Not giving your brain the stimulation it needs is seriously bad for it. Mindlessly scrolling through social media, watching TV, doing the same boring things at work all day… they’re all going to take a toll on your brain eventually. It needs constant exercise and activity to keep it fresh and spry, and it’ll help prevent neurological diseases like Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s as well!
Keeping your brain busy isn’t rocket science, thankfully. Here are 7 easy ways to improve your memory today!
1. Learn Something New
If you’ve ever exercised regularly before, then you’d know that stagnancy will get you nowhere fast. You constantly need to push yourself to work out longer, lift heavier weights, and run faster. In the same way, you need to improve your memory by giving it some exercises by learning something new or pushing it past its comfort zone.
There are a lot of ways to give your brain something to do. You can learn a new language, learn a musical instrument, learn a new dance, learn a new game, or learn a new activity you’ve never done before like crochet and baking. Nothing is impossible to learn these days with modern technology!
2. Repeat Until It Sticks
The more you repeat something, the more chances of it sticking! It helps strengthen the neurons that are keeping that little tidbit of information. It also keeps that information at the forefront of your memory to improve it.
However, you got to remember that simply repeating something over and over isn’t enough. You probably even have not-so-fond memories of repeating something over and over while studying and forgetting everything during exams.
Not only do you have to repeat things, but you also have to make an effort to remember. Try and remember all details without looking at your notes. Do a mental review while doing other things like taking a shower, trying to fall asleep, or walking around the neighborhood.
3. Use Acronyms, Abbreviations, and Other Mnemonic Devices
Ahh, mnemonics—every student’s best friend! These are memory tricks that you use to pull things up from the depths of your brain a lot easier.
One of the more common mnemonic devices you may already know about is acronyms or acrostics. This is where you take the first letter of a couple of words. Some examples include ROYGBIV (colors of the rainbow), HOMES (Michigan’s Great Lakes), and FANBOYS (coordinating conjunctions).
You can do the same for words too. Some of your teachers might have already taught you about “Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally” (order of mathematical operation), “My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Noodles,” (solar system planets), and “Dear King Philip Came Over for Good Soup,” (taxonomy order).
4. Group Complex Information
You don’t have to digest a ton of information in one go, you know. You can easily separate them into smaller sections to make them not only easier to remember, but also look less intimidating! This is called chunking. Learn these smaller pieces one by one until you’ve got them all down to a pat, then connect them. This method is particularly great for those with short-term memory.
One example of this is memorizing people’s phone numbers. So, instead of memorizing 9264027490, you can break it down to 926-402-7490. You can also use grouping to memorize grocery lists by dividing frozen, fresh foods, toiletries, and more.
5. Use All Your Senses
Speaking from personal experience, this is one of the best tips to improve your memory!
I remember the times when I was much younger, cramming as much as I could while listening to my favorite songs. Come exam time, I’d pull up the bits of information I read along with the exact lyrics I was listening to when I read that bit in my textbook. Somehow, it made me remember things more clearly!
You can also notice this whenever you smell something distinctive. Even if you can’t pinpoint the smell, it ignites something in your brain, resurfacing memories you haven’t thought about in ages.
So, when you need something important, try to use all your senses to make things easier for you to remember.
6. Don’t Rely on Google
While technological advancements have made life a lot easier for all of us, one could say it has made it too easy. Oftentimes when people forget something, they just turn to Google to find out all the answers instead of making an effort to exercise their noggins and improve their memory.
So, as much as possible, try to spend some time remembering things on your own, maybe like an hour or so. You’ll find that you get a lot more satisfaction this way. If you tried your best and still came up with nothing, that’s when you can start Googling.
7. Keep Things Organized
Lastly, the best way to keep your mind palace nice and orderly is to keep everything around you nice and orderly too! You can’t just keep things helter-skelter and expect your brain to remember every little thing.
For starters, you can keep a checklist of things you need to do or things you need to buy. That way, you can refer to them whenever you need a reminder. Again, while it’s best to remember things on your own, a little cheat sheet isn’t going to hurt you. Perhaps you can take a peek before heading out of the store just to make sure you’ve got everything.
This also translates to keeping the house organized. Arrange things so that it makes sense to you. This way, you can find everything easily, keep track of what needs to be fixed or what needs to be bought, and so on.
