Table of Contents
Last Saturday, I was going through the weekly house cleaning and organizing wardrobes.
My three years old came to me and helped me separating socks for each family member. It amazed me to see that she knew whose socks and whose gloves were those.
A mind sharp like this can do wonders, don’t you agree?
Some people are born with a sharp mind and rest to make it bright by simple changes in their lifestyle. If you think you are the one who needs external assistance for memory boosting and it is too late for you, we need you to read this!
We can improve memory at any stage of life! Yes, it is as simple as that. No suspense, no long context, nothing twisting.
Just the straight answer, you can improve your memory at any age. You just need to bring some simple changes in your lifestyle, and there you go. But before you jump on to the conclusions, here is a disclaimer!
Stay slow and stay consistent.
You are going to get there where you can memorize complex words, long sentences, and numbers.
Here is how,
21 Methods for improving your memory
Memory boosting is very much achievable and requires some meticulous practices.
We have sorted some of the most effective, tried, and tested methods that can help you increase your memory to a much greater level.
1. Prepare yourself for change
There is a famous saying which points towards the value of preparedness and decision making. [1]
Once you have decided to treat yourself with sharp memory this year, you are already halfway there.
This is the law of nature. Making up mind enables us to come up with ways that channelize all the energies that we have.
We begin to look for ways to boost memory. You reading this is one step towards the journey of amazing memory and brain function.
2. Eliminate the distractions
Distractions always pull us away from the path. They tend to move our attention from the aim, and we end up gaining nothing.
The same applies to the material or non-material distractions while building up to memory.
If you plan to prepare for exams, make sure you eliminate all the possible distractions around you.
Be it a company of siblings or sitting in with everyone in the living room. Just stay away from everything that distracts you.
3. Meditation
Meditation is an ancient practice. It helps in the improvement of focus and channelizes your energies to one point.
Numerous studies prove the efficacy of meditation. You can go for any method of meditation that suits your disposition. It brings a sense of calmness and relaxed bodily state.
All these help in the maintenance of healthy nerve impulses and neuronal junctions, resulting in improved memory.
People from around the world practice meditation for other benefits also.
Management of anxiety, depression, and an adjunctive method to treat cardiovascular diseases are some of the examples of meditation.
4. Visualize what you need to memorize
Visualization has a strong impact on both types of memory. For example, just read the following sentence and see how many details you retain.
“A quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog and finished all the meat that was in his paws. [2]
He ate it and felt thirsty, went to the pond, and saw his reflection where he thought there was some other fox with a piece of meat in his mouth.”
Imagine a fox is jumping over the dog, and you will retain exactly all the information that is given in the sentence.
On the other hand, you will lose interest in the middle, and that is where you begin to have a bad memory.
Don’t blame your memory here. Just try to posterize information that hits your mind. If you create picture memory, it tends to stay for longer in your mind.
Similarly, if you want to memorize a map or route, try making an image of it in your mind, and there you go.
5. Associate
Try to associate the stuff you want to remember with something that you can relate to.
For example, you want to memorize the names of a couple of students in your art class, and you find it difficult to recall all the names, especially on the first day.
You need to associate their names with other characteristics of these students.
The girl with curly hair is Anne; a boy with a husky voice is David, the one with sharp features is Sarah, and that little girl with dimples is Tessa.
This way, you will never lose the information from your memory.
Use the trick of association to memorize anything that you want, and it will be helpful every single time.
6. Repeat, repeat, repeat
The key to memory is repetition.
This is an old belief but a hundred percent correct one. Any information that is repeated over and over again goes to our long term memory and stays for days, weeks, months, and sometimes years.
Repeating information, again and again, causes the building upon some strong connection inside the brain cells.
Further repetition of the same information causes engagement of nerve pathways and stores as a permanent memory.
7. Create a peaceful environment
This is similar to the idea of eliminating distractions. Create an environment for your eyes, which acts as a soother. [3]
Now, this is where you can play with colors and use your aesthetic sense. Use the colors of your sheets which you love.
Certain colors enhance your mood and let you think more clearly once your mind is happy and relaxed.
8. Color coding
The red light on the traffic signals always means one has to stop. There is no other meaning to this red traffic light.
Such is the game that we need to play with the color-coding. If you are a student and find it hard to memorize the extensive data for your exams, you need to color-code your data.
For example, always underline or highlight the information with red if it was most important.
Use another color for another set of information in the book, and so on. Whenever you pick up that book again, you will easily recall the necessary information.
9. Exercise
Exercise is a kind of meditation that enables us to focus our energies and utilize them at one point.
Moreover, exercise helps your body hormones and metabolism to stay at such an optimum state that maximizes brain function.
Exercise helps as a stress booster and immediately eliminates all the negative energy from your mind and body.
10. Adequate sleep
Sleep deprivation is one of the leading causes of memory loss, according to many studies.
Sleep-deprived individuals tend to lose focus, which is the foundation of a good memory.
If the focus is not establishing, your memory can never see the rise in its levels.
So, a good eight hours of sleep every day is the key to a healthy mind and body.
11. Mindfulness is the key
Staying aware of the environment around you helps retain the maximum information.
This information stays in your brain for longer periods. Receptive attentiveness, especially to the current events, surroundings, and experiences, improves the attention span.
Once the attention improves, it greatly increases the working memory.
Mindfulness enables the practical improvement of the performance in academics and professional grounds.
You can train your mind for mindfulness and make conscious attempts to practice attentiveness. Gradually, you will notice a boost in your long term memory.
12. Create Mnemonics
Mnemonics or mnemonic devices are aging old means for memorizing extensive literature by the students.
It is the simplest yet creative way to retain information. You just create a simple word to a number or alphabet, which helps you memorize more.
For example, there are three muscles on the shaft of the humerus. Two major muscles with the names Teres Major and Pectoralis major.
These muscles have another muscle latissimus dorsi in between.
Now, this is quite long information, and sometimes we can mix the names of muscles. A famous mnemonic “lady between two majors” helps us recall three names at once.
13. Write it down
When you hear anything or see anything, you may tend to forget it at once.
To avoid forgetting the names of the people you meet twice or thrice, it is better that you write the name the moment you hear.
This creates a strong memory in your mind because while writing the names, it associates your memory with a lot of information around.
14. Speak that out
Speaking out what you need to memorize is also an important method of improving your memory.
If you read something out, it tends to register better and helps in an easy recall. Think about the students in your class who recalled the entire topic about neurotransmitters in a single go.
They looked so loud and confident as if rehearsed at least ten times. Secret where they read the course loudly in front of the mirror or front of a couple of friends.
15. Keep an erect posture
Keeping an erect posture keeps your muscles relaxed, and you don’t get tired easily.
When you are fresh, and there is nothing like tiredness, you can keep a longer focus and retain more information in your memory.
This is a simple rule and enables you not only to focus more but also gives you other health benefits too.
16. Reduce sugar and unhealthy calories
While glucose is the only source of nutrition for our brain cells, the excess can cause serious harm.
Similarly, unhealthy calories can cause you more harm than good. You not only gain fats but also lose focus and become lazy, lethargic being.
Processed sugars are particularly harmful to the brain. Avoid them as much as possible and switch to the natural resources of sugars instead.
17. Make friends; be happy
Happiness and contentment release your mind of the unnecessary burden and lets you think, feel, and recall freely.
Friends are a source of true happiness in our lives. So we must take out time to spend it with our friends and loved ones.
If we learn to be happy no matter what, most of the mental illnesses get clean the very moment.
So, practice happiness, practice the art of contentment.
18. A healthy diet for the brain tissue
Certain foods tend to increase brain activity.
Omega 3 fatty acids are the most famous nutrients that increase the myelination process of neurons and improve the passage of nerve impulses.
Dry fruit like walnuts, almonds, etc. is rich in them an ideal food for the brain.
Also, drinking lots and lots of water keeps us awake and mentally aware of their surroundings. It helps in the improvement of focus.
19. Identify any health problems if any
The health problems may range from hypertension, diabetes, chronic liver diseases to Alzheimers, Parkinsonism, and many other similar diseases.
These diseases don’t let a person think clearly, and memory loss occurs with time. If you find no other reason but forgetfulness, chances are you are suffering from an underlying medical condition.
Just go to your doctor so that he can identify the problems hindering your memory and then treat them properly.
20. Take supplements
There are some really good brain boosting supplements available in the market.
These brain boosters regulate the amount of chemical substances and useful neurotransmitters and make new connections between the neurons.
For example, an extremely famous Bacopa Monnieri extract is an ancient source of boosting memory and cognitive skills.
Today, almost all the Nootropics supplements consist of this natural and healthy leaf extract in the entire world.
21. Believe that you can do it
Believing is achieving. As long as you believe that you can do it!
You can do it. You must keep your spirits high and efforts unstoppable. Rest assured, you can always boost your memory no matter what age group you belong to.
Just stop listening to the people who tell you that you can’t.
9 Brain Foods to Boost Memory and Focus
We all agree with the magic in the food that we eat.
Certain ingredients help in boosting the brain powers and utilize it to enhance it further.
We have got a list of 9 superfoods that you need to keep with you all the time if you want to increase your memory.
1. Berries
Strawberry, raspberry, and all other berries contain flavonoids that improve memory according to research.
In 2012 a research showed a delayed decline in memories of women who consumed more berries every day. [4]
2. Fatty acids
Omega 3 fatty acid is the most important lipid for our brain, mainly for the myelination of axons.
Fish, almonds, walnuts, and some vegetables are rich in this lipid. Fatty acids are also present in the fish liver oil.
Cod liver oil is famous and sold throughout the world for its nutritional benefits for the brain.
3. Coffee and tea
Both have a good concentration of caffeine. Caffeine is a well-known brain booster and keeps us awake through the long hours of study and focus.
It helps in increasing the concentration ability and short term memory enhancer.
4. Broccoli
Broccoli is a green vegetable rich in multiple vitamins. Broccoli is also a preferred vegetable in winters, especially.
It contains antioxidants which serve as detoxification of the toxins and also a neuroprotective substance.
It is also rich in potassium, which keeps you in a healthy state. It also has excessive vitamin K, which protects against cardiac arrhythmias.
5. Green leafy vegetables
Other green leafy vegetables are also helpful in the brain-boosting activity. They are rich in iron, calcium; proteins, etc. are present inside them.
6. Dark chocolate
Chocolate tends to work as a mood enhancer. When mood enhancer works, it helps our brain to work sharply, and it does.
The trick behind the utilization of dark chocolate is the presence of flavonoids and antioxidants.
7. Eggs
Eggs are rich in albumin and globulin. Eggs are also a rich source of cholesterol and certain other substances that are deeply beneficial for the brains and bodies of hundreds of people.
8. Drink plenty of water
Keeping a steady hydration state is the method of improving our memory. This is especially applicable to the students.
A good hydration status helps in regulating the homeostasis of the body and, of course, for the better function of your body.
9. Fruits and oranges
Fruits and oranges are not the last in the list of brain-boosting enhancers. They are always required for the best possible combination of multivitamins. [5]
Conclusions
Improving memory and have exceptional memory skills is the dream of every individual.
People like you and me have good news that there are many ways through which once can improve memory.
You can make little changes in your diet, lifestyle changes, which are the pillar so the foundation.
Try to avoid the food that you are allergic ways.