The human memory is a powerful and mysterious force. Scents and sounds can evoke visions of the past or allow us to recall a loved one. Losing your memory — struggling to recall names or stumbling over well-known telephone numbers — can be distressing. Here are a number of tips to keep your memory healthy and in top shape.
Exercise your brain. Using your memory and other thought provoking functions of your brain daily, will help keep your mind and your memory sharp. Do puzzles, drive a different way to work and memorize something every day. You will see an improvement quickly and less of a decline as time moves on.
A lot of the information we learn is very close to information we already know, so improving your memory can be as simple as playing an association game. Make sure that anything new you’re attempting to learn can tie in with someone you already know, and you will develop smooth transitions between one piece of material and the next.
In order to improve your memory, it is important that you pay attention. Your mind will never learn how to memorize things if it is distracted by other things. For example, if you are studying or working, do so in a room with no television or other things that could attract you.
Regularly challenging your brain can help you improve your memory. Learning new, complex tasks such as a foreign language or how to play a musical instrument will help your brain stay active. Remember the old saying “Use it or lose it?” The same thing’s true for your mind!
Participate in regular exercise. Exercise increases oxygen to the brain and can be helpful to your memory. It also gets blood flowing to your brain more. It can also help prevent diseases that can lead to memory loss in the future. An active body leads to an active mind.
Memory can be jogged and improved if you try removing yourself from a typical study environment and find a new one. Switching up your surroundings is an easy way to make your mind and memory more alert. Your brain wakes up when it detects any change to your routines, and when the brain is awake, it can take in more information.
It is crucial that you eat breakfast if you are trying to improve your memory. Many doctors and health professionals have found that eating breakfast fuels the mind after not having eaten for many hours because of sleep. Even if it is a bowl of fruit, be sure to never skip breakfast.
Try to avoid alcohol if you would like to improve your memory. It has been scientifically proven that alcohol kills the cells from the part of the brain that absorbs information. However, most research seems to prove that having one or two glasses of wine a day is okay for the memory.
Exercise your brain frequently. Consider activities where you need to improve. Repeating what you already know will lead nowhere and will not create new connections among your brain cells. Break your routines frequently and find new ways of doing your everyday chores. Choose activities which are new, fun and challenging.
A slipping memory is a tragic event for a mind advancing in age. Prescription drug interventions can help slow memory loss, especially in patients suffering from dementia.
Take care of any chronic health conditions that you have in order to help with improving your memory. When you do not feel well, you can become depressed. A depressed state of mind adversely affects how your brain retains information because your brain will not be able to focus. So, taking care of your physical health is important in improving your memory.
If you need help retaining a difficult concept or remembering the massive amount of information you studied the night before that big college exam, get up and get moving. The brain, like other parts of our body, requires energy to work, and it gets that energy from oxygen and other nutrients carried through the bloodstream. Spending long, unbroken hours in a chair, pouring over books or staring at a computer screen, causes the blood to congeal and deprives the brain of that needed energy. So get up and go for a brisk walk or a swim, anything to get the blood pumping and moving through your body. It’s a proven fact that the more physically active you are, the smarter you will be too.
As you’ve read in this article, keeping your memory healthy and strong is easy and can be fun! Use these tips to keep your mind sharp and enjoy the benefits of always having the name you need on the tip of your tongue, being able to find your keys, and remembering the milk!
