Poor memory and recall

B

Bobbin

Honorary Master
Joined
Oct 22, 2009
Messages
10,391
Reaction score
2,359
Location
Johannesburg
Hey all,

Just thought I would ask the forums and see. I believe I have a worse than average memory and wonder what I could do to manage it or perhaps try to improve it?

I find I often forget appointments, details in day to day occurrences, details in activities performed at my job, what I had for supper last night etc... I am especially bad with things like song lyrics (when dared to perform karaoke last weekend I found I could not recall a single popular song back to back and had to come up with excuses, Is that bad? :erm:)

I do however find that I can remember some things quite well if I actively engage it or concentrate on it but I find this is a conscious process, for other people it seems to be automatic.

I also seem to have poor grasp of time as in when certain things occurred in the past in what order and also grasping time in the future for planning events and appointments.

As you can imagine I rely heavily on notes and diaries and email/calendars but I can't write everything down all the time and for instance when I am asked by my colleagues for details relating to tasks I handled I often have no recollection of it and mostly rely on giving a logical answer if I can as opposed to a confident one.

Lastly to add I think memory has never been my strong point, I did of course pass matric and tertiary long ago but it was a case of remembering everything for an exam up until the day and then almost instantly forgetting it as soon as I left the exam room.

I am 26 btw. Still nowhere near old enough for these kinds of problems :D

So any ideas?
 
Last edited:
Bobbin said:
I also seem to have poor grasp of time as in when certain things occurred in the past in what order and also grasping time in the future for planning events and appointments.
Click to expand...

That sounds all too familiar. Keeping an eye on this thread :)
 
Mostly memory issues like what you described are due to a lack of organization or plan and lack of concentration. You will find that the experts tell you that you have a scatter brain, meaning you are trying to do to much at any one time and you do not concentrate on the task at hand, you allow interruptions by others (or yourself) to easily in the interest to be helpful and assist them and people tend to take advantage of that. But it may be that you have a underlying problem with short or long term memory. You should rather see an expert.
 
Last edited:
Bobbin said:
Hey all,

Just thought I would ask the forums and see. I believe I have a worse than average memory and wonder what I could do to manage it or perhaps try to improve it?

I find I often forget appointments, details in day to day occurrences, details in activities performed at my job, what I had for supper last night etc... I am especially bad with things like song lyrics (when dared to perform karaoke last weekend I found I could not recall a single popular song back to back and had to come up with excuses, Is that bad? :erm:)

I do however find that I can remember some things quite well if I actively engage it or concentrate on it but I find this is a conscious process, for other people it seems to be automatic.

I also seem to have poor grasp of time as in when certain things occurred in the past in what order and also grasping time in the future for planning events and appointments.

As you can imagine I rely heavily on notes and diaries and email/calendars but I can't write everything down all the time and for instance when I am asked by my colleagues for details relating to tasks I handled I often have no recollection of it and mostly rely on giving a logical answer if I can as opposed to a confident one.

Lastly to add I think memory has never been my strong point, I did of course pass matric and tertiary long ago but it was a case of remembering everything for an exam up until the day and then almost instantly forgetting it as soon as I left the exam room.

I am 26 btw. Still nowhere near old enough for these kinds of problems :D

So any ideas?
Click to expand...

Get a PA
 
Same here. You'll soon forget about it.
 
Jokes aside, have the same prob. Dont have the luxury of a PA as I am working and running a sideline business, so yeah im a scatter brain. However if it were not for using outlook calendar and tasks and synching to my BB and my Galaxy Tab , id be pretty f'ed.
Scary thing is that u are only26.



Sent from my GT-P1000 using MyBroadband Android App
 
I feel the same way, also going to monitor this thread and hope we can at least come to a solution that does not involve the PA. Am the same age too eish.
 
Google destroyed my memory. Seriously. Once I realised Google was remembering nearly everything for me, my brain just went on vacation.
 
Me too. I used to be very sharp and similar to Milano, I also blame technology. I spend too much time on my BB and on MyBB. I feel that my addiction is what is distracting me from full concentration. Even supper time, I have my phone while the family is telling stories and I'm half listening. Same with my wife, she tells me that I don't listen and I know its true. Also get distracted with TV and don't listen to or notice other peoples words.

I've started putting my phone down when the vrou talks to me and trying not to look at phone at work, I rather catch up my reading of the groups and messages when home.

Its like when someone drives you to a new destination, you don't really take notice of the road. Drive yourself and you memorise/remember much better.

That's my 5c anyways.
 
Apparently there is chemicals for this.

I do not remember many of the things as mentioned, but found my problem is a bit diffrent. Example if you tell me your name before I get to the 3'rd person in a row I would have forgotten the 1st but give me your ID number and 5 years later I would still be able to repeat it. I never save phone numbers on my phone as I remember them easy. In order for me to remember someones name I have to repeat or use it more than once and over a timespan.

Some people would say this is because its a number the odd thing is I work allot on *nix systems and can remember commands no problem and that only after seeing it once. As for time, more than once have I woken the day after my birthday realizing that I missed something.

My point being, I think we tend to remember certain things better than others only because we pay more attention into remembering them?

Oh and I have dyslexia. Brown text on yellow background + spell checker rule!!!! <--- only mentioning this because some say we suppose to have bad working memory

EDIT: I just remembered why I remember numbers well, I don't remember the number but the pattern you would follow to type the number on a keyboard,
 
Last edited:
I used to commit far more to human memory. If your cell phone was stolen tomorrow (no backups) how many cell numbers do you know by memory?

Something that also interests me is the accuracy and volume of data we receive. Whether those factors play any role in our memory skills? Have there been any significant changes in the average human's memory capacity etc in the current tech/information age as opposed to say the 60's and 70's?

As someone growing up in the 80's there was nearly always one answer per question which people were generally more willing to accept as fact. There now seem to be a number of potential answers as many answers are disputed by a number of experts. So the line is more blurred. Would that mean we question the information more? Or is it less filtered so there is a greater overload of information including a greater amount of inaccurate data available?

Then looking at the time, of course, lack of decent sleep plays its part too. Was watching on ABC news how more and more Americans are sleeping at work, simply not getting the required quantity & quality of sleep. Then lack of sleep leading to higher stress levels of course. Vicious circle.
 
Last edited:
Interesting answers all :) thanks.

I hardly doubt I could afford or justify a PA at 26 :D :p

But it seems there are quite a few people with the same issue then? Could this mean that the cause is most likely external? I would love to be able to say "THIS" is exactly what is causing it :/ anyone out there who has managed to deal with it in any way rather than just putting up with it?
 
Bobbin said:
Interesting answers all :) thanks.

I hardly doubt I could afford or justify a PA at 26 :D :p

But it seems there are quite a few people with the same issue then? Could this mean that the cause is most likely external? I would love to be able to say "THIS" is exactly what is causing it :/ anyone out there who has managed to deal with it in any way rather than just putting up with it?
Click to expand...

Try a high dose of Omega 3/6 pills?
 
if you can remember numbers then you can remember other things as well. there is no such thing as you can't remember anything else because very soon people will become tired of these antics and you will end up losing job after job and you will end up a lost cause with nothing to show for it in your life. you need to start somewhere even if it means going on some memory test course or going to the doctor to get some tests done to prove that there is nothing wrong with your head. if you haven't had any injury on your head or brain then there is no excuse.
 
I've found that my short term memory sucks... I'll forget things, but generally, my long term memory is pretty decent. My memory recall sucks though, and I mean badly. It'll take me 10~15 seconds to sift through my brain to try remember things.

However, you might just need to do puzzles, or games which actively challenge your short term memory on a daily bases. it'll improve :).
 
@Bobbin I've suffered from poor concentration and memory retention and suprisingly my diet was a big factor. I use to consume a lot of sugar (Fizzy cooldrinks) and generally ate things that made me tired (white bread, pies, etc).

As a UNISA student it was hard working full time in a new career path and still having to study at night. My son also had concentration and learning issues, and we took him to a specialist who advised that he used Xylitol replacement for sugar. I tested it out on myself and since then my conentration and memory retention has improved.

But this was only 50% of cure, the other half was a result of me doing physical excercise that I enjoyed and feel motivated with to continue with each day - I cycle. I try and cycle 60 minutes a day, usually I achieve this by cycling to work (30 minutes each way).

Not saying it may help you but it worked for my son and I. Best see a specialist if your planning to change your diet.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X