How to Improve Your Memory

Tips and Exercises to Sharpen Your Mind and Boost Brainpower

A strong memory depends on the health and vitality of your brain. Whether you're a student studying for final exams, a working professional interested in doing all you can to stay mentally sharp, or a senior looking to preserve and enhance your grey matter as you age, there are lots of things you can do to improve your memory and mental performance.

Harnessing the power of your brain

They say that you cant teach an old dog new tricks, but when it comes to the brain, scientists have discovered that this old adage simply isnt true. The human brain has an astonishing ability to adapt and changeeven into old age. This ability is known as neuroplasticity. With the right stimulation, your brain can form new neural pathways, alter existing connections, and adapt and react in everchanging ways. The brains incredible ability to reshape itself holds true when it comes to learning and memory. You can harness the natural power of neuroplasticity to increase your cognitive abilities, enhance your ability to learn new information, and improve your memory.

Improving memory tip 1: Don't skimp on exercise or sleep

Just as an athlete relies on sleep and a nutrition-packed diet to perform his or her best, your ability to remember increases when you nurture your brain with a good diet and other healthy habits.

When you exercise the body, you exercise the brain

Treating your body well can enhance your ability to process and recall information. Physical exerciseincreases oxygen to your brain and reduces the risk for disorders that lead to memory loss, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Exercise may also enhance the effects of helpful brain chemicals and protect brain cells.

Improve your memory by sleeping on it

When youre sleep deprived, your brain cant operate at full capacity. Creativity, problem -solving abilities, and critical thinking skills are compromised. Whether youre studying, working, or trying to juggle lifes many demands, sleep deprivation is a recipe for disaster. But sleep is critical to learning and memory in an even more fundamental way. Research shows that sleep is necessary for memory consolidation, with the key memory-enhancing activity occurring during the deepest stages of sleep.

Improving memory tip 2: Make time for friends and fun

When you think of ways to improve memory, do you think of serious activities such as wrestling with the New York Times crossword puzzle or mastering chess strategy, or do more lighthearted pastimes hanging out with friends or enjoying a funny moviecome to mind? If youre like most of us, its probably the former. But countless studies show that a life thats full of friends and fun comes with cognitive benefits.

Healthy relationships: the ultimate memory booster?

Humans are highly social animals. Were not meant to survive, let alone thrive, in isolation. Relationships stimulate our brainsin fact, interacting with others may be the best kind of brain exercise. Research shows that having meaningful relationships and a strong support system are vital not only to emotional health, but also to brain health. In one recent study from the Harvard School of Public Health, for example, researchers found that people with the most active social lives had the slowest rate of memory decline. There are many ways to start taking advantage of the brain and memory-boosting benefits of socializing. Volunteer, join a club, make it a point to see friends more often, or reach out over the phone. And if a human isnt handy, dont overlook the value of a petespecially the highly-social dog.

Laughter is good for your brain

Youve heard that laughter is the best medicine, and that holds true for the brain as well as the body. Unlike emotional responses, which are limited to specific areas of the brain, laughter engages multiple regions across the whole brain. Furthermore, listening to jokes and working out punch lines activates areas of the brain vital to learning and creativity. As psychologist Daniel Goleman notes in his book Emotional Intelligence, laughterseems to help people think more broadly and associate more freely. Looking for ways to bring more laughter in your life? Start with these basics:

Laugh at yourself. Share your embarrassing moments. The best way to take ourselves less seriously is to talk about the times when we took ourselves too seriously.

When you hear laughter, move toward it. Most of the time, people are very happy to share something funny because it gives them an opportunity to laugh again and feed off the humor you find in it. When you hear laughter, seek it out and ask, Whats funny?

Spend time with fun, playful people. These are people who laugh easilyboth at themselves and at lifes absurditiesand who routinely find the humor in everyday events. Their playful point of view and laughter are contagious.

Surround yourself with reminders to lighten up. Keep a toy on your desk or in your car. Put up a funny poster in your office. Choose a computer screensaver that makes you laugh. Frame photos of you and your family or friends having fun.

Pay attention to children and emulate them. They are the experts on playing, taking life lightly, and laughing.

Improving memory tip 3: Keep stress in check

Stress is one of the brains worst enemies. Over time, if left unchecked, chronic stress destroys brain cells and damages the hippocampus, the region of the brain involved in the formation of new memories and the retrieval of old ones.

The stress-busting, brain-boosting benefits of meditation

The scientific evidence for the mental health benefits of meditation continues to pile up. Studies show that meditation helps improve many different types of conditions, including depression, anxiety, chronic pain, diabetes, and high blood pressure. Meditation also can improve focus, concentration, creativity, and learning and reasoning skills. Meditation works its magic by changing the actual brain. Brain images show that regular meditators have more activity in the left prefrontal cortex, an area of the brain associated with feelings of joy and equanimity. Meditation also increases the thickness of the cerebral cortex and encourages more connections between brain cellsall of which increases mental sharpness and memory ability.

Depression and anxiety can also affect memory

In addition to stress, depression, anxiety, and chronic worrying can also take a heavy toll on the brain. In fact, some of the symptoms of depression and anxiety include difficulty concentrating, making decisions, and remembering things. If you are mentally sluggish because of depression or anxiety, dealing with the problem will make a big difference in your cognitive abilities, including memory.

Improving memory tip 4: Eat a brain-boosting diet

Just as the body needs fuel, so does the brain. You probably already know that a diet based on fruits, vegetables, whole grains, healthy fats (such as olive oil, nuts, fish) and lean protein will provide lots of health benefits, but such a diet can also improve memory. But for brain health, its not just what you eatits also what you dont eat. The following nutritional tips will help boost your brainpower and reduce your risk of dementia:

Get your omega-3s. More and more evidence indicates that omega-3 fatty acids are particularly beneficial for brain health. Fish is a particularly rich source of omega-3, especially cold water fatty fish such as salmon, tuna, halibut, trout, mackerel, sardines, and herring. In addition to boosting brainpower, eating fish may also lower your risk of developing Alzheimers disease. If youre not a fan of seafood, consider non-fish sources of omega-3s such as walnuts, ground flaxseed, flaxseed oil, winter squash, kidney and pinto beans, spinach, broccoli, pumpkin seeds, and soybeans.

Limit calories and saturated fat. Research shows that diets high in saturated fat (from sources such as red meat, whole milk, butter, cheese, sour cream, and ice cream) increase your risk of dementia and impair concentration and memory. Eating too many calories in later

life can also increase your risk of cognitive impairment. Talk to your doctor or dietician about developing ahealthy eating plan.

Eat more fruit and vegetables. Produce is packed with antioxidants, substances that protect your brain cells from damage. Colorful fruits and vegetables are particularly good antioxidant "superfood" sources. Try leafy green vegetables such as spinach, broccoli, romaine lettuce, Swiss chard, and arugula, and fruit such as bananas, apricots, mangoes, cantaloupe, and watermelon.

Drink green tea. Green tea contains polyphenols, powerful antioxidants that protect against free radicals that can damage brain cells. Among many other benefits, regular consumption of green tea may enhance memory and mental alertness and slow brain aging.

Drink wine (or grape juice) in moderation. Keeping your alcohol consumption in check is key, since alcohol kills brain cells. But in moderation (around 1 glass a day for women; 2 for men), alcohol may actually improve memory and cognition. Red wine appears to be the best option, as it is rich in resveratrol, a flavonoid that boosts blood flow in the brain and reduces the risk of Alzheimers disease. Other resveratrol-packed options include grape juice, cranberry juice, fresh grapes and berries, and peanuts.

For mental energy, choose complex carbohydrates

Just as a racecar needs gas, your brain needs fuel to perform at its best. When you need to be at the top of your mental game, carbohydrates can keep you going. But the type of carbs you choose makes all the difference. Carbohydrates fuel your brain, but simple carbs (sugar, white bread, refined grains) give a quick boost followed by an equally rapid crash. There is also evidence to suggest that diets high in simple carbs can greatly increase the risk for cognitive impairment in older adults. For healthy energy that lasts, choose complex carbohydrates such as whole-wheat bread, brown rice, oatmeal, high-fiber cereal, lentils, and whole beans. Avoid processed foods and limit starches (potato, pasta, rice) to no more than one quarter of your plate.

Improving memory tip 5: Give your brain a workout

By the time youve reached adulthood, your brain has developed millions of neural pathways that help you process information quickly, solve familiar problems, and execute familiar tasks with a minimum of mental effort. But if you always stick to these well-worn paths, you arent giving your brain the stimulation it needs to keep growing and developing. You have to shake things up from time to time! Try taking a new route home from work or the grocery store, visiting new places at the weekend, or reading different kinds of books Memory, like muscular strength, requires you to use it or lose it. The more you work out your brain, the better youll be able to process and remember information. The best brain exercising activities break your routine and challenge you to use and develop new brain pathways. Activities that require using your hands are a great way to exercise your brain. Playing a musical instrument, juggling, enjoying a game of ping pong (table tennis), making pottery, knitting, or needlework are activities that exercise the brain by challenging hand-eye coordination, spatial-temporal reasoning, and creativity.

The brain exercising activity you choose can be virtually anything, so long as it meets the following three criteria: 1. Its new. No matter how intellectually demanding the activity, if its something youre already good at, its not a good brain exercise. The activity needs to be something thats unfamiliar and out of your comfort zone. 2. Its challenging. Anything that takes some mental effort and expands your knowledge will work. Examples include learning a new language, instrument, or sport, or tackling a challenging crossword or Sudoku puzzle. 3. Its fun. Physical and emotional enjoyment is important in the brains learning process. The more interested and engaged you are in the activity, the more likely youll be to continue doing it and the greater the benefits youll experience. The activity should be challenging, yes, it should also be something that is fun and enjoyable to you. Make an activity more pleasurable by appealing to your sensesplaying music while you do it, or rewarding yourself afterwards with a favorite treat, for example.

Use mnemonic devices to make memorization easier

Mnemonics (the initial m is silent) are clues of any kind that help us remember something, usually by helping us associate the information we want to remember with a visual image, a sentence, or a word.

Mnemonic device
Visual image Associate a visual image with a word or name to help you remember them better. Positive, pleasant images that are vivid, colorful, and three-dimensional will be easier to remember. Acrostic (or sentence) - Make up a sentence in which the first letter of each word is part of or represents the initial of what you want to remember. Acronym An acronym is a word that is made up by taking the first letters of all the key words or ideas you need to remember and creating a new word out of them. Rhymes and alliteration - Rhymes, alliteration (a

Example
To remember the name Rosa Parks and what shes known for, picture a woman sitting on a park bench surrounded by roses, waiting as her bus pulls up. The sentence Every good boy does fine to memorize the lines of the treble clef, representing the notes E, G, B, D, and F.

The word HOMES to remember the names of the Great Lakes: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior.

The rhyme Thirty days hath September, April,

Mnemonic device
repeating sound or syllable), and even jokes are a memorable way to remember more mundane facts and figures. Chunking Chunking breaks a long list of numbers or other types of information into smaller, more manageable chunks. Method of loci Imagine placing the items you want to remember along a route you know well or in specific locations in a familiar room or building.

Example
June, and November to remember the months of the year with only 30 days in them.

Remembering a 10-digit phone number by breaking it down into three sets of numbers: 555867-5309 (as opposed to5558675309). For a shopping list, imagine bananas in the entryway to your home, a puddle of milk in the middle of the sofa, eggs going up the stairs, and bread on your bed.

Tips for enhancing your ability to learn and remember

Pay attention. You cant remember something if you never learned it, and you cant learn somethingthat is, encode it into your brainif you dont pay enough attention to it. It takes about eight seconds of intense focus to process a piece of information into your memory. If youre easily distracted, pick a quiet place where you wont be interrupted.

Involve as many senses as possible. Try to relate information to colors, textures, smells, and tastes. The physical act of rewriting information can help imprint it onto your brain. Even if youre a visual learner, read out loud what you want to remember. If you can recite it rhythmically, even better.

Relate information to what you already know. Connect new data to information you already remember, whether its new material that builds on previous knowledge, or something as simple as an address of someone who lives on a street where you already know someone.

For more complex material, focus on understanding basic ideas rather than memorizing isolated details. Practice explaining the ideas to someone else in your own words.

Rehearse information youve already learned. Review what youve learned the same day you learn it, and at intervals thereafter. This spaced rehearsal is more effective than cramming, especially for retaining what youve learned.

How to Improve Your Memory Power 7 Effective Techniques

Category: Brain Hacks, Memorization, Study Help When I was an undergraduate student, I had to take 5 classes in a foreign language to complete my degree. I took classes in Spanish, classical Latin, and ancient Greek to fulfill my requirement and needless to say Im glad thats over with. Ive literally spent hundreds of hours memorizing verb conjugations. And Ive probably killed many trees with all the note cards Ive used up. The more I memorized, the easier it became not because I was getting smarter but simply because my brain was used to memorizing a lot of information every single day. Pretty soon I was able to memorize stacks of vocabulary cards very quickly. It just took practice, and anyone can do it. Here are some of the strategies I used to help me memorize my vocabulary terms and conjugation rules quickly: Make Creative Associations When I was memorizing a new word or grammar rule, I tried to develop a fun way to make it stick. The more outlandish the association, the better it would stick. For example, lets say that I had to remember that word domus is Latin for home. I would simply imagine a huge dome hanging over moose. (The classical Latin pronunciation sounds like Dome -oose.) That association would help me remember the word easily. I know this sound simplistic, but it really works. I would sometimes draw out fun associations on the back of my vocabulary note cards to really make these bizarre associations remembered. Break-up Your Study Time Our brains tend to remember less the longer we study. Thats why its often easier for us to remember the beginning and end of a lecture than all the details in between. So I found that by studying in short one hour stints helped me remember more. Everyone is different, so find out what amount of study time is perfect for you. You might find that you can memorize more in three one-hour sessions than one four-hour session. Use Your Mind and Body Sitting at a desk staring at some grammar rules might work for some people, but I always learned quicker by actively doing something with the information. I would draw association pictures or read my book aloud to help make things more permanent in my mind. I also found that studying note cards while walking around campus was a way to keep myself energized and focused. Repeat What You Need to Know One way to help something stick in your mind is to recite it to yourself. Read it aloud to yourself and then read it again. The key here is to saturate your mind with the content in every way possible. One fun way to do this is to imagine your vocabulary cards or textbook being read by someone you think is funny. Imagine your textbook being read by Jon

Stewart. It will at least keep things a bit more interesting. Reduce the Noise Some people study well listening to music. It really depends on the subject matter. However, if you find yourself drifting off, or focusing on the words of the song, its probably best to dismiss the music for a while. If you enjoy music, listen to some classical music or some other music that helps you focus. You basically want to situate yourself in a place with the least amount of noise interference. Stay Positive (if possible) Youll remember far more information about a subject if you try to find it interesting. If you think the topic is boring and useless, than youre going to make memorization that much harder. Look for some sort of connection on how the subject you need to learn about fits in with your life. Study When Youre Most Productive Everyone has their best study time, and often its during the daytime. Theres just something about memorizing and studying when its daytime that ca n keep you more motivated and more focused. I find that Im most productive during the early morning. I often go to a coffee shop around 6:30 a.m. and just drink coffee while I write and study. Find your best time to study and keep on that schedule. It will do wonders for your memory power.