Why We Forget & The Amazing Story of Your Body’s Atoms - SYSK Choice
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Why is touch so powerful?
Today on Something You Should Know, why touching other people, whether a big hug or a simple touch, can be so powerful. Then, understanding just how your memory works and what makes it work better and what makes it worse.
Alcohol, even having a single drink, can decrease your ability to remember things. Is it even true if you're having that drink a few days after you've remembered something?
Also, a simple way to make a good first impression. And all the atoms and cells in your body, where do they come from? Where do they go? And how long do they stay?
98% of the cells in our body are reintroduced every 10 years, which is kind of wild because we're less like a person and more like a flame, right, where the molecules are constantly cycling in and out.
All this today on Something You Should Know.
I'm Amy Nicholson, the film critic for the LA Times.
And I'm Paul Scheer, an actor, writer, and director. You might know me from The League, Veep, or my non-eligible for Academy Award role in Twisters.
We come together to host Unspooled, a podcast where we talk about good movies, critical hits, fan favorites, must-sees, and in case you missed them. We're talking Parasite to Home Alone.
From Grease to the Dark Knight.
So if you love movies like we do, come along on our cinematic adventure.
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Something you should know. Fascinating intel. The world's top experts. And practical advice you can use in your life. Today, Something You Should Know with Mike Carruthers.
How does memory work and why do we forget?
Hey, hi, welcome to another episode of Something You Should Know. As you no doubt recall during the whole COVID thing, we were isolated. We didn't come in contact with other people. We stayed as far away as we were told to stay away from, and we didn't touch other people. And for the most part, that seems to have gone away, that we do now shake hands and fist bump and high five and touch other people, and that's a good thing. Because these kind of supportive touch gestures, like a pat on the back or an arm around the shoulder, these kind of touches give a burst of oxytocin that boosts our bonding sensation and our sense of well-being. The supportive touch theory works in all kinds of environments. Sports teams who share high fives or fist bumps tend to outperform teams who don't. Students who get a supportive touch from a teacher are twice as likely to volunteer in class. And a kind touch from a doctor gives patients the sensation that their visit lasted twice as long as those whose doctors didn't touch their patients.
And that is something you should know. I know people ask the question or have pondered the question, how good is my memory? And I've always thought, well, that's kind of a hard question to answer because it really depends on what it is you want me to remember, how long ago it happened. Some people are good at remembering numbers. Other people remember names. Some of us don't remember things like that very well at all. There are a lot of variables. And yet we have a memory, so you think it would have evolved to be really accurate, and there wouldn't be all these variables. But there are. So let's get a better understanding of our memory, how it works, and why it works that way. And here to do that is Andrew Budson, M.D.
Andrew is the Chief of Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology and Associate Chief of Staff for Education at the VA Boston Health Care System. He's a professor of neurology at Boston University School of Medicine and author of the book, Why We Forget and How to Remember Better, The Science Behind Memory. Hey, Andrew, thanks for coming on Something You Should Know.
Thanks so much for having me.
So since I set it up the way I did, let's start with the variables. Why are people's memories different? Why do some people remember things better than others? Why? Why?
Well, everyone is a little bit different in what they are good at remembering, but almost everybody is good at remembering some things. I think it seems as if some people's memories are sort of good in general because they're good at remembering things like people's names or dates or things that are often tested. But in fact, we're all good at remembering things that are important to us.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
Why is touch so powerful?
0:02–1:46
2
How does memory work and why do we forget?
1:46–8:24
3
What are the common changes in memory with aging?
8:24–12:59
4
Why do we have vivid but inaccurate memories?
12:59–16:06
5
How can lifestyle affect memory performance?
16:06–28:50
6
Do memory supplements really work?
28:50–45:37
7
What is the most effective way to remember things?
45:37–50:12
Speakers
11 identifiedMore from Something You Should Know
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