An array of methods to boost your memory
Do you have trouble remembering the details of a fun night out at a concert? Have difficulty recalling important events, like a friend’s wedding? “Memory lapses can be both embarrassing and troubling, but the good news is it is never too late to improve your powers of recall,” says Dr. David Poulad, a neurosurgeon at IGEA Brain and Spine in Union, New Jersey. “Your brain continues to develop neurons and build new connections to strengthen memory as you age. There are plenty of strategies that help you improve your memory today and keep it robust for years to come.” Here are 13 memory-boosting methods experts recommend:
Post personal events on social media.
The best way to remember personal experiences is to post them online, says Qi Wang, lead author of a study published in the journal Memory in August on social media’s effects on memory. “We create a sense of self in the process of recalling, evaluating and sharing with others memories of personal experiences in our lives,” says Wang, a professor of human development at Cornell University’s College of Human Ecology. Memory research has established that when people write about their personal experiences, they tend to recall those occurrences much better.
Eat right.
Consuming a healthy diet that’s low in fat and cholesterol is good for your overall health and reduces the risk of cardiac disease and stroke, both of which have a detrimental effect on cognitive functioning, including memory, says Sanam Hafeez, a clinical psychologist based in New York City and a teaching faculty member at Columbia University Teachers College. “Further, research finds that along with other benefits, foods rich in Omega-3, such as some fish and nuts, as well as those full of antioxidants [such as blueberries] can help protect the brain from memory decline,” Hafeez says. “So the foods that are good for your body are unsurprisingly also good for your brain.”
Get enough sleep.
Getting sufficient sleep allows our minds to work at their best, says Courtney B. Johnson, a neuro-psychologist based at the Indiana University Health Neuroscience Center in Indianapolis. In our teens and 20s, we might get away with cramming all night for a test with little or no sleep. As we get older, lack of sleep can impair our memory. “Memory lapses are more common when we are sleep deprived or have had several nights of poor sleep quality,” Johnson says. “For most adults, obtaining around seven hours minimum of nightly quality sleep is the goal.” To promote good sleeping habits, remove technology, like computers, from your bedroom.
Get enough exercise.
Physical activity helps your body and brain stay fit — and can do the same with memory. Exercise helps not only with cardiovascular health but also promotes cognitive functioning. “Physical activity can improve mood, which can strongly impact cognition,” Johnson says. “Getting in a good workout can help prepare our bodies for rest, and to rest well, which in turn allows our mind to be at its best the next day.”
Avoid multitasking.
Doing multiple things at once could adversely affect your short-term memory, particularly as you get older, Shafeez says. One study found that people between the ages of 60 and 80 have significantly more trouble remembering tasks after they’ve experienced a brief interruption than do people in their 30s and 40s. Research has shown that switching your attention from a laptop to a cellphone or texting while watching TV decreases the gray matter in our brains that helps us with sensory perceptions, including decision-making and memory.
Learn a new skill.
Pushing ourselves out of our comfort zones and learning something new and challenging stimulates the brain, which helps our mental sharpness, agility and memory. A 2013 study published in Psychological Science examined adults between the ages of 60 and 90 who learned a complex new skill such as digital photography or quilting, and compared them to people who did simpler activities, such as games of chance, cooking and going on regular field trips organized around a topic such as travel or history. After three months, the “complex skill” group showed a “clinically significant” improvement in overall memory compared with the other group, Hafeez says.
Check your stress level.
Chronic or acute stress can have a negative impact on your memory. “Memory lapses are more common during times of increased life stressors, whether the events are positive or negative [such as a wedding or taking care of a loved one who’s in ailing health],” Johnson says. “Often, taking a step back and realizing that life context is contributing to decreased cognitive deficiency can provide some helpful perspective and reassurance.” Taking deep breaths, going for a walk outside, practicing yoga and taking care of animals are all good ways to reduce stress, Johnson says.
Write your notes in longhand.
Many people prefer typing their notes for a school or work assignment into a laptop or electronic tablet. That’s good for speed, but not so good for retention, experts say. Most people are likely to retain more of the information if they write it down the old-fashioned way, with pen and paper. People who type their notes tend to try to take verbatim notes, while those who take notes in longhand are more selective, and the processing their brain conducts benefits them, according to a study published in Psychological Science in 2014.
Chew gum.
Chewing gum helps people sustain their attention to a task, helps relieve stress and might improve one’s memory, according to a study published in BioMed Research International in 2015. The paper cited earlier tests that showed that chewing gum increased relaxation and improved alertness. The act of chewing mobilized energetic resources, in particular facial muscles, and increased a chewer’s heart rate, cerebral blood flow and brain activity, which led to improvements in cognitive performance, the earlier research showed. “Further studies are needed, but chewing could be useful as an easy method for modifying cognitive function on a daily basis and not be demanding physically and mentally,” the 2015 study says.
Drink green tea.
For centuries, green tea has been used in Chinese medicine to provide relief from a variety of ills. In 2014, researchers from the University of Basel in Switzerland conducted a study that suggested drinking the beverage could improve one’s memory. The scientists provided green tea extract to 12 volunteers and took images of their brains. After the study, in which participants had been consuming the drink for four weeks, the researchers noticed increased connectivity in parts of the brain that are connected to working memory. Stefan Borgwardt, the lead researcher and a neuroscientist at the university, said the study was small and its findings were not conclusive, but characterized them as promising.
Squeeze a ball.
Clenching your hands may help you form stronger memories and boost your recall of them, a 2013 study suggests. Participants in the experiment were given 36 words to remember and a small pink ball to squeeze. They were directed to squeeze the ball for 90 seconds using both hands in a variety of sequences. Those who squeezed with their right hand first and then their left hand performed better on the memory test than the other participants, recalling on average 10 words correctly compared with between five and seven for the other test participants. Squeezing the right fist activates the left side of the brain, which helps encode memory. The right side of the brain is associated with recalling memory.
Stand and sit up straight.
Maintaining good posture can help you better remember positive memories or to think of something that is positive in general, while sitting in a collapsed position or looking downward makes it easier to recall negative events, according to a study by Erik Peper, a professor in the College of Health and Social Sciences at San Francisco State University. In one experiment, students who sat upright had an easier time recalling empowering thoughts and memories, while those who sat in a collapsed position had less trouble recalling hopeless, negative feelings.
Read content in unfamiliar fonts.
Reading something in an unusual font can help you remember it, according to a study published in Cognition. In the experiment, researchers gave a group of people between the ages of 18 and 40 a total of 90 seconds to memorize information they read in different fonts: one that was common and easy to read, and one that was uncommon and more difficult to read. The people had a collective correct score of 73 percent in memorizing information from the familiar font, and a score of 86 percent in remembering the information in the other font. If you’re trying to memorize a particularly difficult piece of information, try changing the font to something unusual.
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13 Ways to Improve Your Memory originally appeared on usnews.com
