7 Lifestyle-Based Ways to Improve Your Memory

1. Eat Right
The foods you eat and don't eat play a crucial role in your memory. Fresh vegeta
bles are essential, as are healthy fats and avoiding sugar and grain carbohydrat
es. You can find detailed information about nine foods for brainpower here.
For instance, curry, celery, broccoli, cauliflower, and walnuts contain antioxid
ants and other compounds that protect your brain health and may even stimulate t
he production of new brain cells.
Increasing your animal-based omega-3 fat intake and reducing consumption of dama
ged omega-6 fats (think processed vegetable oils) in order to balance your omega
-3 to omega-6 ratio, is also important. I prefer krill oil to fish oil, as krill
oil also contains astaxanthin, which not only protects the omega-3 fats from ox
idation but also appears to be particularly beneficial for brain health.
Coconut oil is another healthful fat for brain function. According to research b
y Dr. Mary Newport, just over two tablespoons of coconut oil (about 35 ml or 7 l
evel teaspoons) would supply you with the equivalent of 20 grams of medium-chain
triglycerides (MCT), which is indicated as either a preventative measure agains
t degenerative neurological diseases, or as a treatment for an already establish
ed case.
2. Exercise
Exercise encourages your brain to work at optimum capacity by stimulating nerve
cells to multiply, strengthening their interconnections and protecting them from
damage.
During exercise nerve cells release proteins known as neurotrophic factors. One
in particular, called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), triggers numerou
s other chemicals that promote neural health, and directly benefits cognitive fu
nctions, including learning.
A 2010 study on primates published in Neuroscience also revealed that regular ex
ercise not only improved blood flow to the brain, but also helped the monkeys le
arn new tasks twice as quickly as non-exercising monkeys.
This is a benefit the researchers believe would hold true for people as well.1 I
n a separate one year-long study, individuals who engaged in exercise were actua
lly growing and expanding the brain's memory center one to two percent per year,
where typically that center would have continued to decline in size.
To get the most out of your workouts, I recommend a comprehensive program that i
ncludes high-intensity interval exercise, strength training, stretching, and cor
e work, along with regular intermittent movement.
3. Stop Multitasking
Used for decades to describe the parallel processing abilities of computers, mul
titasking is now shorthand for the human attempt to do simultaneously as many th
ings as possible, as quickly as possible. Ultimately, multitasking may actually
slow you down, make you prone to errors as well as make you forgetful.
Research shows you actually need about eight seconds to commit a piece of inform
ation to your memory, so if you're talking on your phone and carrying in groceri
es when you put down your car keys, you're unlikely to remember where you left t
hem.
The opposite of multitasking would be mindfulness, which helps you achieve undis
tracted focus. Students who took a mindfulness class improved reading comprehens
ion test scores and working memory capacity, as well as experienced fewer distra
cting thoughts.2
If you find yourself trying to complete five tasks at once, stop yourself and fo
cus your attention back to the task at hand. If distracting thoughts enter your
head, remind yourself that these are only "projections," not reality, and allow
them to pass by without stressing you out. You can then end your day with a 10-
or 15-minute meditation session to help stop your mind from wandering and relax
into a restful sleep.
4. Get a Good Night's Sleep
Research from Harvard indicates that people are 33 percent more likely to infer
connections among distantly related ideas after sleeping,3 but few realize that
their performance has actually improved. Sleep is also known to enhance your mem
ories and help you "practice" and improve your performance of challenging skills
. In fact, a single night of sleeping only four to six hours can impact your abi
lity to think clearly the next day.
The process of brain growth, or neuroplasticity, is believed to underlie your br
ain's capacity to control behavior, including learning and memory. Plasticity oc
curs when neurons are stimulated by events, or information, from the environment
. However, sleep and sleep loss modify the expression of several genes and gene
products that may be important for synaptic plasticity.
Furthermore, certain forms of long-term potentiation, a neural process associate
d with the laying down of learning and memory, can be elicited in sleep, suggest
ing synaptic connections are strengthened while you slumber.
As you might suspect, this holds true for infants too, and research shows that n
aps can give a boost to babies' brainpower. Specifically, infants who slept in b
etween learning and testing sessions had a better ability to recognize patterns
in new information, which signals an important change in memory that plays an es
sential role in cognitive development.4 There's reason to believe this holds tru
e for adults, too, as even among adults, a mid-day nap was found to dramatically
boost and restore brainpower.5 You can find 33 tips to help you get the shut-ey
e you need here.
5. Play Brain Games
If you don't sufficiently challenge your brain with new, surprising information,
it eventually begins to deteriorate. What research into brain plasticity shows
us, however, is that by providing your brain with appropriate stimulus, you can
counteract this degeneration.
One way to challenge your brain is via 'brain games,' which you can play online
via Web sites like Lumosity.com. Dr. Michael Merzenich, professor emeritus at th
e University of California, who I interviewed two years ago, has pioneered resea
rch in brain plasticity (also called neuroplasticity) for more than 30 years, ha
s also developed a computer-based brain-training program that can help you sharp
en a range of skills, from reading and comprehension to improved memorization an
d more.
The program is called Brain HQ, and the website has many different exercises des
igned to improve brain function and it also allows you to track and monitor your
progress over time. While there are many similar sites on the Web, Brain HQ is
one of the oldest and most widely used.
If you decide to try brain games, ideally it would be wise to invest at least 20
minutes a day, but no more than five to seven minutes is to be spent on a speci
fic task. When you spend longer amounts of time on a task, the benefits weaken.
According to Dr. Merzenich, the primary benefits occur in the first five or six
minutes of the task. The only downside to brain games is that it may become just
another "task" you need to fit into an already busy day. If you don't enjoy bra
in games, you can also try learning a new skill or hobby (see below).
6. Master a New Skill
Engaging in "purposeful and meaningful activities" stimulates your neurological
system, counters the effects of stress-related diseases, reduces the risk of dem
entia and enhances health and well-being.6 A key factor necessary for improving
your brain function or reversing functional decline is the seriousness of purpos
e with which you engage in a task. In other words, the task must be important to
you, or somehow meaningful or interesting it must hold your attention.
For instance, one study revealed that craft activities such as quilting and knit
ting were associated with decreased odds of having mild cognitive impairment.7 A
nother study, published earlier this year, found that taking part in "cognitivel
y demanding" activities like learning to quilt or take digital photography enhan
ced memory function in older adults.8 The key is to find an activity that is men
tally stimulating for you. Ideally this should be something that requires your u
ndivided attention and gives you great satisfaction it should be an activity that
you look forward to doing, such as playing a musical instrument, gardening, bui
lding model ships, crafting or many others.
7. Try Mnemonic Devices
Mnemonic devices are memory tools to help you remember words, information or con
cepts. They help you to organize information into an easier-to-remember format.
Try:
Acronyms (such as PUG for "pick up grapes")
Visualizations (such as imagining a tooth to remember your dentist's appointment
)
Rhymes (if you need to remember a name, for instance, think "Shirley's hair is c
urly)
Chunking, which is breaking up information into smaller "chunks" (such as organi
zing numbers into the format of a phone number)
3 More Smart Tips for Brainpower
If you're serious about improving your memory and your cognitive function, you'l
l also want to know about these three important variables for brain health.
Vitamin D
Activated vitamin D receptors increase nerve growth in your brain, and researche
rs have also located metabolic pathways for vitamin D in the hippocampus and cer
ebellum of the brain, areas that are involved in planning, processing of informa
tion, and the formation of new memories. In older adults, research has shown tha
t low vitamin D levels are associated with poorer brain function, and increasing
levels may help keep older adults mentally fit. Appropriate sun exposure is all
it takes to keep your levels where they need to be for healthy brain function.
If this is not an option, a safe tanning bed is the next best alternative, follo
wed by a vitamin D3 supplement.
Intermittent Fasting
Contrary to popular belief, the ideal fuel for your brain is not glucose but ket
ones, which is the fat that your body mobilizes when you stop feeding it carbs a
nd introduce coconut oil and other sources of healthy fats into your diet. A one
-day fast can help your body to "reset" itself, and start to burn fat instead of
sugar. Further, it will help you to reduce your overall calorie consumption, wh
ich promotes brain cell growth and connectivity.
As part of a healthy lifestyle, however, I prefer an intermittent fasting schedu
le that simply calls for limiting your eating to a narrower window of time each
day. By restricting your eating to a 6-8 hour window, you effectively fast 16-18
hours each day. To learn more, please see this previous intermittent fasting ar
ticle.
Gut Health
Your gut is your "second brain," and your gut bacteria transmits information to
your brain via the vagus nerve, the tenth cranial nerve that runs from your brai
n stem into your enteric nervous system (the nervous system of your gastrointest
inal tract). There is a close connection between abnormal gut flora and abnormal
brain development, and just as you have neurons in your brain, you also have ne
urons in your gut -- including neurons that produce neurotransmitters like serot
onin, which is also found in your brain and is linked to mood.
Quite simply, your gut health can impact your brain function, psyche, and behavi
or, as they are interconnected and interdependent in a number of different ways.
In addition to avoiding sugar, one of the best ways to support gut health is to
consume beneficial bacteria. You can use a probiotic supplement for this, but I
'm particularly fond of using fermented vegetables, because they can deliver ext
raordinarily high levels of beneficial bacteria. Most people aren't aware that i
n a healthy serving of sauerkraut two to three ounces or so you're getting the e
quivalent of nearly 100 capsules of the highest-potency probiotic you can buy. I
t's clearly one of the most cost-effective alternatives.
The Choline-Brain Connection
Choline is an essential nutrient your body makes in small amounts. However, you
must consume it through your diet to get enough. In adults, choline helps keep y
our cell membranes functioning properly, plays a role in nerve communications, p
revents the buildup of homocysteine in your blood (elevated levels are linked to
heart disease) and reduces chronic inflammation. In pregnant women, choline pla
ys an equally, if not more, important role, helping to prevent certain birth def
ects, such as spina bifida, and playing a role in brain development.
Prior research has concluded that choline intake during pregnancy "super-charged
" the brain activity of animals in utero, indicating that it may boost cognitive
function, improve learning and memory, and even diminish age-related memory dec
line and the brain's vulnerability to toxins during childhood, as well as confer
ring protection later in life.9
If you're pregnant, making sure your diet includes plenty of choline-rich foods
is important, as research shows higher choline intake led to changes in epigenet
ic markers in the fetus.10 Specifically, it affected markers that regulate the h
ypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, which controls hormone production and
activity. The changes in fetal genetic expression will likely continue into adul
thood, where they play a role in disease prevention. Eggs and meat are two of th
e best dietary sources of choline; if you're a vegan or vegetarian who does not
consume any animal foods, you may be at risk of deficiency and may want to consi
der supplementation.