They are only seven but could be more. Memory loss is something that worries us, much more after certain ages … so we have to get down to work to find out what we can do to preserve this capacity so important and so present in our day to day life. The latest research can guide us in this important task:
1.- Use tricks.In more professional terms we speak of memory techniques. A study conducted by the University of Arizona has found that ‘self-imagination’ is a useful way to improve learning and later recall of information. It is about imagining oneself in a situation or acting in a particular way associated with the meaning of what we have to learn. For example, if I have to remember to buy apples and milk, it would be something like imagining yourself picking apples from the tree or pouring the milk into a glass.
2. Get enough sleep.Rebecca MC Spencer from the University of Massachusetts published in March 2013 a review on the neurophysiological bases by which sleep influences memory and cognition. As he explains, sleeping is a very important process not only in the consolidation of memories, but also in the selection of those information that must be discarded and forgotten or in the learning of motor skills.
3. Practica Brain Training.An investigation published in the journalPLOS One At the beginning of 2013, he insisted on the benefits of training just 15 minutes a day with a computer game program. In this work, the group of people who played improved their performance in tests of working memory, executive functions and processing speed.
4. do exercise. There are more and more benefits for the brain associated with sports. According to Kirk I. Ericson of the University of Pittsburgh in collaboration with a group of researchers from different North American universities, aerobic physical exercise increases the size of the anterior hippocampus and this leads to improvements in spatial memory. He concludes that it is a good way to reverse the loss of volume associated with age in this brain structure essential for memory.
5. Come chocolate. Beware of excesses, a curious study published in February 2013 in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology says that a type of cocoa component, flavonols, could be related to better cognitive functioning, since they stimulate cerebral perfusion, favor the neurogenesis and promote changes in areas related to learning and memory.
6. Use meditation. This is another interesting field in terms of brain benefits. Mrazek and his collaborators from the University of California published in March 2013 in the journal Psychological Science that two weeks of meditation training improved the working memory capacity of a group of students, as well as their performance in a reading comprehension test and achieved reduce the frequency of deviations of thought, that is, ‘ramblings’.
7. Relate.Maintaining relationships with friends and having a wide social network has been shown to be a factor associated with a better memory, as concluded by a team of Australian researchers in a recent publication in theJournal of Aging Research. In the study, those who maintained more contact with close friends in particular and a greater social network in general, maintained better performance in memory tests after a follow-up of 15 years.
You already have the instructions to improve your memory. Now it is up to you how to combine them to keep your brain fit and perform 100%.
Marisa Fernández, Senior Neuropsychologist, Unobrain
Check out our study and memory special to learn more about brain science research and tricks .
