5 Tips To Improve Your Memory

Everyone has periods of forgetfulness that can intensify whenever life becomes stressful or busy. While this is a totally normal thing to occur, suffering from poor memory can be incredibly frustrating. Our genetics play a major part in memory loss, especially in regard to neurological conditions like Alzheimer’s disease. However, lifestyle and diet can also have a significant impact on your memory’s functionality.

You can take this free memory test in order to ascertain how well your memory is functioning. This article has outlined several evidence-based methods that you can implement in order to improve your memory naturally. These are as follows:

1. Eat Less Added Sugar

Eating excessive amounts of sugar have been linked to numerous health issues and chronic diseases, and cognitive decline is not an exception. A diet that is laden with sugar reduces your overall brain volume, which also has a negative impact on your memory.

A study conducted on over 4000 people found that those with the highest intake of soda and other sugary drinks had lower brain volumes when compared to those who consumed less sugar on a daily basis. Thus, cutting down on your sugar intake helps to enhance your memory as well as your overall physical health.

2. Take Fish Oil Supplements

Fish oil is undoubtedly rich in essential omega-3 fatty acids including docosahexaenoic acid and eicosapentaenoic acid. These fatty acids are crucial in lowering the risk of heart disease, but they also relieve anxiety and stress that can lead to mental decline. Thus, your memory will drastically improve when taking fish oil supplements on a daily basis.

3. Meditate Regularly

Practicing meditation on a regular basis has been proven to positively impact your health in a variety of ways. Mediation is a soothing and relaxing process that drastically reduces your stress levels. It also helps to reduce pain and lower your blood pressure. The result of this is an enhanced brain capacity that improves your memory inherently.

As we begin to age, gray matter in our brain declines which inherently impacts our cognitive abilities and memory functionality. Thus, practicing relaxation and meditation techniques will improve your short-term memory and this becomes increasingly important the older you become. If you can harness good meditation habits in your 20s, you will be far more likely to be cognitively healthy in your 50s.

4. Maintain A Healthy Weight

If you ensure that you are maintaining a moderate weight, then this is the best means of keeping your mind and body in the best condition. Numerous studies have linked obesity as a risk factor for cognitive dysfunction. Thus, if you are obese, you can cause negative changes to occur in your memory-genes.

Obesity can often result in insulin resistance and inflammation which also has a significantly negative impact on the brain’s functionality. A study conducted on 50 people aged between 18 and 35 found that having a higher body mass index was closely linked to negative performance on memory tests.

Obesity has also been linked with Alzheimer’s disease, a progressive neurological disease that entirely destroys cognitive and memory function. Thus, maintaining a healthy weight is even more crucial if you have a history of Alzheimer’s in your family.

5. Sleep Well

A lack of sleep has long been associated with poor memory functionality. This is because sleep plays a crucial role in consolidation, which is the process in which short-term memory is strengthened before transforming into long-term memories. Research has proven that sleep deprivation has a significantly negative impact on this function.

For instance, a study conducted on nurses that worked a night shift showed that they made more mathematical errors when compared with nurses that worked a day shift. Thus, health experts always recommend that adults obtain between 7-9 hours of sleep per night in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle and enhance their overall functionality).

Conclusion

To conclude, this article has outlined some key tips that will help to ensure that your memory functions to its utmost capacity. It is important to note that a lack of sleep is one of the key contributing factors to memory loss, and thus, it is crucial that you are receiving 7-9 hours of sleep per night.

IF you are a nighttime worker, you should try to ensure that you are getting enough sleep during the daytime, purchasing blackout blinds if needed to assist you in this process. It is also crucial that people maintain a healthy weight in order to improve their overall memory functionality, as obesity has been closely linked to the development of Alzheimer’s disease. I hope that you have found this article to be insightful and informative. Thank you for reading.