Ten Simple To Follow Tips to Boost your Memory

In order to have a healthy brain and to prevent forgetfulness, activities such as sleep and nutrition, exercise and sports are of great importance. Foods such as alcohol, cigarettes, excessive tea and coffee and excessive tension affect our mental health as well as our general health. Apart from this, mental activities such as reading and solving puzzles to keep brain functions alive give very positive results. It is useful to consider these ten simple-to-follow suggestions to keep the memory alive…

Don’t use a calculator, do your calculations by hand

William Culbertson: In the last fifteen years or so, my college students lost much of their mental computational ability. Calculators have gone from being a problem solving tool to being a crutch. When I express this thought, people say, “So what? Everybody has a calculator these days.” The problem is that with diminished computational skills, mathematics courses beyond the first algebra course are effectively closed off.

Memorize poetry and lyrics

Elevate: Researchers have recently studied exactly how it is that poetry affects us. They’ve found that it triggers our emotions, strengthens our brains, and gives us space for self-reflection.

Try to memorize phone numbers

Reneh Karamians: One method we use in certain cognitive rehabilitation programs is called “chunking”. Chunking involves putting numbers together so there is less to recall. As and example, take a phone number 714-6789. Instead of remembering 7-1-4 as separate digits, remember it as one number 714. Usually chunking numbers by 3s, as in the example, is the most efficient for most people. Rehearsal, that is repeating the number in your head over and over, also helps.

Try card games

cnsuwo: Playing cards does indeed help with memory decline by engaging your brain, cards keep your overall memory and thinking abilities sharp, and protect and nourish your cells.

Try to make connections between dissimilar objects

Beth Cooper: Lots of great writers, artists and scientists have talked about the importance of collecting ideas and bits of knowledge from the world around us, and making connections between those dots to fuel creative thinking and new ideas.

Solve the crossword puzzle

Pax Robinson: In one study of elderly adults doing crossword puzzles helped to delay the onset of dementia by over 2 ½ years! Researchers speculate the protective powers of crossword puzzles is because they help users develop a “cognitive reserve” which serves to protect them from the impacts of dementia. Doing challenging puzzles has also been shown to slow the buildup of amyloid plaques—that cause Alzheimer’s symptoms—on the brain. Doing crossword puzzles may help keep up with your brain health, keeping it sharp and clean!

Reduce your cell phone conversations

Rebecca Seal: Our brains and our smartphones form a complex web of interactions: the smartphonification of life has been rising since the mid 2000s, but was accelerated by the pandemic, as was internet use in general. Prolonged periods of stress, isolation and exhaustion – common themes since March 2020 – are well known for their impact on memory. Of those surveyed by memory researcher Catherine Loveday in 2021, 80% felt that their memories were worse than before the pandemic. We are – still – shattered, not just by Covid-19, but also by the miserable national and global news cycle. Many of us self-soothe with distractions like social media. Meanwhile, endless scrolling can, at times, create its own distress, and phone notifications and self interrupting to check for them, also seem to affect what, how and if we remember.

Avoid fatty foods

harvard.edu: Take that steak you’re about to slice into, for example. It’s loaded with saturated fat, which is known to raise blood levels of unhealthy low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol. Other kinds of fats, such as trans fats, do the same thing to LDL. LDL cholesterol builds up in, and damages, arteries. We know that’s bad for your heart but there is also plenty of evidence that it’s also bad for your brain.

Do not consume excessive alcohol

Healthline: Whether it’s over one night or several years, heavy alcohol use can lead to lapses in memory. This may include difficulty recalling recent events or even an entire night. It can also lead to permanent memory loss, described as dementia. Doctors have identified several ways alcohol affects the brain and memory. People who binge drink or have alcohol use disorder (AUD) may experience short- and long-term memory loss.

Do not smoke and exercise regularly

NLoM: In recent years, researchers pay more attention to the negative impacts of smoking on working memory. A longitudinal study for eight long-term smokers found the decline of their memory, cognitive function, and attention ability was closely related to smoking