Do you feel like your memory isn’t what it used to be?

The average person forgets about 9 percent of what they learn in any given year, but as we get older, we often begin to feel that this number is higher — and that our minds are more easily distracted than they once were.

Improving your memory is essential for success at school, work, and social life.

In this blog post, we’ll look at how you can improve your memory by making simple changes to your daily routine.

5 Proven Ways to Improve Your Memory

1. Take Your Brain For a Workout
2. Make Sure You Get Enough Sleep
3. Reduce The Stress in Your Life
4. Set Up a Regular Exercise Routine
5. Create a Healthy Meal Plan You Can Stick To

1. Take Your Brain For a Workout

You’ve probably heard that brain games and puzzles are good for your memory, but do they work? Just like our muscles, if we don’t use it, we lose it. The key is to find brain games that take you out of your routine and challenge you mentally.

Studies have shown that playing mentally stimulating games can boost brain activity by as much as 15%.

Some fun ways to train your brain could be:

• The mnemonic method is a fun way to improve memory retention and can be used daily. A way that helps you remember an idea or phrase with a pattern of letters, numbers, or associations.
• Try something new. Come up with something you’ve never done but always wanted to try. Maybe playing a musical instrument, a new language, dancing, learning to play chess,puzzles, Sudoku, or anything that will take you outside your comfort zone and challenges you.
• You could also create a “mind palace,” a powerful method of recalling anything. The idea is that we are good at remembering places we have been to.
  It’s a visualization technique where, for example, you have a picture of the rooms inside your home imprinted in your mind. If you need to remember something, you place a note on your mental bathroom door — memory by association.

In Memory Champion Joshua Foer’s fantastic TED talk titled “Feats of memory anyone can do,” he breaks down how to create a memory palace into digestible chunks.

• Memory apps on your phone are a fun way to spend downtime.

Apps that could improve your memory include:

• Train Your Brain aims to improve your memory, reasoning, attention, coordination, and visuospatial skills (visualizing objects in spaces).
• Lumosity offers a mixture of fun games that will improve your memory, attention, problem-solving, processing speed, and mental flexibility.
• Elevate is a brain training app designed to improve focus, speaking skills, and processing speed.
• Peak is designed to improve your focus and mental agility. Recommended for all ages.
• Clockwork Brain Training is a unique app designed to improve and test your mind. Perfect for people who want to avoid feeling like they’re training their brains.
• Brain Test Tricky Puzzles is an app crafted to train your brain through a selection of mind-boggling puzzle games.

2. Make Sure You Get Enough Sleep

A good night’s sleep is crucial for brain health as it plays an essential role in processing and strengthening our short-term memory and transforming them into long-term memories. There are other essential areas sleep plays in our memory’s health.

In fact, research shows that sleep deprivation negatively affects the hippocampus (the part of your brain associated with learning and memory). The expert advice is to get between 7–9 hours, including naps for adults.

Here are some recommended ways you can get in more than your 40 winks:

• Establishing a regular sleep schedule creates a healthy sleep cycle, which is essential for memory consolidation. Keeping the routine on weekdays, weekends, and holidays is important. Sleep deprivation can also impair an individual’s ability to concentrate.
• Turn off all screens an hour before bedtime. Melatonin maintains your sleep-wake cycle. The blue light from televisions, computers, e-readers like the Kindle, and mobile phones suppresses melatonin production. Let your mind unwind with a book.
• Alcohol and sleep don’t mix well. Drinking alcohol in the evening can disturb your sleep patterns, especially during deep NREM sleep. So avoid drinking alcohol 4 hours before you go to bed.

3. Reduce The Stress in Your Life

Maintaining a stressful life significantly contributes to memory loss. It can be hard to manage your stress levels sometimes, but there are plenty of ways to do so.

First, learn how to relax and unwind by practicing mindfulness techniques such as meditation or yoga. These exercises help clear your mind, leaving you in a better state of mind and body.

Second, take time each day for yourself to concentrate on thinking more clearly and feeling less stressed out by taking care of yourself physically and emotionally.

This self-care routine will give your brain the downtime it needs for new connections between neurons in the hippocampus region (the part responsible for processing memories), improving their function over time.

Practicing meditation will benefit your overall health in many ways. Studies show that meditation can improve focus, concentration, creativity, memory, learning, and reasoning skills at any age.

This is neuroplasticity in action. Your brain has the potential to reshape itself to learn new skills and create long-term memories. You can harness the natural power of neuroplasticity to aid you in learning new information and improving your memory.

Living more presently can also help reinforce memories, therefore improving your memory. This is being mindful. In a study from 2013, mindfulness meditation showed that it could enhance memory capacity by reducing distracting thoughts (affecting how well the brain encodes and stores information) and improving short-term memory recall.

The demands of everyday living and being aware of establishing a healthy work-life balance is where stress can build up. And it’s about something other than maintaining a 50/50 leisure and work balance.

Suggested ways to improve your work-life balance include:

• Having a sense of satisfaction with your work, laughing, and spending quality time with your family and friends can improve your hormones and your ability to retain information.
• Learning a new hobby can help your brain stay active and improve your memory as you age.
• Creating and sticking to your sleep routine and eating well.
• Not thinking about work when you’re at home and vice versa.
• Taking breaks throughout the day. Your body and your mind need a time-out. This is an opportunity to spend time in nature to help relieve stress and anxiety, boost your mood, and gain mental clarity.

4. Set Up a Regular Exercise Routine

Physical activities such as swimming, cycling, or walking increase blood flow to the brain, which helps bring oxygen and nutrients to your brain cells. This enables you to focus and concentrate on the task by improving your cognitive functions, attention span, and mood and creating new memories.

Any exercise that gets your heart pumping can boost your brain power. Any activity that involves hand-eye coordination or complex motor skills will improve your mental health.

Hand-eye coordination activities could be:

• Catching and throwing a ball
• Juggling
• Playing an instrument while reading music
• Racquet sports such as tennis, squash, and badminton

How much exercise should you do to improve memory? Results from a study done by Harvard Health Medical School recommended a minimum of half an hour of moderate physical activity most days of the week.

5. Create a Healthy Meal Plan You Can Stick To

You don’t need a doctor to tell you that your eating affects your body. Foods that are high in sugar, refined carbs, unhealthy fats, and processed foods will negatively impact your memory and ability to retain information. Choosing a meal plan rich in anti-inflammatory ingredients and antioxidants will boost your brain function.

Your brain is part of your body and therefore needs the same nutrients as any other organ.

Here are some tips for a brain-healthy diet:

• Add some fruits and vegetables to your diet! A diet rich in fruits, vegetables, beans and legumes, whole grains, and lean protein will provide the foundation for a healthy mind.
• Avoid sugary foods like cookies or cake — they can cause you to crash after eating them because they’re high in sugar. If you do want something sweet, try fruit instead!
• Be aware of your coffee intake. Can you live without it? Although coffee can improve memory, it affects people differently. Some drink coffee only in the morning, while others have a cutoff time for drinking it in the afternoon. Your last cup of the day depends on your sensitivity to caffeine and how it interferes with your sleep.

Caffeine reduces blood flow to the brain by constricting blood vessels which may hinder learning ability because it decreases oxygen flow to certain parts of our brains (e.g., hippocampus). This could result in reduced memory recall capabilities over time if caffeine consumption were increased regularly without breaks between consumption periods.

Try green tea instead since this drink contains less caffeine than coffee but still delivers many health benefits, including promoting better cardiovascular health through antioxidant properties within its leaves.

If you still need that caffeine boost, then drink it in moderation. Limit yourself to one cup of coffee or tea daily, and avoid drinking it after the afternoon hours when your brain is most active.

Wouldn’t it be great to live in control of your stress and have fantastic memory retention?

There are many ways to improve your memory, from brain games to getting better sleep, having fun with friends, enhancing your lifestyle, and creating a healthy meal plan.

Age does not necessarily affect memory. Your mental capabilities are adaptable at any age. Concentrating on your mind to improve attention, focus, and memory is essential.

By challenging your mind with brain exercises, you can stay mentally alert, learn something new and have fun while doing it.

Start your day with 10 minutes of mindfulness meditation. This will lay a foundation to begin your day with lower stress and improve recollection.

Patience is the key. Taking small steps is important so you don’t feel overwhelmed. It’s okay to change your diet or lifestyle if you pace yourself.

Before you go, ask yourself this question.

How can I improve my memory?

Your answer will determine the direction of your life…

Links and Sources:
Medical Life Sciences
PsychCentral: Memory and Mnemonic Devices
Elaborative Rehearsal
HelpGuide — How to improve your memory
Sleep Centres: Alcohol and sleep