This can happen when you walk into a room and you forget what you were going to do, or you wanted to buy a gift for a friend and can’t seem to remember what you had planned on getting them. Walking through a door struggling as your short-term memory declines is known as the “doorway effect” which is a type of brain buffer. At that point, the brain is overloaded and needs time to adjust or settle before being able to back track.
You may feel frustrated, confused and “over it” after you experience brain buffering. This phenomenon can feel defeating, but there are ways to attempt to “reset” your brain. Try to unblock your neural pathways with these tips:
Backtracking
If you suddenly lose your train of thought when you want to do something, an important start is to retrace your steps. By retracing, you’re creating a physical backtrack that allows you to re-create what you were doing previously to help jog your memory. Right when your thought returns, verbalize it. Tell yourself what you’re going to do out loud so that you don’t forget it.
Rest
One reason that your brain may be buffering is lack of brain rest and sleep. Getting a good night’s sleep, around seven to nine hours every night, can give your body ample time to recharge during the night. In the morning, your brain should feel well rested like the rest of your body, cultivating a long-term memory brain performance.
Brain Agility
Exercise your brain like you would exercise your body! To keep up with mental improvement, try playing brain-challenging games to give yourself a mental workout. Doing a crossword puzzle, solving a jigsaw puzzle, knitting or playing card games are all great ways that you can put your mind to work to make it stronger.
Pause, Piggyback, Practice
The “3 P’s” are a great neural strategy to hopefully help brain blips in the future. First, pausing to reflect on a task before its completion is a tactic to try for future buffering. Piggybacking refers to associating your memory with something that could help you remember something, like an action or location. Practice involves repeatedly doing the task or saying something to effectively train your brain to remember. By taking these steps and actively working on your memory, you can help prevent the blocks.
Sources: Medical Daily
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