Tips and tricks to better your memory

Memory is important in our lives. It will not only tell us who we are and remind us of the things that have happened in our lives, it will also give us the knowledge that we need to survive. We use memory when we learn new lessons in school or when we are studying for an exam. We also need an excellent memory when socializing. People who can remember names and people appear to be warmer and are better conversationalists than people who are forgetful. Thus it is important that you start bettering your memory.

Below are some tips on how to improve your memory. Some you can do to improve your brains function while the others are preventive measures that will help you have great memory skills even after old age.

1. Change your lifestyle
As far-fetched as it seems, what you do with your life can affect your memory. Thus, people who want to better their memory do not only try out memory techniques but also change their whole lifestyle. You can start by avoiding vices that will hurt your brain processes. This includes smoking and drinking beyond the one bottle a day limit for women and two bottles a day for men. This is of course for beers only.

Stress is another factor that can lessen your memory skills. Stress have been shown to not only weaken the body and the immune system but also to weaken the mental processes. Since stress cannot really be avoided, you need to make sure that you find ways to relax and curtail stress. You can do this by resting your head on weekends and having enough sleep everyday. You should also start exercising and meditating which are both good for the brain.

2. Change your diet
What you eat will determine who you are. This may be a clich but it is true nonetheless. If you want to have a more powerful brain, you should make sure that you include in your diet what is often called the brain foods. These are foods that contain choline and proteins which help in the development of the brain. Examples of these brain foods are tuna, salmon and other fishes; soya, tofu, milk, peanuts and meat which are rich in proteins. Veggies and fruits also help by keeping the body strong and rich in supply of anti-oxidants. Young children in fact are encouraged to eat lots of these foods especially at that age when their brains are still developing.

3. Exercise your mind
One of the reasons why the brain slows down is because it is not used as often as it should be used. There are studies in fact that support this. People who answer crossword puzzles, play strategic games and work even when they are old are less likely to have Alzheimers. The use of the brain is actually a preventive measure for the onset of forgetfulness during old age.

4. Use memory techniques
Your brain also needs you help. It does not mean that if your brain is powerful, you will not make the job easy for it. If you want to better your memory, use memory techniques that will help you remember more. One example is the use of mnemonics, or key letters or words that will represent a whole lot of information. Another memory technique is the association, which allows you to associate an information or item with something that you can already see or what you already know.

How can I Improve my Memory?

The memory is very precious to us as it is a window to the events that have taken place in our lives. It can be frustrating though when you remember something that occurred 20 years ago but not what you need to pick up at the store this afternoon. May people wish that they could improve their memory. There are many ways of going about doing so rather than just being frustrated or upset over the situation.

Before we talk about how to improve your memory, we need to cover the ways in which materials are learned. As you hear new information or you are exposed to a new experience your mind has to decode what has been sent to you. It is going to interpret it in a given way. If you are focused on this aspect of things then your brain is going to file that information away.

It is as if you opened a file cabinet and dropped the information inside of it. When you are ready to retrieve that information your brain will pull it back up for you just like if you were to walk up to that file cabinet and take out the file you had previously placed inside of it.

You may remember earlier times when your memory was very sharp yet you took that for granted. The fact that we dont continue to exercise our brains and to look for new ways of thinking can lead to our skills not being as effective as they once were. Take a dancer for example. She may have spent years perfecting her moves but then stopped doing them. While she still knows about dancing she isnt going to be able to get out there and perform today as she was once able to when she practiced every day.

Pay attention to what goes on around you and you will improve your memory. The problem is that when people are talking to us we may only be half listening. We may be focused on something else that needs to be taken care of. Learning to focus on what is going on now will help you to store it for retrieval later on.

Try to make new information familiar by including it with information that you already have. Remember that there are many different forms of learning out there so find one that is best for you. Some people need visual aids in order to really be able to remember things later on. Others just need to hear it to be able to benefit from it. Find out what your learning style is and then make that a strength you continue to work with.

Take the time to ask questions or to do your own research when you arent familiar with something. It may seem like it is over your head right now but if it is explained in a different way you may be able to grasp it. If you do more research on the topic you can expand your knowledge and that will help you to make sense of what needs to be remembered.

If you really need to remember something, explore it in your mind several times. The more you engage in repetition the more it will be engraved in your mind for you to recall later on. There are some methods that can help you too such as word association and visual aids. Take advantage of what is out there that you can easily work with.

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