Habit and Memory 习惯和记忆

There are various factors causing people to lose their memory power gradually. It often happens to people when they are ageing. Indeed, it can be frustrating to oneself and others when one becoming more forgetful.

A friend of mine who has some medical knowledge shared about one way to tackle the tendency of being forgetful is by cultivating habits. A habit is what a person naturally and regularly does it. Hence, the person does not need to intentionally try remembering it, it will be done during a similar situation.

I believe what my friend shared is a viable method. Using the example of taking with us what are necessary before going out of the house for certain function such as shopping or meeting friends. Prior to going out, there is a need to put on the watch, bring the wallet, the hand phone etc. Sometimes, we may misplace these items and turn out spending time to look for them. This can be avoided by always putting the items in the same place at home. Beside that, make it a habit to bring them as vital items when going out from home. Over time, the repeated practice would become habitual. Although we may still be losing our memory power gradually, the habits do not go away. The habits do not increase memory power, but they can at least help to minimise the frustration and inconvenience caused by the gradual decline of memory power.

有各种因素导致人渐渐失去记忆力，而且人在老化时经常会发生这种情况。事实上，当一个人变得更健忘时，对自己和他人都可能会是令人沮丧的事情。

我的一位具有医学知识朋友，他曾分享一种解决健忘倾向的方法，那就是要养成习惯。习惯乃是一个人因为经常作同样的事，久而久之便习惯成为自然；结果这个人不需要克意的记住如何做，只要在面臨相同情况就会自然做。

我相信釆用上述方法是可行的，並以使用出门前需要带备一些东西作为例子。通常一个人出门购物、辦事或者会见朋友，都需要戴上手表，携带钱包甚至手机等。有时候我们却可能忘记了这些曰常物品放置的地方以致要花费时间来寻找。其实这可以通过始终把相同物品放在家中的固定所在以避免寻找；除此之外，每次出门时均将这些物品作为必须品。随着时间，反复如此行即会形成习惯。虽然我们可能仍然会逐渐失去记忆力，但习惯并不易消失。即使习惯不会增加一个人的记忆力，但它至少可以帮助减少因记忆力逐渐下降所带来的挫败感和不便。