Exercising our body is important, but it is just as important to do the same with the mind. And is that mental agility is essential to “stay in shape” in the broadest sense of the concept. Pedro López, director of “Liceum, Gyms for the Mind”, explains that mental gymnastics is essential to train cognitive skills. “They are challenges, exercises and problems that stimulate our brain, in order to develop it and stop its deterioration”, he explains.
Within this mental gymnastics, we can focus on exercising memory in a specific way. Or rather, the memories. As the professional explains, there are several types of memory. A good parallel, he says, “is to imagine memory as a large closet in which each drawer stores different information. To do this, it is key to keep each of these drawers organized and active so that when we need certain information it is available and accessible to find it quickly. Classify memory into three large groups:
Memory types
- Working memory or operative memory: itis the gateway to the most durable memories. “Here, our mind filters what it needs to store for the long term and what it can discard. This memory is present in all our day-to-day activities, ”explains Pedro López. As an example, to train her, she makes recipes prepared in the kitchen. “To carry out a recipe well, we need to keep in mind the steps we have already taken and the steps we have left to finish,” he explains. He also gives another example: Another to have conversations with people with whom we do not talk regularly. “This will make us have to maintain our attention to properly follow the conversation, retaining everything said,” he says.
2. Short-term memory : this memory lasts a little longer than the previous one. «It acts as a filter, since part of the information it stores will be kept over time, but some will be lost . It is important to remember that we cannot retain all the information that occurs around us ”, explains the professional, who explains that, for our brain, it is essential to forget everything that is not important. To train short-term memory, the main recommendation is to answer basic, day-to-day questions: Do you remember what you ate yesterday? What clothes did you put on last Monday to go out on the street? What is the last book that Have you read yourself? What did you do last weekend? What did you have for dinner last Wednesday? Or What was the last movie you saw at the cinema? For example.
- Long-term memory:it is the memory that is consolidatedand that our brain has valued is important enough to last over time. “In it we keep information of a general nature and of our own life history,” says Pedro López. One way to train this memory, for example, is by remembering important dates for each of us. “Another way to reinforce it is to have accessible names of important people. Are you able to name 10 actors or actresses of today? Or 10 writers that you like?”, He recommends.
To finish, reiterate the essentiality of taking care of memories through exercises and remembering different events. “In this way we will” force “them to work, discarding the information that does not interest us, giving way to” save “what is really important to us,” he concludes.
How to train the mind
In these times when we leave home less, and have constant technological impacts, it is very important to train our mind to remain agile . From “Liceum, Gyms for the mind”, they say that the ideal is to have a daily training, and for this reason they recommend exercising the mind between 15 minutes and half an hour a day “.
A very easy way to do this is with traditional hobbies. «The word searches, the” look for differences “, the crosswords … all these exercises are still very good for our mental ability, and we must find what helps us the most”, Pedro López, director of Liceum. He recommends activities such as chess, reading, or, for example, for the oldest in the house, simply talking on the phone or making video calls.
