People say that a mind is a terrible thing to waste, and they hit the nail right on the head with that catchy little slogan, because, to put it bluntly, once the mind is gone, so too is the person. Check out these great memory tips to improve one of your most precious gifts, your mind.
Try taking a brain boosting vitamin. Certain nutrients have been shown to affect our memory and brain function overall. Ginko Biloba and others are quite often considered to be the best at it. Take a vitamin that is geared towards memory retention or look for ways to incorporate foods rich in these nutrients into your diet.
In order to improve your memory, try doing more aerobic exercise. Recent studies have shown that high intensity cardio workouts can actually help you grow more brain cells in your hippocampus, the portion of your brain responsible for memory. Some exercises that you may want to try include running, biking, kickboxing and swimming.
Think of your brain as a muscle. To keep it in good shape, you need to exercise it. A number of research studies demonstrate that playing puzzles and games keeps the brain functioning well as old age sets in.
Protecting your cells is vital to keeping your brain healthy and active. Eating foods that are rich in antioxidants like blueberries, strawberries, and other fruits and veggies will give you a leg up in taking care of your brain. These antioxidants not only keep your brain working in optimum condition, they also may help slow the aging process.
To better commit names to memory, repeat a person’s name after an introduction, and try to come up with something about the person that might help you remember his or her name. If you meet a Bob who mentions that he enjoys fishing, you might associate his name with a bobber like those used on a fishing line, for instance.
When trying to commit information into your long-term memory, make sure you are in a location with zero distractions. It takes real attention to move information from short-term to long-term memory, and a distracting environment can make the task nearly impossible. Steer clear of areas where there are televisions, radios, crowds or lots of visual stimuli.
It is important that you keep a daily routine if you want to improve your memory. By doing things at different times of the day, you may forget certain obligations. Try to stick with one routine for the weekdays when you are at work and one routine for weekends when you are home.
Pay attention when you want to memorize something. Clear your mind completely and focus on the subject and avoid outside distractions such as noises and images. Persons with focusing difficulties should find a silent, remote location to improve focusing and speeding up the memorization process. Use pleasant music to enhance your focusing.
Avoid cramming. Work in regular study sessions that you have set out on a schedule. Having a set time to study will help your brain remember the facts you present to it. Cramming simply presents your brain with too much information to remember at any one time, and so you will forget much of it.
One way to improve memory is to employ mnemonics. For example, when musicians learn the treble clef they learn “every good boy deserves fudge.” This simplifies the learning of the notes on the lines of the treble clef without overly burdening the memory. Simple mnemonic device make learning new things much easier.
If you suffer from loss of memory, be sure to see a psychiatrist or therapist. Memory loss can be a sign that you suffer from anxiety or depression, and you may not even know it. If you do have anxiety or depression, treating it could be the key to you getting your memory back.
If you want to improve your brain’s ability to create and retain memories, one way of doing this is to often recount stories. Story telling is a way of practicing having the brain recall a memory in as much detail as possible, which is similar to working out a muscle group. It’s also fun!
Keep your self organized. It is important that you don’t waste your time trying to remember simple things, like where you put your car keys. Just make sure to keep them in the same spot every day until it becomes habbit. Being organized will actually work to enhance your memory.
Did you know that, even late in life, you can grow new brain cells within the memory center of your brain? Recent research has revealed that high-level aerobic exercise, such as running and bicycling, actually stimulates the growth of new brain neurons within the brain’s hippocampus. If you want to have a better memory, adding more aerobic exercise to your daily activities will help.
If you are studying new information, try switching up your routine a little bit. Endlessly repeating the same sort of study session can get boring. You may find that, after a while, you are no longer retaining the information. So switch up your routine. Pick a new time and a new place to study. The novelty of the change will help you in remembering.
Do not feel ashamed to talk to yourself if you have a bad memory and you are trying to remember something important. Sometimes, all it takes is talking out loud for you to remember where you have placed a certain lost item or remembering what you have to do.
It is impossible to remember something if you have not first learned it. Focus your attention on the item and really make an effort to learn it, and then review the information over and over again. Once you have done this a few times you should be able to remember the information without any problem, this tip works wonders for a lot of people.
Make no mistake about it — your ability to remember is a tremendous gift. Most people will never realize just how vital their memory is until they begin to lose it. You should never have to allow your memory to lapse. Pay attention to the tips in the article and you can work on repairing and improving your memory.
