Bad Memory

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Do you have bad memory problems? If so have you ever got any improvement with it? How did you achieve this? I don't mean organizing everything, I mean has your personal ability to memorize things improved?

Ridding one's self of anxiety would go a long way towards improving one's memory.

My memory is much worse when I am acutely anxious.

A clear mind induces improved "faculties" all around.

Yes. I write what I want to remember in a composition book and reread what I've written often. For some reason hand writing works better than typing. Using different colors & types of mixed media helps as well since I am a very visual thinker.

Fatigue and stress have a role to play regarding how good one's memory (currently) is. I strongly believe it's also tied in with the state of one's mental health, from my own experiences.
My memory appears to be improving all the time. I feel more coherent in general. Hard to explain really, but retained information is coming quicker to me than it did even a year ago. This is the effects of depression losing it's iron-grip on my brain, for sure. At my lowest point years ago I actually forgot my age - no kidding! My speech would fail me mid-sentence. Oddly I do have trouble today recalling that time, like I lived in an actual fog. The improvements I've seen so far are gradual day-to-day things that have accumulated into something much better, but can only be recognised with hindsight.
I don't think I've ever met a psychologist who hasn't strongly advocated the importance of keeping one's mind active everyday to stave off depression and keeps one's faculties sharp. My mum swears by those Sudoku logic puzzles as a mental exercise for the brain - but I think reading what would individually class as a challenging book helps better.

Usually I have problems paying attention, so it might appear that I have a bad short term memory

The psychologist that diagnosed me with autism tested my Rote Memory. On that portion I got a full score

But one of my numerous problems is that I remember and dwell on. Obsess about. Things from the distant past that (I would imagine) NTs or otherwise normal people would forget effortlessly

And I obsess about it so much, that I have a hard time doing anything else

My memory has been terrible ever since moving day a couple of years ago. I forget everything, it's upsetting. I'm really hoping it improves again once I move. My family has lied to me so many times about not touching my belongings that I can't trust them (they lie a lot anyway, not always maliciously) and I don't know whether down is up, or up is down. My belongings are a part of my identity, as well as having my own space. I cannot function without either, or either being intruded upon. It really hurts, and it hurts that my family carelessly did those things anyway, no matter what it did to my mental health. But what is done is done.

Some good replies here with useful information.

My memory is rubbish too, but I think it's mainly down to years of mental stress and exhaustion.

I recently had to do some complicated task, and found out that as long as i was doing interesting stuff, I was perfectly fine.

Depends what sort of memory we are discussing. I have a fairly good long term memory for some things but a somewhat unreliable working memory. Although, I have lost most of my childhood memories so maybe my long term memory is not so great.
Stress and fatigue will work against forming and recalling memories.

I have a very good long term memory.

My memory with certain things is amazing but short term not so much. For example I have memories...very vivid memories of when I was 5-6 7 years old but when it comes to following up on appointments and such I'm terrible... it may have something to do with the fact that I've been micromanaged for 10 years

I was really bad at things that involved memorization as a kid: history class, times tables, remembering a piece of music without looking, reciting a poem in front of people, remembering dance moves in dance class, etc. even remembering what my uncle looked like without a mustache (which led to some awkward interactions).

It did get better, but not without a lot of work, and a lot of self reflection.

See, the problem is not that my memory is bad, per se, it's just that my memory is atypical. I only started realizing this as I got older. Around age 9 or so, I remember being shocked that my friend was unable to remember events that transpired when we were in daycare together (age 2 1/2). She couldn't even remember how we met! I also found that I really liked to draw, and what's more so, if I was listening to the TV while drawing, I could look back at specific parts of the drawing and recall the exact words being said in the episode that was playing when I drew it. That was the key! I began drawing what my teachers were talking about, whenever possible. Funny thing, before I started doing this I had Ds in math, history, and foreign language. Since I instituted this method, I have only ever gotten an A in all of my classes, which includes most of college and all of grad school, right up to getting my PhD.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that if you are having trouble remembering, think about the ways you remember best, and try to play to your strong suits. It may not be the same way other people memorize things, but there is nothing wrong with that.

One of the bigger factors in memory is sleep. Getting proper sleep can make a big difference for most people. You brain uses sleep to keep the cells healthy, if they're not healthy, or damaged, your memory will suffer. Brain cells damaged from lack of proper sleep aren't damaged permanently.

I don't sleep well and haven't in decades, in conjunction with ADD it all makes for horrible memory. Try as I might, I've never been able to get used to a CPAP machine. Then it becomes cyclical, bad sleep begets bad sleep.

It helps if I use my phone for taking notes, yet I still will not remember to use it nor remember that I did use it.