Strengthen your cognitive skills and learn valuable tips for increasing your memory capacity. While it may seem that there is nothing you can do to strengthen your memory as you age, there are actually a number of strategies you can adopt. This will ensure that your mind stays sharp, no matter what situation faces you and no matter how long you have lived.
Try playing fun, brain-challenging games to boost your memory. It’s similar to how exercise keeps your body in shape. Frequently treating your mind to a healthy challenge will strengthen it over time, ultimately boosting your focus and memory. Crossword puzzles, scrabble or word searches are just a few examples of fun ways to give your brain and memory a little workout.
If you want to increase your ability to recall information, put pen to paper. This task increases blood flow to parts of the brain that handle memory, and it gives it a little workout. You can enhance your capacity to memorize or recall important information by maintaining a journal, writing letters, making lists and other activities that involve handwriting.
Think of your brain as a muscle you need to exercise to remember things. Research has documented that puzzle playing wards off senility.
Memory Games
Memory games work well to hone your memory skills. Memory games are not only fun, they can boost your memory skills. Besides working on your memory, these games also help make your attention span and concentration better. You can find some of these memory games to play online for free.
If you’d like to improve your ability to retain information, try visualizing the things that you’re hoping to memorize. When studying for a class, for instance, pay special attention to the charts and graphs in the textbook. Also look at the photographs. You can even create your own charts and pictures to summarize the information.
Log on to your library’s website and download ebooks designed for memory improvement. There are a number of excellent books written by leading psychologists on topics relating to the brain and memory functions. You will find many useful tidbits of knowledge in these books that can help you in your quest for an improved memory.
A great way to make your memory more effective is to teach other people. An example of this would be a person forgetting how they taught their grandson to swim. If the person tells more people the story, they will remember what happened much easier. That way, you reinforce the thoughts and memories in your mind because you are accessing them more often, and they become harder to forget.
Never try to cram information. If committing something to memory is essential, take the time to establish planned sessions in which to study. Don’t try learning everything all at once. Your brain will be overwhelmed, and you will easily forget the information. Study in short sessions, and your brain can remember better.
Speaking what you want to remember out loud can be very effective. When you learn an important piece of new information like a name, say it aloud right away. If you hear what you are trying to remember, you will have a better chance of remembering it later on. If you don’t mind being heard, do this several times for best results.
In order to help your memory, try rehearsing things you know and relating them to what you are studying. Associating something short-term with a long-term memory can really help you better remember things. It also accelerates the speed at which you can turn short term memory into your long term memories.
One effective way to exercise your brain power and enhance your ability to remember is to meditate. In addition, meditation can reduce your stress and improve your health. Find a quiet, relaxing spot in which to meditate, and concentrate fully on your breathing. In order to keep your brain healthy, you should do this for at least thirty minutes every day.
Classical Music
Classical music has been known to help with memory improvement. Classical music is soft and soothing, and can help relax both your body and mind, thereby improving memory. An excellent time for playing this type of music is when taking a hot, relaxing bath. In this bath, consider having some candles burning.
Daily doses of fish oil are believed by some to be helpful in improving and maintaining cognitive function. You can improve your memory by using fish oil, which contains Omega-3 fatty acids. Consulting a physician about dosing is important before you begin to use this supplement.
Many people have problems remembering the names of people they meet. If this is you, try associating the new person with someone that is familiar to you that has the same name. You can even associate their name with that of someone famous. This tactic makes it easier to recall the person’s name when you next see their face.
As you study, your memory can be improved by setting up a schedule that’s consistent. Stick to this schedule as you learn information through several sessions. This helps information settle in the brain, which helps retention. There is evidence to suggest that this particular method produces more effective memorization when compared with simply cramming information all at once.
One way to study more effectively is to create an outline. If you can sort the information into subsections, you will have an easier time remembering it. There are no right or wrong outlines, as any kind of clustering will help your memory.
If you implement the hints and tips you’ve just been given, you can help yourself remain quick-witted and attentive, so you can effectively deal with all of the challenges in your life. Being able to remember things reliably will enable you to form relationships quicker in both professional and personal social environments. When you become more involved and use the information that you’ve learned here, you’ll become a more productive person.
