Memory Strategies and Their Effects on the Body

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Memory strategies
Cognitive training
Effects of cognitive training
Psychopharmacology
Effects of psychopharmacology
Diet
References

Introduction

The human memory is an important reference to an individual’s life because it is used to remember past events that help in planning. Memory problems are a common concern in the society due to the increased rate of memory problems among the individuals. This problem is caused by a combination of several factors that is normal. The first factor is an individual age that causes memory lapses. Other factors include temporary and treatable conditions that are experienced in the course of life.

The brain is the body organ responsible for memory in the human body. It can stay in a good condition for a long time, but it becomes tired during the old age. Therefore, it is important for people to understand the various causes of memory problems. As such, this will help develop strategies that will develop the memory of an individual even in the old age. This paper will discuss the memory strategies and their potential effects on the body.

Memory strategies

Memory strategies are methods used to maintain a healthy mental well-being of an individual. The adult memory is prone to problems because it has fewer activities to remember. In contrast, the youth memory is more active because at this level a young person is involved in vigorous activity that requires recall. However, both the old and the youth do not have a perfect memory because they interact with information every time making it difficult to remember everything. Memory problems can be enhanced through various strategies. These strategies are: cognitive training, diet training and Psychopharmacology.

Cognitive training

This is a memory strategy that involves an alteration of the brain for some time through cognitive activities to progress an individual’s memory. Cognitive activities will help improve the cognitive functions in the body like remembrance, interpretation and speed of processing. Additionally, cognitive training can also advance non-memory issues like speed and accuracy controlled by the auditory system (Winfield, 2011). The basis of cognitive training is to regularly perform activities that involve the brain over a length of time. As such, the brain will respond and it will become used to the activities thus improving the general memory. Cognitive training takes two approaches as; strategy training and core training.

Strategy training is designed to help the brain to remember specific bulk information through encoding, maintenance and recall (Janice, 2011). It is based on the fact that information can be remembered through rehearsing several times. Core training involves duplicating demanding information through a combined strategy that sets to improve the outcome. The major aim of both strategies is to develop the level in which an individual can remember information with ease. This involves a continuous activity that will make the brain adjust to the magnitude of the activity thus improving the memory level.

Effects of cognitive training

The approach of performing cognitive training affects both the desired results and how an individual regards the change. Here, if the individual develops a negative attitude towards the cognitive training then its results are likely to be affected. For example, if an individual realizes a progressive result he becomes interested in the training and subsequently improves his memory. On the contrary, where an individual gets a negative result he develops a negative attitude that makes him looses his memory further. However, repeated cognitive training has a positive effect as it can recover other memory conditions in the body. For example, strategy training is effective in improving the condition of children suffering from Down syndrome (Janice, 2011).

Basically, children suffering from Down syndrome have memory problems, but through rehearsing it is possible to get better the function of the brain. Core training is at the center stage in improving the effects of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (Kleim, 2008).

Psychopharmacology

This involves improving memory problems through an analysis of how chemicals found in drugs affect temper, feeling, contemplation and behavior. Adrenaline is a hormone secreted in the body which has been found to pick up the human memory. Therefore, individuals suffering from memory consolidation can be injected with the hormone to improve its effects. It can also improve memory arousal because it takes part during the process of memory encoding (Winfield, 2011).

The glucose level in the human body can also improve the memory through providing a vital component used in the relay of information in the brain. Information is relayed and transmitted to the brain by the transmitter substance called acetylcholine, which is regulated by the glucose levels in the body (Janice, 2011). Another chemical substance that can progress memory problems is nicotine found as a component in cigarettes. People with visiospatial problems are encouraged to smoke to obtain nicotine that is a component of cigarette smoke. It can also be a remedy for patients suffering from schizophrenia.

Effects of psychopharmacology

This is a strategy that uses chemicals to suppress the adverse effects of memory problems. As such, the chemicals which can be produced naturally or induced have severe side-effects to the body. For example, adrenaline in the body is tasked with several functions apart from memory improvement. Its other role is that it is considered a sex hormone and can also stimulate milk production in lactating mothers. High level of adrenaline in the body will increase the urge for sex among individuals in a population that may lead to other issues like unprotected sex, early pregnancy in children or rape cases.

Although nicotine is an essential chemical that can treat several problems in the body, it encourages smoking that has other more profound health problems than memory. A common problem of smoking is addiction and lung cancer. The nicotine in cigarette can cause addiction that will become a habitual behavior to that person. Controlling addiction is a complex task that requires a lot of psychological counseling to control. Additionally, high level of nicotine in the body has been realized to have no effect in improving the memory, but can cause memory impairment (Kleim, 2008).

Diet

A balanced diet is an important strategy to use in improving memory problems because it is not as involving as the other strategies. The components found in food that are responsible for maintaining a strong memory is; glucose, flavanoids and fats (Straus, 2009). The basic function of these components is that they are used in the formation of parts of the brain or take part in the processes in the brain. For example, flavanoids interact with the brain-derived neurotrophic factor to promote an effective functioning of the neurons that relays information to the brain. The effects of using diet as a strategy is that it leads to developing other diseases in the body. For example, a high level of glucose in the body can lead to increased activity of the kidney that result to diabetes.

References

Janice, M. (2011). Emergence of working memory in children using aided communication. Journal of Assistive Technologies, 5(4), 214 – 232.

Kleim, J. (2008). Principles of experience-dependent neural plasticity: implications for rehabilitation after brain damage. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 51(1), 225-239.

Straus, C. (2009). Strategies for Improving Memory. Psych Central. Web.

Winfield, A. (2011). The psychology of human memory. San Diego: Academic Press.

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