A strong memory depends on the health and vitality of your brain. Whether you're a student studying for final exams, a working professional interested in doing all you can to stay mentally sharp, or a senior looking to preserve and enhance your grey matter as you age, there are lots of things you can do to improve your memory and mental performance.
The brain’s incredible ability to reshape itself holds true when it comes to learning and memory. You can harness the natural power of neuroplasticity to increase your cognitive abilities, enhance your ability to learn new information, and improve your memory.
· Don't skimp on exercise or sleep
· Make time for friends and fun - Laughter is good for your brain
· Keep stress in check
· Eat a brain-boosting diet
· Give your brain a workout
Use mnemonic devices to make memorization easier
| Mnemonic device | Example |
| Visual image - Associate a visual image with a word or name to help you remember them better. Positive, pleasant images that are vivid, colorful, and three-dimensional will be easier to remember. | To remember the name Rosa Parks and what she’s known for, picture a woman sitting on a park bench surrounded by roses, waiting as her bus pulls up. |
| Acrostic (or sentence) - Make up a sentence in which the first letter of each word is part of or represents the initial of what you want to remember. | The sentence “Every good boy does fine” to memorize the lines of the treble clef, representing the notes E, G, B, D, and F. |
| Acronym - An acronym is a word that is made up by taking the first letters of all the key words or ideas you need to remember and creating a new word out of them. | The word “HOMES” to remember the names of the Great Lakes: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior. |
| Rhymes and alliteration - Rhymes, alliteration (a repeating sound or syllable), and even jokes are a memorable way to remember more mundane facts and figures. | The rhyme “Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November” to remember the months of the year with only 30 days in them. |
| Chunking - Chunking breaks a long list of numbers or other types of information into smaller, more manageable chunks. | Remembering a 10-digit phone number by breaking it down into three sets of numbers: 555-867-5309 (as opposed to5558675309). |
| Method of loci - Imagine placing the items you want to remember along a route you know well or in specific locations in a familiar room or building. | For a shopping list, imagine bananas in the entryway to your home, a puddle of milk in the middle of the sofa, eggs going up the stairs, and bread on your bed. |
Tips for enhancing your ability to learn and remember
Pay attention. You can’t remember something if you never learned it, and you can’t learn something—that is, encode it into your brain—if you don’t pay enough attention to it. It takes about eight seconds of intense focus to process a piece of information into your memory. If you’re easily distracted, pick a quiet place where you won’t be interrupted.
Involve as many senses as possible. Try to relate information to colors, textures, smells, and tastes. The physical act of rewriting information can help imprint it onto your brain. Even if you’re a visual learner, read out loud what you want to remember. If you can recite it rhythmically, even better.
Relate information to what you already know. Connect new data to information you already remember, whether it’s new material that builds on previous knowledge, or something as simple as an address of someone who lives on a street where you already know someone.
For more complex material, focus on understanding basic ideas rather than memorizing isolated details. Practice explaining the ideas to someone else in your own words.
Rehearse information you’ve already learned. Review what you’ve learned the same day you learn it, and at intervals thereafter. This “spaced rehearsal” is more effective than cramming, especially for retaining what you’ve learned.
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