10 Ways to Keep Your Memory Strong

**driqbal** · 16-01-2008, 06:24 PM

1. Brain food:

Don’t let yourself run on empty. A balanced diet will help keep your mind running strong all day long. Make sure to include plenty of fruits and leafy green vegetables. They are loaded with essential antioxidants and nutrients to boost your brain power. Some of the best foods for thought include: blueberries, blackberries, fish and fish oils, eggs, spinach, strawberries and almonds.

2. Exercise:

Get your body moving and your memory will soon follow. Exercise improves the heart’s blood flow. This, in turn, helps the brain function better and stay sharper. Studies have also found that cardiovascular exercises done over a long period of time help reduce the amount of brain tissue you lose as you age.

3. Brain Games:

Unscramble your memory with Scrabble. Intellectually stimulating activities and games such as Scrabble, crossword puzzles and trivia games are great for boosting your memory. Have fun and challenge your brain with these fun memory games.

4. Pick Up a Book:

The key to keeping your memory sharp is to continue to challenge it. Try to always have a book in hand. After you’re done reading a chapter or two, question and review the material you’ve read. Try to imagine what you’re reading. Discuss what you’ve read, and talk about it with friends or join a book club.

5. Take a Sip Down Memory Lane:

Coffee is good for more than just getting you out of bed in the morning. Researches have found the stimulant affect of caffeine can help boost memory. Studies have also found that key enzymes found in green and black teas help improve memory functions.

6. Cultivate interest:

We tend to remember the things that we enjoy. Find ways to make a boring subject fun by associating it to something you already know. If you have to remember a list, try to make a fun sentence out of the first letters of each item or try categorizing things into a group. You can also use your imagination and create a fun story behind a subject to help make it easier to remember.

7. Catch some those Zzzz’s:

Sleep plays a critical role in your physiological function and is vital for your intellectual development. Memory failure is a common occurrence for many sleep-deprived individuals. A study conducted at the University of Luebeck found that creativity and problem solving appear to be directly linked to adequate sleep.

8. Repeat After Me:

When learning new information, the more you repeat it, the more likely you will be able to recall that information. Practice is the key to lasting memory. Practice is the key to lasting memory. Practice is the key to lasting memory.

9. Give It a Beat:

Music not only helps trigger memories of past events, but also stimulates learning skills. Music has also been shown to help retain information and provide multiple modes of information retrieval.

10. Pick Your Own Brain and Share it with Others:

Don’t keep your knowledge stored up. Teaching others is another great way to boost memory skills. You should also become your own teacher. Don’t be afraid of taking on new challenges. You might not be in school anymore but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t test yourself. After you learn something, it’s important to put the new information to use.