Sunday, June 15, 2014

Why do I have a string in my finger?



Brain fog:

In the previous Century when landlines were in vogue, people could recall several names and numbers with STD codes effortlessly. This scenario has changed. With the emergence of cell phones and portable devices, the memory storage has been conveniently out sourced to the gadgets! These gadgets store reams of personal information resulting in our brains being under-stimulated. 

Our growing reliance on electronic devices for even the simplest tasks is perhaps dulling our minds. People are now prone to forget boring, yet important details.  They tend to forget addresses, passwords, phone numbers and birthdays.  Research studies attribute this to medications, antidepressants, antihistamines, smoking, illicit drugs, sleep deprivation, nutritional deficiency (especially in vitamin B1 and B12) head injury and strokes.

Let’s not take it hard. In a scenario where we are flooded with huge amounts of information, the brain is not able to process everything at once. Even though it has a memory folder, if we don't make a special effort to remember the facts, they will only have a short shelf-life. A great way to remember boring facts is to construct a short and simple story. If you connect a memory to something else, you never forget, like:  “my daughter’s birthday is a week after the new year".  Suppose you need to remember a password number 968517 you can imagine a story in which a 96-year old grandfather married to an 85-year old dame, has 17 grandchildren!
Sometimes, after locking up the house on the way out, you don't remember and doubt yourself if you turned the gas stove off, or switched off lights inside.   It will be much easier to remember if you have something else to recall.  Every time you turn off the stove, say loudly: "I turned off the stove" to yourself!

Most people learn visually instead of orally, which explains why we usually remember faces but are quite bad with names. There are times you run into someone you met a few days ago, but you already forgot their name! This is one of the most common memory problems. Next time you meet someone new, look at them really well and repeat their name for yourselves at least three times. Use it in the conversation, as we tend to remember those better than just names.

You don't remember where you put the keys, glasses, wallet or your sun glasses. This is usually an attention problem. When we go into the house in a huff, while lost in thought or maybe talking on the phone, our mind wanders ; as  usual, if we don't make it clear to the brain that we must remember . Therefore add an action to the putting down and say: "This is where I'm putting my keys, on the armchair of the sofa." It will give you important clues later of where to look for. A better way would be to keep a large bowl next to the entry door, where you drop off these items.

You are having a hard time remembering words, names of books, actors and old tunes?  This is a universal problem and it gets worse the older we get. Let go of stress, it is the killer of memory. Clear your head and focus only on the words you are trying to find. Sometimes, the word seems to be right on the tip of our tongue, but we can't get to it as the actual biological pathway in the brain to that word is blocked.  No amount of 'trying to remember' will help. You have to find a way around. When we’re trying to find the word 'University', it's right on the tip of our tongue, but we can't remember it exactly. Try then to think of: 'college', 'student', 'municipality' and so on. These will help approach the word from a different direction or path!

It is encouraging that many institutions across the globe now appreciate a very useful tool from our ancient wisdom viz.  Mindfulness Meditation, as a supplemental tool in the task of clearing the brain fog.


Dr.Arun Madhavan

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