How to Improve My Memory

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to know how to improve memory function? Ever lost your keys and spent hours searching the house for them? Can you recall the name of someone you just met? Remembering things well is something, some people, seem to pull off effortlessly. There are practical steps you can take to improve your memory function.

The part of the brain chiefly responsible for memory is the hippocampus. It operates very efficiently, and stores each and every experience you have. What you recall; depends on how you look after the health of the hippocampus, and your brain and body generally.

Exercise

A brisk walk at lunchtime; a weekly swim; or a quick visit to the gym; is a good way to increase blood flow to your brain, ensuring it receives oxygen. Gaining weight is not good for the brain, increasing the risk of stroke and Alzheimer’s disease. Regular exercise improves the efficiency of blood vessels, which are numerous in the brain, where they transport nutrients. For good brain health and memory, exercise daily, if only for fifteen minutes, for optimum brain health.

Repeat things

There is a time and a place to sound as if you are talking to yourself, and to improve memory, you have to start nattering. You have a 30 percent improved chance of remembering someone’s name, after the first time you are introduced, if you repeat the name. Try it and see.

Negative associations

If you need to remember your bosses wife’s name is Karol, spelt with a K, it is a good idea to pause for several seconds, and reach for an association in your head. For example, Christmas carols are spelt with a C, so you can tell yourself; ‘not like the Christmas Carol’; and you will remember the unusual spelling.

Focus time

In this world of traffic, radio, television, and distractions, finding a few moments to focus on things, can see an improvement in your memory. If you need to stop after work, and buy milk and cereal; spend a moment away from your desk, in a quite part of the office, and pay attention to the thought for a few seconds. Really concentrate on it.

Visualise

To remember where you put something, look at what you are doing, and say to yourself; ‘Here is where I am putting my keys’. There’s a lot to be said, for how to improve memory function, by simply pausing for thought.

Memory games

Sudoku, puzzles and crosswords, played on a regular basis, can help keep your brain function efficiently. These games of logic, exercise the left side, and encourage the synapses in the brain to connect ideas. This critical thinking is vital to memory function. In order for us to figure out any puzzle, our brain will look to the hippocampus, which remembers everything we ever learnt. Retrieving information helps you solve the puzzle in front of you.

Start working on how to improve memory function today.