Lifestyle changes you can make to help improve your memory…
Let’s boost your memory by jumping straight into the changes you can start to make today:
1. Stress: A Familiar Memory
Stress is one of the biggest markers for memory difficulties. Think of the last time you were in a crisis, chances are you had a lot of trouble remembering what you needed, such as necessary information like an address, phone number, or remembering what you wanted to say.
This is because the hormone cortisol tends to flood the brain when you are under stress, leading to a confused and hazy feeling. Unfortunately, your body doesn’t need an absolute end-of-the-world panic to create this response. Even mild stress can start the flooding of cortisol. This can have a great effect on your concentration levels.
When you encounter a stressful event no matter how small, it impairs memory retrieval and can be encoded in the body and mind long after the event. It is something to unlearn and release, creating new beneficial response patterns, easier said than done but it is 100% doable.
The trick is to manage the stress in your life, you can start making those changes right now. If you don’t allow yourself to get caught up into the turmoil, you won’t experience the memory problems that go with these stressful feelings. Some quick suggestions? Try meditation or some breathing exercises to get things under control when you’re feeling the tension rise. You’ll be amazed at the difference, both in how you feel and how you’re able to think.
Read More About: Stress: 3 Tips to Keep Your Brain Happy and Healthy
2. Stacking Information: Add It Up
Having trouble recalling names or other quick bits of information? It might be stress, as we have already identified, or you are spending too much time trying to establish neural connections you don’t need.
When we learn something new, we may make the mistake of trying to force ourselves to remember it through repetition memorisation. The challenge is, while this might work short-term, in the long-term, you usually forget the information you tried so hard to keep in mind.
Next time, you can try this simple trick (if you remember): Link the new information to something you already know – Add it up. By tricking the brain into stacking the information on top of something else entirely (like connecting a new name onto someone else with the same name or characteristic) you’ll find it much easier to pull the information up when you need it. Most importantly, leave stress behind. If you cannot remember for now, ask.
Mindfulness can also help, as it assists memory by promoting present-moment awareness, which helps focus attention and reduce stress, thereby boosting cognitive processes involved in encoding and retrieving information.
3. Move It: Memory Shaker
What’s that called again?
There can be so much frustration in being unable to recall some piece of information you desperately need. It is challenging to say the least, when you know you learned it but can’t seem to recollect the information. Not recalling can cause a stress, in itself.
Did you know that this might be related in part to something you were doing…or not doing…at the time you learnt it? It might come as a surprise, but learning and exercise are deeply linked. The technique is to do some moderate to intense cardiovascular exercise either in the minutes before or directly after learning something. Just fifteen minutes of exercise is enough to reinforce in your mind what you need to remember.
You can also use NLP anchors (physical actions – chosen stimulus) to not only facilitate emotional states but by using these techniques you set up a stimulus response pattern relating to the information you wish to retain.
Remember, the key is to pair the activities as soon as possible. If you wait more than an hour either way, and those effects are lost!
4. Vitamin D: Hello Sunshine
With as many as 1 in 5 of the population being deficient in Vitamin D there needs to be more talk about the effects Vitamin D has on your health and memory. The challenge is most people don’t have a clear understanding about Vitamin D and just how important it is.
Vitamin D is important to the health of your bones and teeth that’s one of the reasons it’s added to milk, using calcium to pair it with for a solid one-two punch for your good health (if you are vegan, fortified orange juice and mushrooms are a good source).
Vitamin D is crucial to brain health too, more specifically to memory function. It’s even been proven in recent studies that adults with consistently low Vitamin D levels could impair their memory function permanently. It is also linked dementia risk and general cognitive decline. How exactly it is linked is yet to be discovered. You can learn more about this link here: Taking vitamin D could help prevent dementia, study finds and Low levels of vitamin D in the brain linked to increased dementia risk
Vitamin D is important to maintain and the quickest way of getting it is quite simple, you need to get exposed, so get outside and into sunlight if you can, sitting by a window does not help as they block UV-B which is needed for your body to produce Vitamin D. Even if skies are grey, like they often are in the UK, your body will still be exposed to the needed UV-B if you go outside.
Getting outside is not only physically refreshing, it is also spiritually uplifting! Feel good and help your memory!
5. Brain Training: Playing Games
The little “addictive” games you can find on your phone or on Facebook might serve a purpose after all. If you thought you would never read those words, read on to find out how (yes, there I said it!)
The secret is to find games helpful in training your brain. Things such as crossword puzzles, word searches, or anything which forces your memory to have a little bit of a workout can be quite healthy for you, in moderation of course. There is the alternative of using a crossword or word search book, or finding them in newspapers and magazines. I often advocate for using pen and paper over digital for learning and memory, as studies have repeatedly shown the benefits of this. You can read about one such study here: Handwriting Boosts Brain Connectivity and Learning
You only need about fifteen minutes of playing to see the benefit. We are not talking hours of playing just a simple brain weightlifting session. Studies have shown that those who took the time to challenge themselves for a few minutes a day saw improved memory function after just a few weeks of steady playing in small increments. Pretty impressive results for brain training for playing a game!
6. Media Overload: No Phone Zone
Contrary to point number 5, your phone might hold the clue if you are feeling a bit forgetful lately and the question is why?
If you spend a lot of time on your screens, switching between apps and even devices you just might be feeding into short-term memory problems. What’s worse, current studies have shown some alarming trends also indicating permanent damage to long-term memory. So, while you thought you were being efficient when you jumped between email, social media, video streaming services, and news feeds, you could be doing more harm than good.
The solution? Put the brakes on screen time. Start limiting how often you check your phone or read email. Whittle down time spent on social media or use it only at prescribed times. Turn off the TV and grab some reading material. Your brain will thank you for it!
7. Remember: The Body and Mind is a Whole
Can’t remember – Memory loss can come from surprising places sometimes.
We might think we are doing all the right things, such as challenging our brains constantly and making a practice to take in new information often. What we might not realises is how our own bodies might be working against us.
When we are not taking care of ourselves physically, often our memory is affected. In fact, numerous studies have shown an uncomfortable statistic, obesity indicates poorer performance on memory-related tasks compared to those who fall within average weight parameters. What’s more, obesity also makes you more susceptible to other memory-related problems such as dementia in old age.
This is not only obesity, add in a sedentary lifestyle which is linked to thinning in regions of the brain that are essential to memory formation. Being aware of many reasons for weight gain, including this such as stress, trauma sand autoimmune diseases, this is not a personal attack or body shaming it is regrettably just scientific facts, a quick search can bring up many medical reviewed articles and studies such as this one: How obesity makes memory go bad
So, if you are interested in aiding your memory, consider addressing the housing where your memory resides. Take care of yourself.
8. Food for thought: What's Eating You
Hmmm this tastes so good, so why is it so bad?
Over the past few decades, our relationship with food has drastically changed. There are so many added refined sugars, salt and preservatives, and then add in the choices of pre-prepared / convenience foods which don’t necessarily have great nutritional value.
Easy fixes to flavour especially artificial additives are really hurting us, not just in the shapes of our bodies, but in how our brains work, and in our ability to remember what is important. Too much sugar, all those simple carbs (instead of complex carbs), and excess salt will change the shape and function of your brain. These are the things that will actually shrink down brain matter and collapse the vessels carrying blood and oxygen to where you need it most. A brain fed on an inflammatory / poor diet becomes slower and sluggish.
Balance is key! There are amazing options to reduce our sugar and additive intakes and still have great flavours. There is a world of spices and sauces to experience, it is a matter of retraining those taste buds.
It might take some time to cook from fresh however the results on your body and brain are beyond impactful! Consider quality fresh fruits and vegetables, high value carbs, and adding a good portion of protein.
So, drop the sugar. Eat whole foods where possible, with a focus on what is best for the health of your whole body. You’ll be amazed at how much better you’re thinking when you do and how your memory can improve.
9. Sleep: Time for Shut-Eye
Do you know just how important good sleep is to remembering things? When you are tired, it might seem impossible to remember your own name, much less anything else.
Falling into wonderful, deep sleep serves a purpose you might not have been aware of. This ‘slow-wave’ sleep is considered to be the most restorative sleep stage and is associated with the level of sleep quality. Sleep which helps you to process new information and prepare for long-term remembering. This is Non-REM sleep. That is not everything though! Following this Non-REM sleeping is REM sleep which has been shown to make your memories stronger or more memorable. So full sleep cycles are important!
Do you get enough sleep? Ask yourself if you’re getting adequate deep sleep to make a difference. If you are feeling hazy, it might be time to make some changes in your sleep environment from reducing noise or light. Meditation and relaxation techniques can help too. I personally sleep on a bi-phasic cycle and find it works wonders, although not everyone is able to do so because of their working hours or other commitments. I use an online sleep calculator to determine the best range of sleep for myself, Sleep Calculator. I usually use “Calculate my wake-up time” from when I am going to sleep, to get the optimum sleeping hours, even if you are having less sleep make sure you get full cycles.
If that doesn’t help, consult your doctor. A sleep study might be needed to discover how better to optimise your sleep time and in turn improve your memory.
10. Aging: Maintain Youthful Brain
With age comes the loss of brain mass naturally. Sadly, this has an impact on both thinking skills and memory. Good brain health training then needs to involve ways to both preserve what you have, but to add back what you might have already lost.
The practice of meditation is the answer to this question (mix in quality sleep, good diet, exercise, brain training, problem solving and a bit of sunshine and WOW amazing results.)
When we meditate, we let ourselves relax, mentally and physically. We drop into the moment and knock the stress out of our bodies for a time. Studies have shown meditation has a way of increasing the amount of neuron cell bodies in our brains, increasing the grey matter we might have lost over time.
With so much going for it, meditation becomes an easy choice for improving brain health and by extension, your memory. Even better? It’s so easy to start. There are different ways to meditate so you can find one that is adaptable to your lifestyle (this includes mindfulness), and you still get the positive benefits.
NOTE: If you notice a sudden change in your memory or cognitive function, it is advised to go speak with a medical practitioner.