
No.1: Play brain games
Your cognitive abilities can be maintained or improved by exercising the brain. Playing chess, bridge, sudoku and other brain training games will help improve your memory and brain abilities.
These games rely on logic, word skills, math and more. These games are also fun. You'll get benefit more by doing these games a little bit every day -- spend 15 minutes or so, not hours.
Playing brain games regularly will also help you prevent brain-aging. Some of the brain training games available online are scientifically designed by neuroscientists and help with improving both speed and focus.
Scientifically speaking, Consistent mental challenge by novel stimuli increases production and interconnectivity of neurons and nerve growth factor, as well as prevents loss of connections and cell death.
Medical students who have to cram a lot of facts into their brain visualize stuff all the time. A picture is worth a thousand words. If you want to remember something visualize it as a picture or make up a random story around it.
Your brain will remember the story you made up.You can use visualization to remember an entire list of things if you associate the images together. Say that you need to remember to take the following things to your SAT exam: a No. 2 pencil, a calculator, your ID and a snack for the break. You can create a visualization that links all of the images together in a ridiculous story.
Picture your pencil as a snake, curving itself into the number two. That snake just loves calculators, so it winds itself around the calculator, using its hissing tongue to press the buttons. When the snake pushes one of the calculator buttons, the calculator turns into a camera and snaps the snake's picture for an ID photo. All of this calculating and picture-taking has worn the snake out, so it wants a snack of pretzels.
Sure, it sounds bizarre, but you can't deny that it also sounds fun. Visualization is at the root of many of the memory tips
No. 3: Pay attention
It takes your brain all of 8 complete seconds to pay attention to something and store it in your long term memory. Your brain takes time to move something from short term memory to long term memory.
Visualization only helps you, if you can pay attention to what you need to remember. This is the reason why you can't remember things if information is delivered too quickly to your brain and you were not paying attention to what you were doing.
Sometimes people write down things and take notes, because taking notes take time and this helps them pay attention.
Try to stay in the present and really pay attention to the task at hand, whether it's learning new information for a job or meeting new people. Minimize distractions such as music, television or cell phones to focus fully. One way to stay mindful of even the smallest actions is to repeat aloud what you're doing; as you take off your eyeglasses, say aloud "I am putting my glasses on the kitchen counter." While talking to yourself may feel awkward, you'll be grateful to find your glasses easily later.
When meeting new people, we can often be more obsessed with how we look and the impression we're making than truly paying attention to the other person. Simply staying focused will boost your ability to remember the names of new people.
No. 4: Drink up a bit!
There's evidence that light to moderate alcohol consumption can improve memory and cognition. Though more research needs to be done, some studies have found that moderate drink. it has been known for ages that red wine is good for you.
But as always with alcohol, moderation is key. Drinking too much means impaired brain function and we all know how easy it is to forget when you are drunk.
This doesn't mean that sober people should suddenly start drinking either. if you don't like wine, you can also drink grape juice that has similar kinds of chemicals that help with memory and cognition
No. 5: Stay away from stress
Everybody's had those moments. You have a million things on your mind, a long to-do list, things to mail or deliver and tons of stuff to buy. You pack everything you need and step out of the door, only to realize you forgot your car keys, the essential piece to get going. When you're stressed and overwhelmed, your brain has a harder time remembering the most basic tasks.
Memory works by repetition. Need to remember a name or a phone number? Chances are you'll repeat it to yourself a few times to imprint the information in your brain. This is usually an effective method, except when stress enters the picture. Stress is like white noise, a wave of interference that interrupts the normal process that helps you remember. When you're stressed, your thoughts are racing and your memory becomes selective. You only remember things that your brain believes are essential to your survival. Forgot the keys to your car? That might be your brain telling you it needs a break.
So the next time you feel stressed, take a break. Spend some time outdoors walking your dog or have lunch with a friend. Or take a long bath with some scented candles to light the room. To manage stress over time, consider keeping a journal. It will help you identify what triggers your stress response so you can find better ways to deal with it.
No. 6: Consume brain foods
We've all had those days when we just can't seem to concentrate. And while there's no magic pill to bring us back to the height of our cognitive powers, there are some foods that have been shown to improve brain function, protect against age-associated cognitive decline and encourage focus and clarity.
But before you dismiss the diet-brain connection as mere conjecture, keep in mind that study after study has found a relationship between what we put in our mouths and how well we can perform important thinking and memory tasks. While certain nutrients may specifically assist brain function, there is also the totality of our diets to consider. One recent U.K. study found that a diet high in saturated fat actually caused damage to neurons that control energy and appetite in mice. And several well-regarded studies have shown that meal timing is an important predictor of performance. For example, research shows that eating breakfast can improve the memory and acquisition skills of schoolchildren.
Specifically walnuts, water, spinach, beets, garlic, avacado and olive oil help with brain function.
No. 7: Exercise helps memory
Regular exercise can substantially improve memory. Walking helps in increasing your spatial memory. Different types of exercise will target different types of cognition.
So if you are thinking that exercise doesn't help you that much, think again. Exercise regularly not only helps your brain but it also makes you more happy. it's well know that exercise is a very good mood enhancer.
No. 8: Tell good stories....
Telling a good story gives you brain a good workout. It also helps you strengthen your memories.
Make the stories as vivid as possible and develop your characters. The check-out person, the mailman, the plumber -- all can become characters in your story. Learn to notice and appreciate the wonderful quirks that everyone has. Describe these people, thinking about what they must have been thinking.
Plain facts are boring. Always use emotions liberally. Strive to make the listener feel things. Constructing and narrating a scenario really helps exercise different parts of your brain and also help you build relationships
No. 9: Turn off the television
Watching television has the same effect on the brain as staring at a blank wall. Watching TV may have a very harmful affect on your brain.
Your brain almost goes into hypnosis mode when you watch television. Researchers also have argued that watching television decreases your ability to pay attention and there is a causal link beween ADHD and watching too much television.
If you must watch television find something that is really engaging, such as an educational program.The relationship between television and brain function can be beneficial to the viewer if television requires active attention.
Television advertisers have seized on this effect of television and brain function for their television commercials. When people watch most television programs, they are quite suggestible. Thus a claim made in favor of a specific product, on some level, causes the person watching television to be more apt to believe it.
No. 10: Meditation increases brain activity
Meditation increases activity in the left prefrontal cortex. The changes are stable over time. If you stop meditating for a while, the effect lingers. Meditation and mindfulness also helps with stress relief.
Mental discipline and meditative practice can change the workings of the brain and allow people to achieve different levels of awareness.
Mental practice is having an effect on the brain in the same way golf or tennis practice will enhance performance. The brain is capable of being trained and physically modified in ways few people can imagine.
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