Ever notice how you can remember your grandmother’s freshly baked cookies in the oven or the first time you got up on stage in front of large audience?

Emotions play a large role in our ability to remember things. A study by Duke University shows that both positive and negative emotions are effective at not only allowing the person to be able to the store the memories, but also for the ability to retrieve them as well (source: webMD).

The study required various women to view 90 images that were either “pleasant,” “unpleasant,” or “neutral.” Brain scans were performed for each viewing. In a different session, the women were then shown the same pictures and asked which ones they remembered. Each of the women were better at recognizing the pictures that caused emotional responses.

Given this study, it can be argued that in order to increase your ability to remember everyday events and objects, you should associate information with meaningful events.

Whether you are reading a textbook, studying for a test, or trying to remember something without writing it down, relating the information to something that is relevant to an event in your life will help increase your ability to remember.

For example, when you are trying to remember definitions of words, make a story about your dreams, friends, or family using those words you need to study. You will most certainly remember a great majority of those words, if not all of them. The more outrageous, meaningful, or hilarious you make the story, the more likely you will remember the words or other objects/events you need to remember.

Dates and times can be very elusive and many people tend to forget them frequently. It is a difficult task remembering all dates and times you’re supposed to attend such as your doctor’s appointment, an important meeting, or even your child’s day off in school. All you need is a few tips here and there, and you’ll never miss another date again.

Jot it down. Writing a list of future engagements will help you remember that you are supposed to be somewhere on a particular date. If you are invited to a party, commit it to memory and write it down. You can even go the extra mile and buy your host a present. You will not only make him happy, but you will be reminded that you are meant to be someplace for an event.

Pen and Paper. The good old-fashion note-taking tools will save you a lot of forgotten messages in a telephone conversation. Keep a pad of paper and pen near the phone so you’ll not miss any important information. Your phone is not the only thing that needs a handy pen and paper, but you yourself too. Have a small notebook and pen in your pocket always handy for unexpected use.

Mark it on a calendar. Calendars are there to inform you of dates, so use them to remind you of dates important to you. You can directly mark your calendars just as soon as you receive your appointment schedule. Write short notes on designated dates to remind you of their importance.

Plan it. Diaries or planners help you keep your schedule on the right track. You don’t really need a bulky planner, unless you need to have all those pages. A simple planner that has a calendar and space for notes is sufficient. What’s important is that it keeps your dates organized.

Use your cell phone. Take time to enter a short note in your mobile phone’s organizer for future use. You can also set an alarm in your phone’s calendar to remind you of an important appointment that includes the date, time and place.

Dates are insignificant if they don’t mean anything to you. But once they are associated with a person or an event, you can’t afford to miss them. Keep reminding yourself that somebody needs your presence and you need to be someplace important. Review your planner at least once each day and be conscious of personal matters.

There are probably as many memory aids as there are things to be remembered. These aids work for young and old alike if you stick to it and practice them every day. Here are some general tips to help you boost your memory:

1. Don’t cram. It is better to sit down once or twice a day to try to remember things than to try to cram ten hours of study in at one time.

2. Pay attention. People pay attention to what interests them. If you must read and remember something, try to find a room where you can read without too many distractions.

3. Be an active reader. If you want to remember written material, read each sentence as a critic would, ready to locate an inconsistency and checking the content against what you already know.

4. Keep a diary. If you have trouble remembering appointments, make sure every appointment is put into a calendar or diary. Be consistent. Keep the diary in the same place, and always enter every appointment. Make it a point to check the diary every day.

5. Keep lists. Always keep a shopping list tacked on the wall, and always add items you need to the list. Keep lists of jobs, things to be done, etc.

6. Write notes. Write reminders to yourself and leave them in a prominent place.

7. Use your senses. If you really want to remember something, use as many senses as possible – smell, sound, sight, touch, and taste – to help impress upon yourself whatever you are trying to remember.

8. Relax. It is always more difficult to remember if you are in a tense, nervous state. Take a few deep breaths and consciously relax your muscles.

9. Make conscious choices. Put extra energy and effort into remembering things that are important to you.

10. Take your time. As we get older, it may take longer to remember something, but often the information will surface if you wait a moment and don’t push yourself too hard. If you can’t remember the details, admit you have forgotten, and don’t beat yourself up over it.

11. Don’t expect too much. If you are nervous about forgetting something, chances are you will do just that.

12. If you are worried about forgetting things, keep a diary to track the things you forget. This will probably show that your moments of forgetfulness are not nearly as frequent as they seemed, and it will pinpoint those areas in which you do tend to forget things.

Most people have problems with their memory on some days and not others. When you are feeling alert, well rested and healthy, you are less likely to have problems with everyday remembering. But if you have been having a bad day, or are tense or depressed, you may experience problems with your memory.

Since memory is part of your cognitive process, it makes sense that anything that interferes with optimum brain function can affect how well you retrieve and store information. Both your body and your mind – hence your memory – are influenced by diet, medications, stress level, exercise, smoking, and relaxation.

Your mood affects your ability to remember. When you can’t remember something, you can get even more frustrated and create even more stress, which in turn affects your memory further. Anxiety and depression are the two major causes of memory problems at any age. When you are deeply depressed or overstressed, you tend to turn inward. You do not record information the way you normally do and your thoughts are occupied with negative emotions. It is important to relax and de-stress so your memory function can get back to normal. Practice breathing and visualization techniques every day so that when you need them they will be second nature to you.

Not eating a balanced diet can also have a negative impact on your memory, as it can impair the nervous system. Too many food additives and sugar play a key role in memory malfunction. You need a healthy diet full of vitamins, minerals, iron and protein.

You also need to drink plenty of water. Have you ever felt tired and disoriented in the middle of the day, and perked up after having some water? That is because dehydration can lead to confusion and other thinking problems.

Getting enough sleep is also essential for a good memory. This gives your brain some needed rest and relaxation. During certain periods of deep sleep that occur about every hour and a half, the brain disconnects from the senses and process, reviews, consolidates and stores memory. To interfere with this crucial time of sleep will seriously affect how your memory functions.

Alcohol, smoking and caffeine are all memory inhibitors. Consuming too much of these will impair your ability to store new information, and cause short term memory loss.

It may not be easy at first, but moderating your lifestyle and living in a healthy, balanced way can have a tremendous impact on you and your memory.

Most of us wish for a better memory at one point or another; how many times have you lost your car keys or forgotten where you put your favorite sweater? The good news is, there are three simple steps you can execute to ensure a better memory for years to come.

1) Associate. There are several techniques that can be used to associate something you need to remember with something you already know: first letter cueing, acronyms, acrostics, popular sayings etc. This is known as mnemonics, named after Mnemosyne, the Greek goddess of memory. An example of a mnemonic is the use of the acronym HOMES to remember the Great Lakes: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie and Superior. An example of an acrostic would be EGBDF-Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge. This represents the notes on the lines of the treble clef.

2) Visualize. Visualizing is the ability to see a picture in the mind’s eye, and to see it quite clearly, with color, shape and form. Visualization is important in using the various mnemonic skills, so it is something that should be practiced often. You can practice by visualizing something different every day. Make a list of simple things, like a can of soup, a puppy, a cherry pie, etc. It really doesn’t matter what the item is, as long as you try to make them as real and vivid in your mind as you can. Visualizing will help you to become a better observer; which in turn will help you pay attention.

3) Pay attention. This is probably the most important thing you can do to improve your memory. Paying attention involves deciding which things are worth remembering and which can be discarded and forgotten. Lack of attention is also a major reason most people forget a name when first introduced – they are so busy looking at the other person, making initial judgments and thinking of something to say, they never really hear the name at all. For most people, paying attention is a conscious effort, not a reflex. You will have to work at it in the same way you can learn to improve anything else.

Are you starting to see how these three steps all work together to help improve your memory? It will take some time and effort to perfect these techniques. Practice every day and come up with some of your own acronyms and sayings for things you need to remember.

If you are like most people, you could use some tips on improving your memory. Most of us have at one time or another lost our car keys, forgot where we parked our car, forgotten an item at the grocery store, or forgotten someone’s name. There are things we can do however, that will help us remember important events, as well as everyday chores and appointments.

Here are five tips to help you improve your memory:

1) Pay attention. This means being aware of your surroundings, being conscious of where your park your car in a parking lot, where you put your keys and really listen when being introduced to someone new. Repeat their name out loud to help you remember it for the next time you meet.

2) Make visual clues. If you have an important appointment coming up or have something important that you must remember, place a colorful sticky note on the steering wheel of your car, the receiver of your telephone, your bathroom mirror, or your shoe; anywhere where you will be likely to find them. Don’t place just one note, place several of them around the house or in your office.

3) Use a timer. Timers can be a wonderful tool to use when we want to remember to make a phone call, catch the rinse cycle on the washing machine, or record our favorite television show.

4) Carry a notebook to use when you are away from home. Keep it in your car, wallet or purse. When something comes up that you need to remember, jot it down and transfer the event into your calendar when you get home.

5) Use a calendar for birthdays and anniversaries. Write down your loved ones’ names, birthdates, and anniversaries on this calendar. You can even go one step further and in January, look through the calendar and purchase all the cards you will need for the coming year along with stamps and envelopes. That way you will not have to rush out at the last minute buying cards and getting them into the mail a day late!

Improving your memory takes some time and effort, but if you make a habit of doing even just one or two things from the above list, you will find you will have a better memory and you will never forget a birthday or a name again; and you will always get what you need from the grocery store!