12 Memory Boosters

Forget anything you needed to know today?  Good news!  Though memory formation remains a somewhat mysterious process, by approaching daily choices mindfully, you begin to bank more assets in your memory account.  And, cost is minimal.

Over the last decade, neuro-research discoveries reveal more about what impacts human memory...  See which ones could ratchet up your capabilities.

1. Memory Links to 40 Winks  If your priority is to carry through items on tomorrow's to-do list, think about it just before you go to bed and then sleep on it.  Sleep enhances people's ability to remember and do something in the future.   A place, situation or circumstance -- encountered the next day -- often sparks an intended action.

2. Blueberries Sharpen Memory -- Once in your system they "cross the blood brain barrier" to improve cellular communications and enhance neuron connectors. Blueberries are full of flavanoids to empower learning and recall.

3. Doodles Boost Memory and Concentration You can escape a speaker's monotonous voice by doodling critical information you need to know later. Doodling images helps maintain attention and prevents distraction.

4. Calorie Reduction May Improve Memory - Eating essential nutrients and cutting down on calories enhanced participants' ability to recall words with few errors, in a recent research study.

5. Magnesium Supplement Helps Boost Brainpower  A new magnesium compound, magnesium-L-Theronate, shows much promise to enhance short- and long-term synapses crucial for learning and memory.  Watch for this compound since I'm not sure how soon we might see the new formula on store shelves.

6. Distractions interrupt the brain's memory-making ability  Tune in tasks so your circuits run at full power rather than being short circuited.  You'll find 10 suggestions for starters...

7. Memory Palace Technique Play a bit with the Memory Palace....  According to Litemind, Luciano Passuello of Brazil, its fun to learn and easy to use. Interestingly it has been used since ancient Rome and is responsible for amazing memory feats. Learn a foreign language, prepare for a test or remember the sequence of a presentation. Here's how...

• Choose a Palace - any place you remember vividly. It might be a room in your home, your work place or a route you take frequently.

• List Distinctive Features - Analyze your room or route methodically, such as viewing a room from left to right or figuring out a system to view in the same way. 

• Imprint Palace on Your Mind to make sure you have the route or place 100% imprinted on your mind. Tips to visualize: Enter your palace and mentally note the distinctive features and if necessary list them on a piece of paper. Visualization is key.

• Associate Items with Distinctive Features Create Memory Pegs - For instance, if you want to recall items on a shopping list and your palace is your home, put one item at a time perhaps starting with the front door of your mind. As you select each item, use your imagination to make each crazy, outrageous or fun. We remember these kinds of things easily. If it's boring it doesn't work!   

• Visit Your Palace - If you follow the same route through your palace and begin with your first chosen distinctive feature, the memorized items will come to your mind instantly.

8. Rest Mind to Strengthen Memories Taking a coffee break after a class can help you retain information you just learned. "Your brain wants you to tune out other tasks so you can tune in to what you just learned," Lila Davachi, of NYU's Department of Psychology and Center for Neural Science, finds. However, these boosts were only seen in experiences that were later memorable.

9. Stress Curtails Memory and Kills Brain Cells About 75% of Americans suffer from stress-related conditions.  Chronic overreaction to stress overloads the brain with the powerful hormone, cortisol, which is intended for short-term duty in emergency situations.   Too much cortisol released in the body, can prevent the brain from laying down a new memory, or from accessing already existing memories.

When we use strategies to manage stress and cut down when hit with overloads, more well-being is restored in daily life. 

10. Serotonin Levels Cultivate Brain Benefits - Dr. Ellen Weber notes, "Serotonin is a chemical that can add focus and higher problem solving skills to transform any ordinary day."  She adds that cultivating serotonin is a matter of choice especially when we face turbulent times...  When we learn to act calmly and give ourselves just a few moments to "step back" and reflect, we can approach crisis with choices and tone that work for us rather than against us. 

Calm is far less dependent on daily events that go well, and stress does not remain simply because the chips are down. That’s likely not surprising if you observe life’s abundance in people who laugh, care, give or lead well, in spite of tough times. They learn to access serotonin in good and bad times. How so?

11. Exercise Increases "Mental Fitness"   A brisk walk's a simple exercise, yet it's especially good for the brain, since it increases the amount of oxygen and glucose reaching the brain.  People who take brisk walks daily, show significant improvement in memory, improve learning ability, concentration and abstract reasoning.

12. Challenges Keep Memory Functioning Well as People Age - Activities such as searching the internet keeps the brain active because of the range of choices it involves making.  Reading, writing, solving puzzles, playing cards and other games, and especially learning something new, such as painting, delay, precipitous memory declines.  So go beyond normal routines to create new adventures daily.

How might you start building assets for your memory account?