Tips to help you improve your memory

YOU might already know some well-oiled techniques that can help you keep your memory in good nick, such as repetition, memory palace (where you associate information with parts of a location that you’re very familiar with, such as your house), or mnemonics (where you create an acronym with the words you wish to remember).

But there are also unusual techniques that could help...

DRAW: This approach was used in a Canadian study where a group of younger and older people were given a list of words to learn and remember. One half was asked to draw the words, the other to write them down.

Older people who drew became as good as the younger people at recalling the words.

Drawing even made a difference in people with dementia.

JUST DO NOTHING: Volunteers experiencing amnesia after a stroke were given a list of 15 words to memorise and to complete a task at the same time.

When tested as part of this Edinburgh University study they could only remember 14% of the words. But in the second round, when they sat in a dark room for 15 minutes doing nothing, they could recall almost 50% of the words afterwards.

WALKING BACKWARDS: In a study, researchers at the University of Roehampton showed volunteers a staged crime video of a handbag being stolen, some pictures or a list of words. Then the volunteers were asked to walk either forwards or backwards in time with a metronome. When they were tested, in each test the backwards walkers remembered more.

So why not give these options a go?

Drawn to better memory