Memory Improvement Guide

Knowledge is power but unfortunately if you cannot retain information for long then your reign of power will be short lived.  We use external hard drives or memory disks to store more information and we do so because we value information. But have you ever wondered why there are some of us who are able to retain information faster that others and because of that they beat us almost in everything? Well the truth of the matter is that such people are not geniuses neither are they lucky; they just got the memo on how to improve their brain power so as to retain information faster.

Now we want you to get the memo too but a bigger one. We want to help you retain information by helping you to discover the simple things you have been assuming how a bigger impact they have on how your brain receives stores and disseminates information. So just get ready to have it all demystified and be surprised at how much you can achieve.

How Can your Brain work better? Photo/Theartofhippy.com

Why Humans Forget

For many people the issue of retaining information does not sound like a big deal but before going in that direction we should just know why you should train your brain to remember things better. The main culprit is forgetfulness. As humans we are naturally prone to forgetfulness and this happens because of several reasons.

1. Disuse

What you don’t use you soon lose. If memories are not reflected upon as often as possible then they will diminish.  In short if information is not being reviewed constantly it is easily forgotten. Although we will not forget everything completely, it won’t be easy to get the finer details.

2.  Pessimism

We are our own harshest critics, the more we are negative about ourselves, the more we start to forget and underestimate our abilities including mental functions like memory.

3. Interference

Many experts now believe that anxiety, stress and environmental distractions can lead to memory loss. Has someone ever interrupted you while speaking and then you lost your line of thought?

4. Lack of understanding

If people do not understand the information of concepts being given to them then they can as well forget them. For anything new to stick, it should be well impressed in the brain to stick.

5.  Psychological reasons

There is something known as motivated forgetting whereby people find easier to recall unpleasant events instead of the pleasant ones. This is actually very true with pessimistic individuals.

6. No effort and attention being paid

 For you to remember in formation requires you to make an effort to retain it which means if you do not pay enough attention then it will not be remembered.

6. Changed Cues

Most people associate information they know to certain events, conditions or persons thus when these cues are changed they tend to forget what they know.

So now you see, we are surrounded by conditions and circumstances that make it so easy for us to forget and we should just give up trying, right? No, wrong. We need a paradigm shift in our line of thinking so as to train our brains to become better and efficient chambers of information retention and there are several ways of doing so.

Simple Ways To Improve Your Brain Power And Retain Information Fast

As we have said before that when you do not use your brain’s capacity you will lose it. There are plenty of things you can do to ensure that you are not only mentally sharp but also have a crystal clear memory. Nothing is impossible.

1.   Be active

For you to be able to possess a strong mind there is need for you have an active body. Research shows that the less active a person is the more likely they are prone to memory loss at an early age. This does not mean you become a hamster on a wheel. Let us see some of the reasonable ways to get fit.

·         Aerobics. A study has shown that the speed of the brain processing information in adults improves after half an hour of moderate exercise plus aerobics helps the body in cell repairs.

·         Music and exercise. While exercising play some blood pumping music so as to improve your cognitive functions. Studies have shown that patients undergoing cardiovascular therapy who exercised to music performed better on a verbal fluency tests than their counterparts who didn’t.

·         Strength training. Strength training does not only build your bones and muscles but it also boosts cognitive functioning. The explanation is that when you lift weights the levels of BDNF, brain –derived neurotropic factor which controls the growth of nerve cells are increased.

·         Dance. Research has suggested that dancing activates the mind to challenges like planning and coordination and this may serve as protection against cognitive decline.

·         Golf.  Golf is not just a sport for rich and famous, a few rounds of teeing can actually work wonders for your arms. Science has gone ahead to show that golf brings about structural changes in parts of your brain that are associated with sensorimotor control.

·         Yoga.  Yoga improves your concentration, mood, enhances cognitive performance and prevents cognitive decline in older people.

The 6 ways in which exercise profits your brain

Growth is spurred

The older we get the slower the regeneration of brain cells becomes and the result is that our brain tissue begins shrinking. The only way to reverse this trend is through exercise. One study showed that older people aged between sixty and seventy showed significant amounts of increase in their brain volume six months after aerobic exercising unlike those who only concentrated on stretching and toning activities. The conclusion made but the researchers is that the cardiovascular fitness that occurs as a result of aerobics boosts blood flow to the brain which then transports much needed oxygen to the brain. Your brain is responsible for using twenty per cent of the oxygen in your body.

Brain building hormones are boosted

The chemical known as brain-derived neurotropic factor, BDNF is responsible for the stimulation of the growth and the proliferation of brain cells. This is especially true for the region of the brain known as the hippocampus which is responsible for memory. The more you exercise the more BDNF you produce for your brain.

Depression and anxiety are fought

The brain’s ability to process information is slowed down by factors such as depression. This is turn makes it hard for us to be able to concentrate and even make proper decisions. When it comes to mild depression, exercise is a good mood booster because it raises the levels of endorphins which are feel good hormones. The production of dopamine and serotonin which are brain chemicals that are associated with happy moods are also increased during physical activity.

The effects of stress are minimized

 There are hormones that age the brain. One such hormone is cortisol, a stress hormone. Our thinking becomes slow and scattered when we are stressed and it is therefore easier to forget. Exercise helps to reduce the levels of cortisol while also helping generate fresh nerve cells in the dentate gyrus which is a part of the brain in the hippocampus that is associated with the creation of new memories. It is also important for you to know that brain cells get depleted during stress.

The brain’s executive function is enhanced

The executive function of the brain refers to all cognitive abilities for example concentration while doing a task or even planning for future events. It also includes a working memory for instance the ability to retain a phone number in your head even after dialing it. Researchers studied the effects of exercise on executive function and found that adults aged fifty five to eighty who exercised regularly performed four times better on cognitive tests than those who didn’t.

Increased sensitivity to insulin

The body turns most of the food into glucose after digestion. Glucose is the fuel for the body and the brain. Glucose can only enter cells in the company of hormone insulin but there are some people whose cells are resistant to insulin. This means that the body has to pump out more and more of the insulin which then causes type 2 diabetes. Also insulin resistance is not healthy for the brain since too much of blood sugar affects our thinking and memory. Exercising regularly helps to reverse resistance to insulin thus increasing insulin sensitivity and the better your glucose control, the more secure you are against cognitive decline due to old age.

2.   Sleep

Harvard researchers have been able to conduct a study which shows that people are able to comprehend the connection between distantly related ideas after getting enough sleep. Sleep is known to enhance memories and improve an individual’s performance in any skill or challenge

·         Kindly ensure that you get a good night’s sleep and ensure that you have a sleep pattern so as not to interrupt how your body rests. It is recommended that people should get eight hours of sleep but still seven hours will be able to sharpen your learning abilities, memory and concentration. It is also proven that people who slept even on weekends were sharper during the week.

·         Lack of sleep negatively interferes with the process that allows brain neurons to get stimulated by events or information.

·         Take power naps. These are for people who did not get enough sleep at night or simply feel drained. A power nap refreshes the mind and helps you to stay focused. A nap of ninety minutes causes great improvements in memory while a nap that lasts for a few minutes has a positive effect on one’s alertness.

While you were asleep……….

Many beneficial things happen to your memory when you get a good night’s sleep.

When you sleep your head replays the day’s events and during this replays the hippocampus and the neocortex talk to each other. In short the areas in your brain responsible for creating and storing memories go on a meeting the moment you sleep. Back in the early eighties and nineties scientists recorded electrical activity in the hippocampus of rats while they are asleep and awake. When the rat was awake and active, their neurons were fired in a sequence that corresponded to the location of the activity but as they dozed the same sequence was relayed as though the rat was retracing its steps.

According to Matthew Walker, a neuroscientist at the University of California, Berkley It is believed by scientists that this pillow talk is the brain’s ingenious way of transferring memories from the temporary storage in the hippocampus to the permanent storage in the neocortex through a process known as consolidation.

 Apart from strengthening our memories, sleep also aids in the integration of new information that leads to creative insight. An experiment carried out by researchers at the University of California, San Diego revealed how sleep reconstructs information to help people see new patterns thus linking new information with prior knowledge. This happens during sleep because it is the time when the brain is not distracted. While awake your brain is out hunting for obvious connections of things that seem to go together while at night while you sleep the brain traces and builds more distant associations that result in being creative. It is no surprise that you are always told to sleep on it whenever there is a problem.

Research also shows that lack of proper sleep can lead to shrinking of the brain. There are numerous studies that show the importance of sleep and how sleep deprivation negatively affects our brains. Poor sleep patterns are contributors to dementia and Alzheimer’s disease therefore it is also concluded that if lack of sleep causes memory loss then it also affects the size of the brain.

Your sleeping position matters

The position in which you sleep also impacts your mental health. A new study suggests that sleeping position might relate to how the brain eliminates waste chemicals whereby some positions might be better than others.

The study showed that sleeping on one’s side as compared to sleeping on your back or stomach appeared to allow the body to get rid of waste chemicals from the brain effectively.

So you should ensure that you get enough sleep at night, get power naps when the day gets hectic and always sleep in the correct position so that your brain can easily get rid of all those thoughts that keep you weighed down.

3.   Feeding the brain

Sixty per cent of the brain’s weight is composed of fat which serves the function of insulating the brain nerve cells that exist in millions. When a cell is well insulated it will be able to make you think quickly and send messages faster. This simply means that the better you eat, the better your brain.

·       Whole grains. You should eat whole grains because they release glucose in small supplies into the bloodstream so that instead of being hyper and all over the place you are alert and composed.

·         Essential fatty acids. These acids are not produced by the body and therefore you will have to eat food rich in them such as pumpkin seeds, soya beans, trout, sardine, mackerel and salmon. The fish mentioned above are rich in DHA which if low in the human body can bring about the risk of memory loss or suffering Alzheimer’s disease.

·         Water. You should always be well hydrated because water makes your mind sharper. Research has shown that being thirsty can hinder us from cognitive tasks that we are trying to do. The unwritten rule is eight glasses of water daily.

·         Spices. You can also spice up your brain because research has suggested that spices can aid in memory preservation. One spoon of cinnamon can keep away Alzheimer’s disease while sage on pasta all memory risk situations that start with a certain guy’s name. to boost your memory you can also use cumin and cilantro.

·         Green leafy veggies. Popeye did it and so can you so tart eating so0me spinach and kales. These vegetables are full of vitamins and minerals that fight off dementia plus they are also full of antioxidants that offer powerful protection to the brain from conditions such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease and stroke.

·         Nuts and seeds. Pumpkin seeds are rich in zinc which is a component that improves memory while vitamin E that is found in all nuts is essential for enhancing cognitive skills.

·         Apples.  Apples contain a chemical known as quercetin which offers powerful protection for brain cells against damage that usually comes from free radicals that are responsible for cognitive decline. This chemical is mainly stored in the fruit’s skin so wash your apples carefully and eat them without peeling the skin. The same chemical is also present in onions, parsley, tea, sage, red wine and citrus fruits.

·         Chocolate. Flavanols in dark chocolate also present in blueberries, red wine and green tea, gives a temporary boost to cognitive skills. It is also said that cocoa contains polyphenols that may prevent certain cognitive impairments that are associated with old age.

·         Grapes. Grapes and grape juice are good for protecting the brain against cognitive decline and also enhance learning skills and memory.

·         Chew gum.  Science backs this up very strongly that chewing gum improves our alertness and moods.

·         White meat. Chicken meat, eggs and fish are a good source of choline which is essential in improving mental brain performance. You can also eat legumes and take milk for this.

·         Fatty foods. Studies have shown that fatty foods help to improve long term memory. This is because a hormone produced during the digestions of certain fats gives strength to the part of the brain responsible for the formation of long term memory. Of course this is not an excuse to be gobbling everything.

·         Milk.  Milk helps you perform better in memory tests and enhances sleep which helps you think better.

Alcohol and drugs

The brain consists of more than a hundred billion neurons whereby each neuron makes more than a thousand connections. Alcohol damages or even kills neurons. This is because alcohol is able to penetrate the brain by crossing the blood brain barrier. Because alcohol can get into direct contact with cells it is said that alcohol kills brain cells.

Alcohol also leads to memory impairments even after a few drinks and the more you drink the more the impairments. When you consume large amounts of alcohol on an empty stomach then you are susceptible to blackouts.

Some of the problems brought about by alcohol consumption are:

·         Blurred vision

·         Difficulty in walking

·         Slow reaction

·         Slurred speech

Drugs are chemicals that when taken affect the brain’s way of communication. Drugs interfere with the way neurons send, disseminate and process information which in turn affects how you retain information. Cocaine and amphetamine cause the neurons to release abnormal amounts of natural neurotransmitters or stop the recycling of brain chemicals which then disrupt the communication channels.