With the new year comes new resolutions, and some people will be resolving to get more out of their memory. This can be a difficult task, but with the right techniques it doesn’t have to be.
We do not know everything there is to know about the brain. Despite the billions of dollars poured into brain research from the National Institutes of Health alone, the more we learn about the brain, the more we learn just how much we still need to learn. Take these techniques and find out which are best for you. No person is the same, just as no memory is the same.
- Lose excess fat around the stomach.
In a scientific study published in 2013, it was found that obese individuals were three times as likely to have memory loss than any other. “When abdominal fat was too much for the liver’s stores of PPARalpha to handle, the liver began tapping into PPARaplha reserves in other parts of the body, including the brain,” according to Medical Daily. “Soon, these proteins became depleted, causing memory and learning impairment.” - Hit the gym.
Hitting the gym has a high likelihood of improving one’s memory, and it could assist in other new year’s resolutions for becoming healthier or losing weight. In a study done by the University of Texas-Dallas in 2013, it was found that participants who worked out three times a week for an hour, either riding a stationary bike or walking on a treadmill, saw improvements even though some had lived sedentary lifestyles. The study also found that the older a person is, the better exercise helps their memory. - Take plenty of naps.
A Harvard University study found that students who were taught tasks and told to take a nap did much better on the tasks than students who did not take a nap. - Give brain games some credit.
Brain games, games created to improve the mind’s memory capabilities, not intelligence, have been called hoaxes and not worth a person’s time. If a person wants an immediate catch-all memory problem solver, then brain games would seem like a failure. However, there is a moderate degree of scientific backing in brain games’ ability to help a person improve memory skills. More than 50 scientific studies have been conducted on animals and humans, alike. - Try practicing mindfulness.
Mindfulness can go by many names, metacognition, forethought, etc. It is a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations. It is often used as a therapeutic technique, and it is a good way to bring about better memory performance.
Oscar Wilde once said, “Memory is the diary that we all carry about with us.”
What is in your diary? Make sure to take care to capture memories you want to remember as well as memories you have to remember. Yes, the daily to-do list is important to remember, but perhaps those memories would come easier if people would work to remember the things that deeply affect them, the things that uplift, encourage, and enlighten their soul.
