How to Improve Memory
Memory loss can be frustrating, you can't remember where you last put your keys or parked your car (thats me!)
There can be many factors that affect memory loss, such as hormonal issues, stress, inflammation in the body and age.
Here are some suggestions on how to improve memory.
Diet- An anti-inflammatory diet is important to improve memory and brain function. Inflammatory foods like refined sugars and processed carbohydrates can slow down brain function and make it hard to concentrate and can cause brain fog.
Eating fresh vegetables filled with antioxidants and increasing foods with omega-3 like wild salmon, walnuts and flax seeds will help to increase brain function.
Coconut oil has also been shown to be a preventive measure against degenerative neurological diseases.
Start your day with some eggs and vegetables. Eggs contain B vitamins, which help nerve cells, antioxidants that protect neurons against damage and omega-3 fatty acids to help the nerve fire at optimal speeds. Egg yolks also contain choline which is needed to make acetylcholine an important neurotransmitter for memory.
Exercise-Increases blood flow to the brain and has been shown to help learn new tasks twice as quickly and expands the brain’s memory center. It also stimulates nerve cells to multiply and strengthen their interconnections and protect them from damage.
Sleep. When you are sleep deprived your brain also gets deprived of glucose. Our brain needs glucose so when we deprive our bodies of sleep and glucose it will actually makes us less effective. One study took a group of doctors and gave them a task to perform. Then it gave them the same task but deprived them of sleep, the sleep deprived group were 20% less effective and had 10 times more mistakes when performing the tasks. So, you could say the less you sleep the dumber you become!
Don’t Multi Task. We tend to think multi tasking will help us get more things but multitasking may actually slow you down and make you more prone to making mistakes and being forgetful. Doing the opposite of multitasking, being mindful, will actually help you to improve memory and more things done.
Teach Someone Else. One of the best ways to remember how to do a test or remember a new concept or a process is to teach someone else how to do it. When you teach someone else how to do something you will find that you remember the information better.
Mediate. Meditation has been proven to as one of the best ways to help long and short term memory loss. When we meditate we work our mental muscle, prolonging the use of our brain and helps to keep us from suffering memory loss. Meditation also teaches us to be focused in the moment, which can help us to recall important details by increases attention to certain details.
Learn something new. Mastering a new skill stimulates your neurological system and reduces the risk of dementia and enhances health and well-being. Find an activity that is mentally stimulating to you and requires your attention and gives you satisfaction upon completion.
Memory Games:
Make a list of 10 things then put it away for any length of time (20-60mins) and then see how many you can recall after that time is up. Do that exercise at least once a day.
Memorize 10 friends phone numbers. When you get them down, then memorize 10 more, and so on.
Memorize your grocery list and then go to the store and see how many you can remember.
Take 10 objects and put them on the table then cover them and say out loud of the objects.
Memorize a list of 10 things a day; top 10 movies of 2016, top 10 healthiest cities. Just google top ten lists to come up with ideas.
Memorize the capitals of each state or the list of presidents and see how many you can get each day!
Mnemonic Devices
Acronyms- Make a word with the first letters of something you want to memorize. ex. BFF, TGIF, ATM, LOL
Rhymes- Make a rhyme of something you want to remember. ex. Shirley’s hair is curly.
Visual imagery- Associate a visual image with a word or name you want to remember.
Chunking or grouping- When you are trying to remember a long list of items then put them in groups like you were memorizing a phone number.
Best supplements for improved memory and brain function
More Brain Games
Use websites like lumonisity.com and BrainHQ.com
Supplements for improved brain function and memory
Acetyl-l-carnitine- an amino acid that works by creating acetylcholine, a major neurotransmitter responsible for memory and larning.
Curcumin/Turmeric- can help to improve memory by increasing blood flow and brain-derived neurotrophic factor, a protein that stimulates new brain cell production.
Ginseng- has been shown to improve memory, mental clarity and sharpness.
Magnesium- is needed for over 300 metabolic processes and has a major effects on the brain and mental health.
Omega 3 Essential Fatty Acids- are one of the most important nutrients that for health and function of the brain. It helps to shield the brain from memory loss, depression and mental decline.
Rhodiola Rosea- is an adaptogenic herb that helps to decrease cortisol while increasing levels of neurotransmitters. This herb is good to improve memory when moody loss is due to high stress.
Ginkgo- may have conflicting research for improving memory of healthy adults but has had proven benefits for people with dementia and Alzheimer’s patients.
EGCG- Green tea has so many benefits including promotion new brain cell creation and increasing memory. The best way to take EGCG is through drinking green tea.
