Memory Strategies to Dye for: 10 Ways to Use Color to Improve Memory
Attention grabbing, infused with emotion, and our most powerful visual experience…
We love to love color, and here’s how we can use it to boost our memory in these practical and enjoyable ways!
Improve memory with better Sleep
Sleep plays a vital role in our ability to encode and recall memories. It also repairs and strengthen neurons, making us more likely to function at peak brain capacity during the day.
Enhance your sleep and pre-sleep routine areas with calming colors.
Remove brightly colored items from your sleep space, being especially aware of sleepwear or bedding.
Consider neutral and cool accents to enhance your pre-sleep hours. Tea mugs, throws, bath towels, pillowcases, book covers, etc…
2. Keep track of commonly misplaced items
Achieve better memory in the form of improved recall, reduced stress, positive emotional state by using color to help you keep track of important items.
Consider warm, attention - grabbing colors to keep track of your essential items.
Bright key chains, wallets, and cases for your phone and glasses are ways to help grab attention both when setting items down… or when searching for them later!
A brightly colored tray or basket is a great place to store essentials in the home… the color helps make the process of setting the items down more mindful, and also helps your brain encode the location.
It is important to reduce clutter and to acknowledge contrast! A house full of bright yellow and orange items will not support your memory, and may lead to visual fatigue!
3. Improve memory when you read
Reducing environmental distraction and focusing attention are critical components to retaining the content of what we read.
A reading space in cool, calming colors (blues, greens, neutrals) helps calm the mind and reduce distractions.
Additionally, consider directing your attention towards the reading material by following along with a brightly colored book mark or the non-writing end of a bright pen or highlighter.
4. Retain and recall through creative associations
Creativity and associations are powerful ways to encode new names, lists, instructions and more. By linking new information to something we are already familiar with, and by creating vivid and exaggerated images, we offer our brains effective tools for memory.
When associating new information to old information (i.e. when meeting your new neighbor Dave, associating his name to an old college classmate with the same name) make connections between colors you experience with the new introduction and your memory of an old friend.
When using creative imagery to encode memories, remember that the brighter the better! Be creative not only with images, but boost your memory by imagining bold, bright, highly contrasting colors to help create lasting images.
5. Enhanced memory for social events (new names, conversations, etc.)
The “in one ear and out the other” experience is all-too common when meeting new people or socializing! Use color to help prepare the brain to retain new information in dynamic social settings, and avoid the frustration (and embarrassment) of forgetting a new name the moment you hear it.
Wearing certain colors, such as red and violet, have been shown to boost energy levels by causing your body to pump out more adrenaline, heightening attention.
Infuse the hours before a social event with these energetic colors in your environment. High-energy colors are especially good in home offices, entryways, small sitting rooms, or staircases.
Actively prepare for social events by using a brightly colored journal and pen to list the names, relationships, or details of an event before you attend. Promote your BEST memory and record new names or details immediately after the event.
6. Improve memory benefits through exercise
Exercise is one of the single-most powerful activities to improve memory! The same bright colors that energize the mind for social events, can also enhance motivation towards exercise.
A British study found that when evenly matched Olympic athletes competed, those wearing red won significantly more than their blue-wearing opponents. While the benefits for memory through exercise certainly are not limited to olympic-level workouts, our brains benefit by the increased intensity and blood flow.
Brighten up your workout wardrobe, or inspire your pre-workout hour with color!
Use a brightly colored notepad to record or prepare for workouts.
Turn the pages of a fitness magazine to boost motivation through the colorful images.
7. Remember to remember…
One of the most challenging issues with memory involves not remembering to remember! We forget to remind ourselves to send a card, pay a bill, or even to apply a new memory retention strategy! Use bright colors to help you remember important errands, dates, or to engage in memory practice!
While tying a string around one’s finger might be the cliched reminder... try wearing a more practical bright reminder in the form of a bright bracelet, ring or sweater as a constant colorful cue.
Use bright post it notes in key places. A yellow post it on the inside of your door can remind you to grab the outgoing mail on your way out, while an orange notepad on your bedside table can serve as a cue to write down new names or information you want to remember from the day.
A bright paper or binder-clip around the bills can draw our attention to the task, while a colorful ribbon around an often-neglected houseplant can help us remember to give it water.
8. Strengthen your neural net
“Nerve cells that fire together, wire together. And as you begin to learn new information, you biologically wire that information into your cerebral architecture.”
Developing cognitive reserve through learning, new experiences, and by changing our routine patterns of thinking is a critical way to enhance the strength and resiliency of our memory. Use color to enhance this aspect of your brain!
Make a habit of introducing new colors into your environment through small changes, like framing a colorful photograph, acquiring bright new towels or throw pillows, or grabbing a different bright new mug each morning.
Get creative through new combinations of color in your attire, by bringing flowers into your surroundings, or by expressing yourself through art.
Use your phone and screensavers as way to bring new color into your environment by choosing bright images and changing them frequently.
9. Enhance learning, retain facts, remember details of current events
We all get tired of reading the same paragraph for the third time and feeling like we still have no recollection of the words! Brighten up your learning through color!
Use a bright notepad by the TV to remind yourself to take notes during the news or documentaries.
Research shows that we are much more likely to remember words highlighted in yellow. Use a yellow highlighter to highlight key facts in the newspaper or books!
As an alternate to highlighting (or in addition to…) use bright notecards to jot down key words or ideas you want to remember.
10. Be Memorable
Create a colorful legacy! Colors promote feelings of gratitude and joy, and can even serve to communicate a warm welcome, invite a conversation, or soothe the spirit.
While needing to be the center of attention (or conversation) is not the goal, creating a lasting impression to others can not only brighten their memory of you, but also illuminate the memory of an interaction with a positive light. Whether engaging with a dear friend or the grocery clerk, a bright smile and a colorful compliment will grab the attention of the heart! Take it a step further and give the gift of a bright and memorable moment through colorful attire, a uniquely colored accessory, or even a bright business card!
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”