Lifestyle-Based Ways To Enhance Your Memory

Forgetting things is a common experience, but it can be frustrating and even frightening. Yet, it doesn’t have to mean all hope is lost. Whatever your age, there are ways to improve your cognitive skills. Although our brains reach their maximum size when we’re in our early twenties and then slowly decline in volume over time, the good news is that studies have shown the brain to be capable of regrowth.

In fact, the brain can learn and acquire new skills and facts all throughout life especially if you regularly exercise both your body and your brain (which is a muscle, after all). Sure, age may make learning new information tougher for some, but what’s good is that many parts of the brain remain untouched, according to the Mayo Clinic, who says these include your habit-based memory, the one that stores skills established by repetition and practice (like riding a bicycle).

One of the biggest myths about memory is that “You can’t increase your memory by training it.” WRONG! I can sort of appreciate why this myth might be accepted (‘If I can’t do anything about it, there is no point trying. Sweet, less effort for me’). The inconvenient truth is that there are *plenty* of ways to improve your memory, or to simply get the most out of what is already there.

Researchers have found that some of the most common study techniques are highlighting or reading and rereading text/notes. It doesn’t take a whole lot of (cognitive) effort to read a passage or highlight a phrase. The same thing that makes them popular also makes them rather ineffective (requiring relatively little cognitively effort). Neither of these is entirely useless, but there are better options.

Sure, forgetting when your children’s birthdays are, when trash day is and when your anniversary rolls around are good reasons to start improving your... Read More...