 stimulants. Using alcohol, caffeine, and cigarettes are likely to result in sleeplessness. 4. We all have the ability to fall asleep; it’s hardwired into our brains. But trying to force ourselves to sleep often has the opposite effect. So if you can’t sleep, try to alter your location: get out of bed, and find something soothing or boring to do. 5. Try to find a quiet place to sleep. Noisy environments disturb even the soundest sleepers. Wear ear plugs if you have to. 6. Try to reserve your bedroom for sleeping only. If possible, watch TV, eat, study, etc. somewhere else. Otherwise, you’ll associate your sleeping place with stimulating activities. 7. Practice some sort of relaxation technique; examples include meditation, biofeedback, and deep breathing. Another good technique is alternately tensing and relaxing your muscles for several minutes. Understanding Body Clocks Your body clock is a tiny cluster of nerve cells in the center of your brain; it relies on sunlight to keep you synchronized with planetary time. The quality of your sleep depends on how well your body clock is synchronized. For example, if you go to bed every night at 11 pm and get up every morning at 7 am, you’ll probably find yourself becoming sleepy and waking close to those times automatically, even if you don’t set an alarm clock. This happens because our bodies have the ability to keep their own time. In fact, we have two major internal timing systems. The first is set by the light-and-dark cycle of the day. When you eyes sense the sun, for example, they tell your brain it’s time to wake up. The second system regulates your body temperature; it naturally rises during the day and drops during the night. This temperature clock is reset through the routine of waking, sleeping, and possibly eating. Because we do these activities on day-to-night cycle, the two biological clocks typically run in synch. If your body clock is out of synch, it’s very hard to feel rested, no matter how much you sleep. The good news is that it’s possible to reset your body clock. Try getting up at the same time every day for a week, no matter what time you go to bed. Chances are you’ll soon find getting up easier. And the longer you get up at the same time, the better your body clock will work. "Used with permission UT Learning Center, The University of Texas at Austin." 4 Principles of Memory 1. MAKE AN EFFORT TO REMEMBER • Intend to Remember. Setting out with the intention to learn something the first time around means that you’ll probably spend less time reviewing it later. Read actively to identify and make yourself accountable for information you need to remember. • Get Interested. In order to remember something thoroughly, you must have a reason to remember it. In other words, you must cultivate an interest in what you’re trying to learn and making it meaningful. Try talking to students who seem interested in the material to learn what motivates them. • Use What You Know Already. Your understanding of new material depends largely on how much you already know about the subject. Increasing your basic knowledge and reviewing materials in advance will help you build new knowledge on this background. Try to grasp the big picture before attempting to remember the details. 2. CONTROL THE AMOUNT AND FORM • Be Selective. It’s impossible to remember everything, so decide what’s important, then select and learn those items. • Organize in a meaningful fashion. Grouping ideas into meaningful patterns or categories will help you learn and remember them more effectively. 3. STRENGTHEN NEURAL CONNECTIONS • Review Immediately. Taking a few moments after your initial reading to stop and mentally quiz yourself about what you’ve just read is the essential first step to remembering the material later. • Recite. Saying ideas aloud in your own words is probably the most powerful tool for transferring information from short-term to long-term memory. • Visualize. Making a mental picture of what you need to remember triggers an entirely different part of the brain than listening or reading. • Associate. Making connections between things you want to learn and things you already know with enhances memory. Before reading or studying, ask yourself what you already know about this topic in order to trigger the relevant mental associations. 4. ALLOW TIME FOR CONNECTIONS TO SOLIDIFY • Consolidate. Your brain needs time for new information to soak in. When you make a list or review your notes right after class, you’re using the principle of consolidation. • Practice. A series of shorter study sessions distributed over several days is preferable to fewer but longer study sessions. over→ 5 Principles of Memory WHAT? WHEN? intend to remember / learn before beginning study preview the task whenever you begin a new learning project review immediately after learning learn actively spend an hour or two at the end of each study session always when you’re trying to read a whole chapter use short periods of time (2 to 10 minutes) when you have a simple mechanical task or rotememorization tasks practice what you’ve learned between the time you first learn something and the time you’re tested on it learn in an organized way set and understand the goals or objectives for your study always at the beginning of any learning or retrieving sessions WHY? Intention is crucial. If you don't actively plan to remember something, you won't remember it very well. Getting a preview of the whole task will help you later as you read, practice, etc. You'll be able to fill in details of each part if you start with a simplified version of the whole task. Most forgetting takes place immediately after learning occurs—not two hours or two days later. So review immediately, even if it’s just for a few minutes. For example, try to review your notes as soon after class as possible. Use short periods of time (10-15 minutes) to quickly review notes. Spend most of your learning time on selftesting and practice. Expose as many senses as possible to the material: read it, hear it, visualize it, etc. Avoid the common attitude, "Well, I'll just look over this stuff now, and I'll really learn it later." Complex learning, such as understanding new relationships or solving problems, requires longer periods of time for effective learning. But don't study too long—most people can actively learn for about 45 minutes. Then take a 10-minute break. Break up large reading assignments into smaller parts; spread out the task. Simple tasks and anything you have to memorize are best learned in short, frequent practice sessions rather than in longer sessions of an hour or two. Most forgetting takes place because people haven't periodically practiced or reviewed what they learned. Try to do some review before beginning each new assignment. You'll remember much more easily when you have a systematic, orderly view of what you’ve learned. If you’ve studied concepts as isolated events without drawing connections, then you'll forget more quickly. Having a complete overview of each study session will help you become a more systematic and organized learner. This process goes right back to Step One! "Used with permission UT Learning Center, The University of Texas at Austin." 6 How can I improve my memory? If you think you have a poor memory, you may just have some less-than-effective habits when it comes to taking in and processing information. Barring disease, disorder, or injury, you can improve your ability to learn and retain information. General Guidelines for Improving Memory You can’t remember something if you never learned it, and you can’t learn Pay attention. something — that is, encode it into your brain — if you don’t pay enough attention to it. It takes about eight seconds of intent focus to process a piece of information through your hippocampus and into the appropriate memory center. So no multitasking when you need to concentrate. If you distract easily, try to receive information in a quiet place where you won’t be interrupted. Tailor information Most people are visual learners; they learn best by reading or otherwise acquisition to your seeing what it is they have to know. But some are auditory learners who learn better by listening. They might benefit by recording information they learning style. need and listening to it until they remember it. Even if you’re a visual learner, read out loud what you want to remember. Involve as many senses as possible. If you can recite it rhythmically, even better. Try to relate information to colors, textures, smells and tastes. The physical act of rewriting information can help imprint it onto your brain. Relate information Connect new data to information you already remember, whether it’s new to what you already material that builds on previous knowledge or an address of someone who lives on a street where you already know someone. know. Write things down in address books and datebooks and on calendars; take Organize notes on more complex material and reorganize the notes into categories information. later. Use both words and pictures in learning information. Understand and be For more complex material, focus on understanding basic ideas rather than memorizing isolated details. Be able to explain it to someone else in your able to interpret complex material. own words. Review what you’ve learned the same day you learn it, and review it at Rehearse intervals thereafter. What researchers call “spaced rehearsal” is more information effective than “cramming.” If you’re able to “overlearn” information so frequently and that recalling it becomes second nature, so much the better. “overlearn.” Be motivated and Tell yourself that you want to learn what you need to remember and you can learn and remember it. Telling yourself you have a bad memory keep a positive actually hampers the ability of your brain to remember, while positive attitude. mental feedback sets up an expectation of success.