The ability to memorize is affected by modern habits
Portuguese-descendant researcher and neuroscientist Fabiano de Abreu studied the impact of technology, everyday life and bad habits on the ability to store and use brain memory. The conclusions have now been published in the article “Techniques for better memorization: Taking into account the nuances of personality”.
Fabiano de Abreu explains that “we have a brain that acts, a priori, for survival and reward. We store memories based on emotion so that we can survive and evolve better. For that reason, traumas are never forgotten. At the very least, they stay in our unconscious, in the most primitive region of the brain ”. “In this way, the brain uses a lot of energy to store everything it needs, and it tends to ‘save’ at times, so that it can use it in instinctive procedures”.
The human brain also seeks to achieve goals to increase the production of neurotransmitters that cause feelings of pleasure. “The most common is happiness and reward, like dopamine. Without reward, there is no motivation, without motivation we would not have the means to go ahead and survive”, he highlights.
With the advent of technology, especially the constant use of the internet, the ability to memorize has suffered impacts, which, in the long run, can have consequences. For this reason, Fabiano de Abreu warns that “the overload of information makes it difficult to retain new memories. There are too many distractions, which generate anxiety and stress, addiction to dopamine and, consequently, dysfunction in the chemical messengers of the brain”.
“In addition, lack of reading, physical inactivity, processed foods, drugs, bad habits, excessive use of television or addiction to dopamine are a way for the brain to ask for more immediate conquests, which causes, in addition to dysfunctions, waste of time that could be used to go deeper into the content”, he says.
To mitigate the harmful effects that the bad habits of modern life can cause to the brain, Fabiano de Abreu stresses that it is important to adopt old measures, especially in childhood, when the brain is still developing. These are some of the measures mentioned:
- Diet with foods that meet our basic needs and make up for the shortages we feel. For example, if there is a lack of attention and little memory, the consumption of foods that promote better attention and memory, such as those containing omega 3, lutein, B complex, vitamin C, and good fats, such as olive oil and nuts, should be reinforced. , tea, among others;
- Sleep 8 hours a day, not at dawn, but at night;
- Morning physical exercises;
- Cerebral plasticity with change in routine habits;
- Use of emotional intelligence to consciously define behaviors that can bring about better mental health, as well as control for better attention and memory through action. Brain techniques and gymnastics are interesting for this process. By reinforcing synapses, we improve the ability to fix neuronal engrams.
In the case of children, parents and guardians can encourage and promote a culture of knowledge and learning. Fabiano de Abreu says that this can be done by “determining what the children will see on the internet and the consumption time”. In addition, children need to have play activities that promote psychomotricity for cognitive development.
Therefore, it is important to “find ways and tools for knowledge with rewards that encourage this style of education. Culture is also made from observation and copying. If parents read, if parents have habits that serve as an example, children tend to copy them”.
