6 Habits That Boost Memory Power

Boosting memory power has many advantages both in our personal lives as well as our professional lives. The ability to remember facts at our fingertips, remember the schedule and appointments that we have to keep, and the ability to remember faces and names, goes a long way to making us productive members of society.

Nobody likes running into someone and the other person calls out, Hey, Jim! How are you doing? How are the kids, only to be left shaking the hand of someone we remember vaguely, but whose names escape us. They are good, man. Is the typical response in these situations.

There are a few things that we can do to boost are memory power so that we do not find ourselves in these sticky situations, from games, to the ubiquitous meditation that seems to be the answer to all wellness problems, we can sit down and develop 6 habits that will help us to boost our memory, and therefore boost our lives.

Games
Everyone loves games and sometimes if we play the correct game it will help with our memory. Some of them already do this without realizing it. Crossword puzzles on Sunday morning sitting at the kitchen table while drinking coffee is one of the ways in which we can boost our memory. Additionally, we can play chess as well as other Newspaper games like sudoku. Any puzzle game that requires us to think analytically will help us to improve.

A note on video games. Research is split on whether video memory games can help. Take it with a grain of salt, and never, unless you firmly believe in it, pay money for these games.

Sleep
The National Institute Of Health reports that getting enough sleep is paramount. Without adequate sleep our brain does not function at peak levels. When this happens, it affects everything from memory to the ability to work properly. Energy drinks are not a substitute for sleep. They do not help with the healing of the brain that happens while we are asleep. All they do is pump us full of sugar and synthetic stimulants and do not help us regain lost sleep.

To know if you are getting the correct amount of sleep, just see how you feel in the morning. If you wake up groggy and cloudy, you have not gotten enough sleep. If you have trouble falling asleep, before medications, ditch the screen. Turn off all TV’s and cellphones in the room and just enjoy the darkness. You may be surprised out how quick you fall asleep without those devices on.

Avoid Alcohol
According to research, “Alcohol has neurotoxic effects on the brain, including reducing memory performance. Occasional moderate drinking isn’t an issue, but binge drinking can damage your hippocampus, a key area of your brain associated with memory.”

None of what was said in that paragraph is good. It also left out alcohol’s effect on our REM sleep cycle. Tell me if this sounds familiar,

You come home from a day at work, have a few beers, fall asleep, wake up feeling extremely tired and grumpy? You earned those drinks though, so you are going to have them.

What’s happening is that when you fall asleep under the influence of alcohol, although it may allow you to fall asleep faster, it does not allow you to fall asleep deeper. You stay out of REM sleep and instead cycle between lighter stages of sleep. It is this deeper stage of REM sleep that repairs and restores the brain.

Exercise
Exercise increase brain function and therefore would also increase memory. Additionally, it will help you sleep more soundly.

Sleep is probably the number one, most important habit that you can have in order to increase and boost memory function. Give it 2 weeks of going to bed early with no tv or devices and see how rested and relaxed that you feel upon waking.