Do you remember that?

I have an excellent long term memory. I can remember details like you wouldn’t believe. They play out in my mind like a movie. What people said; what they were wearing; where we were. It’s all there like someone wrote it down for me.

If what you want me to remember is a week ago or sooner however, you can just forget about me remembering it. My short term memory is bad. Very bad. Very, very bad.

I write myself notes to not forget things and then forget that I wrote the note in the first place until I find it usually well after the fact. I have notes everywhere.

I forget websites unless I visit them on a regular basis. When I remember them I can’t believe I forgot about them in the first place. I loved that site but because I skipped a couple of days it’s gone from my mind until something reminds me.

I find myself standing in the middle of rooms wondering why I’m in there…often. My short term memory is really that awful. I hate it. I’m just glad the memories actual do find their way to their spot in my brain after a week. It would be terrible to lose it forever.

So this morning while I was browsing my homepage I saw two different headlines that interested me very much. One of them was 6 Minutes to a Better Memory and the other was 8 Foods to Keep Your Brain Young and Healthy. I had to read more!

The first article said that taking a 6 minute nap during the daytime would give your memory a quick and easy boost. You could take a longer nap but the effect it has on your memory happens after just 6 minutes. Daytime nappers outperformed non-nappers on memory exercises. They said that falling asleep triggered a neurobiological process that gives your brain a boost.

That same article also provided links to a fun memory exercise site and one that says keeping in touch with family and friends is beneficial to your memory. They were both pretty interesting and the games were fun. (Click on the highlighted words to visit the sites yourself.)

The second article I read was about 8 foods to eat to increase your memory. I know you want to know what they are because that’s all I wanted to know too. Here’s the list:

1. Fish
2. Blueberries
3. Nuts and Seeds
4. Cruciferous Vegetables (Broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts)
5. Oil: Monounsaturated Fats (olive, sesame, canola, almond, flaxseed and fish oil)
6. L-carnitine Foods (meats, fish, poultry, wheat, avocado, milk and soybeans)
7. Microalgae (eww. Sorry that doesn’t sound good) This comes from the ocean or uncontaminated lakes and is algae (blue-green algae, spiraling, chlorella, seaweed and kelp).
8. Green tea. Drink 2 cups a day to get the full benefits.

So maybe I’ll eat a few of those. They really lost me on the algae. I just can’t see myself eating up some algae! Thank you anyway. But I'll try some of the others to see if it helps my poor frazzled short term memory.

How about you? How’s your memory? And what do you think about that diet? Would you eat algae?