain, they die off in order to make room for new neurons that we will use. This whole process of neural pruning is our brain's way of spring cleaning.
To put two and two together, when we write everything down in our phone then ditch the ideas until our phone alerts us, we aren't rehearsing the neurons involved in making memories. By not constantly thinking about the wedding you have to attend in two months, the paper due at the end of the week, or the dinner date you have tonight, we aren't exercising the neurons of our brain. When one of those fateful days happens--the one where you forget your phone at home--it's inevitable that you will not remember all of what you were supposed to that day. Or else it takes a large amount of effort to verbalize and write down a to do list at the end of the day. But there are ways to stay sharp.
Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse. Rehearsing, or constantly thinking, about a specific memory will cause the brain to encode it and store it for a longer period of time. Then it will be more easily accessible when you want to recall it as well. This is why teachers are constantly nagging us students to start studying a few days ahead of time for the upcoming test. The constant rehearsal of vocal for a language class will cause the words to stick. I can vouch for that. And rehearsing doesn't necessarily mean that you must verbalize to memorize. Writing and rewriting works just as well. And my personal favorite: word association. This involved pairing a word with a picture that you create in your head. For example, when I am memorizing items on a grocery list, as I am reading the list, I write the word butter and visualize a melting stick of butter in a pot on the stove. Fun fact: the weirder the picture you create in your mind, the more likely you are to remember it. If I write the world butter and think of sticking my feet in two sticks of butter and wearing them as ice skates, I likely will draw up the image long after I am done grocery shopping.
It may take some effort to begin with, but after some practice, using your brain instead of your phone will help keep your mind active and lead to slower mental degeneration later in life. Just like physical exercise is good for the body, mental exercise is important too.
XOXO,
Rachel
Stressed? Just take a Look at these
Stress. It is the bane of every living human being's existence. It causes breakouts, breakups, and breakdowns. But it is not going away any time soon. Consequently, we must learn to cope; learn to adapt. Ways to deal with stress vary from person to person, but I find one in particular to be a favorite of mine: looking at pictures of baby animals. You know the ones I'm talking about--the baby kittens dressed in sweaters and mittens or the newborn snuggled up next to a chubby puppy. It's like the photographer wanted me to spend hours assessing it's cuteness factor and then continuing to share it on every social media site I have access to. How clever of them. And yes, I do have a Pinterest board dedicated to puppy dog eyes, dressed up piglets, and the like. I am not ashamed. At least not any more...
After a long day of monitoring kids for 16 hours, I wasn't in any mood to casually chat with my coworkers in the break room at midnight. I was tired, my muscles hurt, and my voice had long since left my body. But when one of my coworkers turned her computer around to show us all a picture of a baby goat, my icy demeanor began to melt. How can you not open your heart to a picture like this?
After a long day of monitoring kids for 16 hours, I wasn't in any mood to casually chat with my coworkers in the break room at midnight. I was tired, my muscles hurt, and my voice had long since left my body. But when one of my coworkers turned her computer around to show us all a picture of a baby goat, my icy demeanor began to melt. How can you not open your heart to a picture like this?
This morning I looked back and realized, Hey, maybe looking at pictures of irresistibly adorable animals is just what I need to de-stress. And so I started my hunt to prove that such picture gazing could be used as a stress coping mechanism. I found an article published both in a British journal called the Daily Mail (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2210614/The-power-cute-How-looking-pictures-baby-animals-help-improve-concentration-levels.html) and our very own Wall Street Journal. It turns out that those who look at pictures of baby animals have an easier time concentrating for long periods of time. In particular, participants were told to play the game Operation, having to concentrate hard to remove the tiny game piece organs from the game board (the patient's body). Those who looked at a series of animal infants improved their playing abilities by 16%. In my past experience, this game created an immense amount of stress in attempts to take out tiny game pieces with tiny tweezers from a tiny body without touching the sides of the tiny openings. Thus, I have a feeling that the pictures had a calming effect on the participants, causing them to unwind a bit, relax, and complete the game with a higher winning percentage.
Now I fully understand the impetus of bringing in puppies and kittens for students to play with during exam time in college. At Chapel Hill, where I am a student, we have a program like this called Exam Paws. I can fully advocate for the beneficial nature of the therapy kittens and puppies in helping thousands of highly stressed college students calm their nerves. It certainly cleared my mind. All I could think about was burying my face in the fluffy fur of each animal and taking a nap. I was quite sleep deprived at the time...but all ended well, and I fully dedicate my successes to the incomparable cuteness of the kittens and puppies on campus.
So go on my fellow worriers; Keep pinning those puppy dog eyes, those piglet button noses, and those fluffy cheetah cubs.
XOXO,
Rachel
"The power of cute: How looking at pictures of baby animals can help improve your concentration levels." Mail Online 29 Sept. 2012, sec. News: n. pag.
Pictures: Pinterest (Cute Animals)
Now I fully understand the impetus of bringing in puppies and kittens for students to play with during exam time in college. At Chapel Hill, where I am a student, we have a program like this called Exam Paws. I can fully advocate for the beneficial nature of the therapy kittens and puppies in helping thousands of highly stressed college students calm their nerves. It certainly cleared my mind. All I could think about was burying my face in the fluffy fur of each animal and taking a nap. I was quite sleep deprived at the time...but all ended well, and I fully dedicate my successes to the incomparable cuteness of the kittens and puppies on campus.
So go on my fellow worriers; Keep pinning those puppy dog eyes, those piglet button noses, and those fluffy cheetah cubs.
XOXO,
Rachel
"The power of cute: How looking at pictures of baby animals can help improve your concentration levels." Mail Online 29 Sept. 2012, sec. News: n. pag.
Pictures: Pinterest (Cute Animals)