How to Increase Your Short Term Memory

1. Try brain training exercises.

Do puzzles or play games that target your memory. Some studies show that brain training games
can have a significant impact on cognitive functioning, including memory. There are lots of apps
out there with an array of brain training exercises. Choose games or activities that teach you
something new, are challenging, have skills you can build on, and are rewarding.

 Try DIY options like studying flash cards or memorizing a string of cards in a deck of cards.
Alternatively, have someone set a bunch of everyday items on a table. Look at the table for
about 10 seconds, then turn around and see how many of the items you can recall.
 Though there isn't a consensus in the scientific community on if or how much these types of
games improve memory, it certainly doesn't hurt to try them! Brain training exercises have
different effects on different people, so test them out and see if you notice an improvement.

2. Keep your brain active.

Regular mental stimulation may benefit your brain health and memory. Just like your muscles
weaken from physical inactivity, brain inactivity may lead to mental decline. It stands to reason
that a more active brain is likely to be a more healthy brain, and that having a healthy brain will
benefit your short term memory.
 The simple act of having a conversation with another person can benefit your brain health and
memory. In addition to talking, consider playing chess, doing puzzles together, or engaging in
other activities that challenge your brain to work harder.
 Stimulate your mind when you’re alone as well. Instead of passively watching TV, try reading
a book or writing a letter to an old friend.

3. Eat a brain-healthy diet.

Healthy food choices are good for your brain and may improve your memory. By the large,
healthy, and balanced diet you should strive to achieve for overall health is also what is needed
for a healthy brain that is better primed to encode memories. Eat plenty of fresh fruits and
vegetables, add in lean proteins and whole grains, and cut back on saturated fats, sodium, and
sugars.
 The MIND diet (which is a hybrid of the DASH diet and Mediterranean diet) appears to slow
down cognitive decline. It prioritizes leafy vegetables, berries, nuts, olive oil, occasional fish
consumption, and reduced red meat consumption.
 Drink plenty of water as well. Dehydration negatively impacts the brain along with the rest of
the body.

4. Exercise regularly.
Exercise increases blood flow to your brain, which benefits it overall. Regular exercise, even as
simple as walking, boosts the flow of blood—and with it, oxygen and nutrients—your brain
needs to be healthy and strong. Moderate-intensity aerobic exercise, which gets your heart
pumping faster and increases your breathing rate, even seems to increase the size of the part of
your brain that’s responsible for memory.
 In general, adults should aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise
per week for overall health benefits.

5. Get adequate sleep.

Good sleep habits increase your focus and may help encode memories. It’s easy to see how being
tired and groggy makes it harder to remember things. On the other side of the coin, being alert
and focused—thanks to getting adequate, high-quality sleep—improves your short term memory
capabilities. In addition, research indicates that high quality sleep helps to encode existing
memories so that they “stick” much better.
 Sleep needs vary by person, but, in general, getting 7-9 uninterrupted hours of sleep each
night will allow your brain and body to adequately rest and recharge.

6. Focus on what you want to remember.

Focusing intently for 15-30 seconds may help the memory stick. Scientifically speaking, short
term memory only lasts around 15-30 seconds—after that, the information is either discarded or
moved to long term memory. Therefore, focusing closely on a new piece of information for 15-30
seconds can keep it in your short term memory and may help transfer it to your long term
memory.
 To remember the server’s name at a restaurant, then, give them your full focus when they
introduce themselves, then work to keep repeating and thinking about their name for around
15-30 seconds.

7. Engage multiple senses.

Using your senses increases focus and builds memory-helping associations. When you meet
someone new, listen carefully and look directly at them as they state their name. Repeat their
name immediately afterward. Shake their hand and feel their grip. Even take notice of their
perfume or cologne! The more sensory associations you build, the more firmly the memory is
encoded.
 Repeating a name, or anything else you want to remember, out loud is always a good way to
help strengthen a particular short term memory. Listen to yourself saying the word or phrase,
and keep doing so with regularity.

8. Utilize mnemonic devices

These visual and verbal techniques really help with multiple bits of information. Mnemonic
devices can really stick in your memory! Try constructing colourful, even silly visualizations or
verbalizations to help encode a group of things in your short-term memory.
 For instance, picture a pile of trash falling onto your head when the clock strikes six to
remind you to take out the trash each evening.
 Singing the “ABC Song” to the tune of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” is a familiar
childhood mnemonic that uses an auditory cue. Mnemonic devices can use a wide range of
number, collour, and other cues.

9. Try “chunking” items into groups.

Break up more complex things into manageable, organized pieces. Chunking is related to
mnemonics and is the principle behind using hyphens to break up 10-digit phone numbers in the
U.S.—remembering individual groups of 3, 3, and 4 numbers is easier than recalling a single
string of 10.
 Remembering a grocery list might be a challenge, but can be made more manageable by
grouping the items by category—dairy, produce, meat, etc. Six smaller shopping lists are
easier to recall than one larger one.

10. Lay out structured associations

Memorize the primary pieces of info and how the secondary pieces relate to them. In other
words, prioritize remembering the most vital information, but also focus on memorizing the
structure that connects this vital info to the less important material you also want to remember.
Essentially you’re creating a mental “bubble map” - where the central bubble contains the main
information and is connected by lines to surrounding bubbles containing supporting info.
 For instance, say you’re at a family reunion and are struggling to keep track of the names of
four distant cousins, each of whom also has a spouse and kids. For each family group,
commit the name of your cousin to memory first (the “central bubble”), then build
associations (“lines”) with that name to the names of the other family members (the
“surrounding bubbles”).