Memory, Multitasking & Mindfulness

How has your memory been lately? Is it easy to remember things that happened years ago but you have a hard time with what happened this past week? Can you remember what was for lunch yesterday? Do you get home from shopping and realize that you forgot to buy what you went after. Then there’s remembering conversations and what happened at meetings. Perhaps you’re starting to worry if your memory is starting to fail for real.

People like us regularly need to get more done in less time so we go online/watch TV/or work while eating. We talk on the phone and listen to music while driving. Perhaps go online to look something up and end up checking mail, reading some news, and looking at the weather forecast while there in the hopes of being efficient and to save time. We all do it, right?

It’s possible that multitasking may be a big factor in not being able to recall things.

Multitasking seems smart but it does not work in the long run. While it can be useful in rote tasks that require little intelligent brainpower, multitasking is detrimental in tasks requiring brainpower. It contributes to stress, wastes time, lowers productivity, and hurts short and long-term memory.

The brain is not capable of taking in and dealing with two different streams of information simultaneously. It is impossible for the brain to encode more than one stream of information fully into short-term memory at a time. Information will never make it into long-term memory if it does not go into short-term memory first. Either way, information cannot be recalled and put to use. This pattern contributes to forgetfulness, poor memory, and more stress.

From Yoga Nidra for Complete Relaxation and Stress Relief by Julie Lusk

Solutions include:

• Stay focused by doing one thing at a time
• Don’t let yourself get distracted from the task at hand
• Increase your brainpower, ability to concentrate, and improve your memory with
  • Yoga Nidra – Info here 
  • Mindfulness – What it is and how to practice.
  • Kirtan Krya, the Sa Ta Na Ma 12-minute meditation for memory improvement and to decrease anxiety and depression – Resources here
  • Complete Yoga Breathing for clearing your mind, calming down, and increasing energy
  • Guided Relaxation and its benefits here

Guided Mindfulness Meditations: Practicing Presence & Finding Peace CD

Julie eases your way into being more mindful with her clean, user-friendly, body-based, joyful approach. The net effect is calmer nerves, a brighter outlook, stronger memory, sharper focus, healthier body awareness and a more balanced perspective. With repeated use, listeners become more fully attentive to what is happening right now, neither resisting nor clinging to each moment, but letting experiences come and go and be just as they are. This program offers a 5-minute track of training tips; a long (18 min) and a short (6 min) mindfulness experience; and ways to be more mindful informally during the day (4 min). (39 minutes total) Published by Health Journeys.