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
