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827 sats \ 4 replies \ @bief57 10 Feb \ on: How is your memory prowess? health
In my adolescence my memory was very good, I remembered phone numbers, birthdays of almost all the people I knew, my mother's bank account numbers and passwords, obviously mine too... Today I only remember the password of my phone and my phone number. Recently I was thinking that I should do something to get my mind back on track. I totally agree with what you mention, the more we automate our data with phones, the less we make an effort to remember, among other things that influence memory deterioration, age, motherhood, stress. I don't know how true it is but I have read that learning a new language, doing Sudoku and these types of activities help you with your memory, without forgetting a balanced diet and exercise, which are the pillars for the body to function correctly.
You said almost everything I was going to. I never had to know my mom's bank account number, but no doubt I could have remembered that too. I still remember several of my childhood friends' phone numbers, and yet, I have no idea what their current phone numbers are.
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The million sats question, do you remember any of the obscure economic theories you were forced to gulp down in your undergraduate years?
During a memory workshop last year, the facilitator asked me to recite Avogadro’s constant since I said that I was trained in chemistry. I have not thought about this number for twenty years, but to my surprise I recited the constant even before my conscious brain kicked in to process his question.
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I feel like my PhD program literally gave me brain damage. There are a ton of things from physics (my initial undergraduate background) that I used to have memorized, like Avogadro's number.
Now, I mostly just remember the qualitative relationships and some of the explanations for them, but the precise numbers and formulas have mostly drifted into the ether.
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I read that too. N given that dementia seems to afflict so many elderly citizens nowadays, I think we all have to make a concerted effort to learn new things and form new neural pathways so that our brain cells don’t die off
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