How Memory Works

Your brain performs a million different tasks for you on a day to day basis. And yet, it won’t be wrong to state that your memory is still one of the most prominent functions that are governed by your brain. Regardless of your occupation, a strong memory is a surefire way to get an edge over the rest of the candidates and make your mark in the line of work. A sharp memory can even help a great deal in improving your personal life as well. After all, how many times did it slip your mind that it was your wife’s birthday and had to suffer the inconvenient circumstances which could have easily been avoided if only your memory didn’t decide to bail on you?

A decline in memory is commonly associated with the growing age. While the medical facts are not to be questioned, there are tips that you can deploy to not only optimize your memory and mental performance through the days of your prime youth, but also help a great deal in delaying the aforementioned decline with age as well. Thanks to the neuroplasticity of the brain, its ability to adapt and change at any given age serve to function as a tool that you can use to enhance your memory and overall cognitive capacities.

The aim of this article is to highlight the top, simple to follow, and highly effective strategies which have passed the test of time in being evidently useful for improving human memory. Without further ado, let’s take a closer look at our list of top 6 strategies that you can start using today and experience the amazing effect it casts on giving a boost to your memory.

 

1. Your Brain Needs To Workout

Remember the time when you wanted your body to be stronger, well-toned, and perform optimally in the realm of physique? What did you do to accomplish your goal? You joined the gym at the corner of your street and started working out. The same principle applies for the purpose of enhancing your memory as well. As mentioned earlier, the performance of your memory is a game that is entirely in control of your brain. The sharper and stronger it is, the better it will perform in terms of serving as a memory center.

But what does it really mean to exercise your brain? If you think about it, there are certain activities that you partake on a regular basis which don’t feed on your mental power much. Listening to music, for example, is an activity that doesn’t require a sharp or highly focused mind. But then there are other activities which require you to summon your cognitive capacities to perform them properly. Say, for instance, playing a game of chess with your friend. The latter is essentially an example of the activities which exercise your brain. The more you partake in such activities, the stronger and more focused will your mind become over time, and the sharper will be your memory. Activities like reading a book, solving the puzzles, taking the analytical quizzes, etc. are known to be effective in improving your memory. Simply put, just about any activity that introduces you to a novel concept, is challenging in nature, is likely to build a new skill in you, and is rewarding, falls in the category of mental exercise.

 

2. Stress Is An Enemy

Anything that has the potential to disrupt your mental health is the killer for your goal of sharpening your memory. More often than not, we see a friend who’s losing his hair lately and we are automatically triggered to associate it with stress. What we don’t realize, however, is that stress does a lot more than making you lose your hair. It creates a barricade between you and your true mental potential that prevents you from enhancing and optimizing your memory.

In order to unlock your true mental performance and give your memory a little boost, it is required to keep the daily stress in check. For this purpose, a time-efficient yet effective strategy is to practice meditation and mindfulness. Such ancient Buddhist practices are known to clear up your head, give you the freedom from a self-imposed prison of your disturbing and troubling thoughts, dial down the overthinking, bring you to the here and now, restore your mood, and activate the natural relaxation response of your body; all of which works in harmony to liberate you of the burden of stress and anxiety that you’ve been keeping on your shoulders.

The tips to fight stress could be plenty, but the reason why we have specifically focused on meditation and mindfulness is that these strategies are highly time efficient. It is understandable for you to be a little too caught up in the daily grind that you may not find a lot of time to adopt the strategies that can counteract the daily stress. And that’s where meditation and mindfulness work like a charm. You’d be amazed to know that all you need is a few minutes of your time only to practice meditation every day and relish its benefits of keeping stress in check.

 

3. The Coordination Of The Mind And The Body

Remember that it is hardly ever sufficient to exercise your brain and expect it to perform optimally when your body is not in perfect harmony with it, in the first place. For the ideal results in terms of sharpening the memory, it is imperative to establish coordination of the mind and the body. This is what highlights the importance of keeping physical activities as an essential part of your day.

Being physically active has impacts which go way beyond the physical realm and into the territory of your cognitive abilities. Thanks to stimulation of happy hormones such as endorphins, adrenaline, serotonin, etc. physical activity can help to restore your mood and minimize stress. But that’s not all. Physical activities are further effective in ensuring the optimal supply of oxygen to the brain, minimizes the risk for you to develop medical conditions which can cause a decline in your memory such as that of the cardiovascular diseases or Diabetes, and stimulate the growth factors which are involved in creating new neural connections and enhance the neuroplasticity of the brain, all of which translates directly into a sharper memory and a genius mind.

 

4. Find Time To Socialize

It can’t be emphasized more that enhancing your memory is all about [restrict] optimizing your brain functionality. As such, anything that can boost your mental health is likely to have an impact on improving your memory in the long run. For the aforementioned purpose, therefore, it is important to be someone who knows how to balance his personal and professional life. Instead of being too involved in your work life that you don’t have time for anything else, it is imperative that you make time to see your friends, go out with them to have a good laugh, and socialize to not keep your brain deprived of an essential nutrient.

Let’s draw a comparison with your physical body again. Why do you think it is recommended to hit the gym only four to five times per week while you are required to take rest for at least two days every week? It’s because your body needs to rest properly in order to grow stronger and function optimally. Similarly, to enhance your cognitive capabilities, strengthen your mind, and sharpen your memory, you must not go hardcore on your brain all the time and keep it indulged in the crossword puzzles and the analytical quizzes. Sometimes, just hanging out with your loved ones, watching a movie together, and simply having a good time can work wonders. In other words, having a social life is more important than you thought for your overall well-being.

5. Did You Get A Good Night’s Sleep?

This one applies specifically to the younger generation that is faced with the curse of technology. Yes, it’s true that technological advancements have made our lives easier and efficient. But unfortunately, it was hardwired in our DNAs to abuse the gadgets and put ourselves through the side effects as well. If you are in your prime youth, could you put your hand to heart and announce that you are not actually addicted to your smartphone? Is it not true that we started to rely a little more than necessary on technological gadgets?

It is not uncommon for our youth to lose the good night’s sleep over surfing pointlessly on the internet for hours as they go to bed. Taking your phone with you to bed is perhaps the most destructive habits for optimizing brain functionality and sharpening the memory. You take it to bed with you in hopes of checking your email for a few minutes before you go to sleep but then someone posts a cute cat video on Facebook and an endless cycle of scrolling the social network begins. Before you know it, it’s 3 in the night and you have to get up for college at 7 in the morning. That’s all night sleep that a lot of our youngsters are having in this time and age.

In order to enhance your memory and boost your mental abilities, therefore, it is imperative that you get a good night’s sleep. Seven to eight hours at least should be your goal since it is this time that your brain utilizes to rests itself properly, recharge its batteries, and be optimize its functionality including that of serving as a memory center.

 

 

6. Let The Diet Do The Rest

If you are a little too overwhelmed of all the strategies that you are required to implement to sharpen your memory, the good news for you is that even something as simple as making modifications to your diet can help you accomplish the goal as well. It is essentially your diet that determines the kind of nutrients which will be provided to your brain. If you are eating healthy, you are likely to have a better memory. If you are too consumed in the fast foods, fried foods, and all the junk that is available in the market these days, your brain is going to function as junk as well. As simple as that.

For the purpose of enhancing your memory, the omega 3 fatty acids particularly take the spotlight. You can find these as a prominent ingredient in the seafood. Other than that, your goal should be to include more fruits and vegetables to your regular diet. Other than that, you should keep a check on the saturated fats as well as the overall number of calories that you are taking on a day to day basis. To further support the goal, you could try replacing caffeine with green tea.

The better is the quality of nutrients which are being provided to the brain, the better will be its performance, and the sharper will be your memory in the long run.

 

Final Note

There you go. These were the 6 simple tips that you can follow to enhance your memory and relish its benefits on your personal and professional life. While it may sound a lot, all of these strategies are simple to follow and blend well into your daily routine to the extent that you won’t even have to put a deliberate effort into practicing these after a while.

A sharp memory is your ticket to success in life. This statement should be more than sufficient to inspire and motivate you to put an effort into improving your memory. Now that you are familiar with the tips which can serve the purpose, you already have the roadmap to success. All you have to do is start walking on it. So, what are you waiting for? Start adopting the aforementioned tips and make them a part of your daily routine to experience the best of what your mind has to offer. [/restrict]