How to Improve Your Memory, According to Science
These tips will give you the memory boost, right now.
Quick! When’s your best friend’s birthday? When did you and your significant other first meet?
What is this year’s tax return deadline? With so much going on in the world, you can’t be expected to keep track of everything!
There are some things you’re bound to forget. But be careful! What you don’t remember might lead to serious repercussions.
Luckily, there are ways you can improve your memory; and minimize those awkward moments.
So that you don’t have to be that person that calls someone by the wrong name, or who shows up empty-handed…
Want to know just how much your brain can store? According to Professor Paul Reber, who teaches psychology at
Northwestern University, the official capacity of your brain is roughly one million gigabytes. For context, that kind of storage could hold about three million hours of television.
But that’s not our recommendation since binge-watching is linked to memory loss. If you’re between the ages of 40 and 60, studies show that you increase your risk of dementia if you watch more than 4 hours of TV per day.
Wait! Before you freak out, just sit back and take a breath. You do not have to give up Game of Thrones.
We’ve found a variety of easy, natural ways you can start boosting your memory. Right now!
If you can commit to just 10 minutes of exercise per day, you can count on having a better memory. Even a bit of light exercise strengthens connectivity between the dentate gyrus and hippocampus, which are two parts of the brain that are associated with creating new episodic memories.
After your workout, take a well-earned rest! A good night’s sleep and daily nap do wonders for your mind!
While you’re asleep, your brain is working hard consolidating the day’s information and experiences into memories for future recall.
Okay, enough of that! Time to wake up! Have a cup of coffee, or tea if you prefer, just make sure it’s caffeinated.
Caffeine boosts memory. At Johns Hopkins University, researchers divided a group of volunteers and gave half of them a caffeine pill, and the other half, a placebo.
The researchers then showed both groups a series of images. The next day, when both groups were asked to identify the images they’d been shown, the people who’d been given caffeine did much better! Just remember, while caffeine can help boost your memory, too much caffeine can be bad for you.
And it’s not just what you drink, it’s also what you eat. Put any foods with flavonoids on your list, and soon, you won’t have to rely on a grocery list at all!
Flavonoids are basically a diverse group of plant chemicals that are good for your heart and help prevent cancer. But they also boost memory retention. Foods that are high in flavonoids, like blueberries or cocoa, have been shown to improve memory. While the research isn’t yet conclusive, one study published in the Journal of Agriculture and Chemistry revealed how a group of participants in their 70s experienced slower memory decline after eating two servings of blueberries every day for several weeks!
So you see, there isn’t much to improving memory. In fact, all it takes is a healthy lifestyle! Sleep well, eat well, enjoy a run every now and then; and who could forget coffee?
But if you’re still having trouble after adjusting to these healthier habits, here’s a tip from me that might help: when you need to remember a list of items, try making an acronym from the first letter of each item on your list!
Know someone who’s forgetful? Give them a hand!
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