Strengthen your cognitive skills and learn valuable tips for increasing your memory capacity. While it may seem that there is nothing you can do to strengthen your memory as you age, there are actually a number of strategies you can adopt. This will ensure that your mind stays sharp, no matter what situation faces you and no matter how long you have lived.
When trying to commit a long list of information to memory, it is usually better to arrange the information in chunks or smaller units and categories to help make the information easier to remember. As an example, it is easier to remember a telephone number as three units of three, three, and four numbers rather than a long string of ten numbers. The same tactics work when remembering social security numbers and computer passwords.
The best way to improve your memory is to have healthy habits, such as eating nutritious foods, sleeping plentifully and exercising. Just as athletes need these things, your brain also needs to be cared for in order to perform well. Physical exercise is effective because it increases the oxygen flow to your brain.
Keep your social life active. It is proven that those with an active social life have a better memory. Talk to your friends and family, either in person or over the phone because it will stimulate your brain. Having an active social life will slow your memory from fading.
Rehearse the information you need to memorize. You should not learn it by heart and recite it, but learn it, digest it and rephrase it. Every time you rehearse the information you need to remember, you are ingraining it into your long term memory. Use your own words to rephrase the information.
Keep lists and write things down but do it in the appropriate place. Keep your addresses and phone numbers written down in a contact book, but keep your shopping list on a specific notepad on the fridge. The act of writing the list will help you remember those items, while knowing where the list is will keep you from forgetting that too!
If you need to remember some information, study it regularly instead of cramming it in all at once. Research has shown that studying something in short, but frequent, sessions produces better results than spending one long period of time cramming it in. Shorter, more frequent sessions allow your brain time to process what it has learned and to commit the information to memory.
With all that you've learned in this article you should start feeling more confident on ways to improve your memory. You want to try to the best of your ability and try out all of the tips from this article as well as learn new tips and try those out as well, if you do this, success should follow.