Hearing a song from our teenage years lights up our brain like a Fourth of July fireworks show. The perfect storm of raging hormones, significant neurological development, and strong emotions, tie memories and songs together.

As life progresses, there is not the same dynamic happening in our bodies and the ties are not as strong. Doctor's us music to bring back memories of youth to Alzheimer's patients by playing songs from the Top 100 charts of their youth. The area of the brain that stores these memories is some of the last to be affected by the disease. The patients can regain some awareness and enjoy walking down memory lane.

Knowing we can't go back to puberty to re-enter the perfect storm; music can still have a positive effect on making memories stick. How can you hack your brain and use this knowledge to your advantage?

Memories help us understand who we are and how we got here. They are a critical component that makes you and me unique. Memories deliver gold nuggets to help understand our hardwiring. For some, nuggets are sitting on the surface, and for others, digging is required. 
In either case, there is gold in them there experiences.

How have you used music to solidify your memories?