The effects on memory may be due to how high calorie diets lead to inflammation in particular parts of the brain. While most research in this area has been with animals, a study from looked at whether restricting calories in humans could improve memory.

Female participants with an average age of The researchers found that they had a significant improvement in verbal memory scores and that the benefit was most significant in those who stuck to the diet best.

Caffeine from sources such as coffee or green tea may be helpful for the memory. People who took milligrams of caffeine scored better on recall tests after 24 hours than people who did not take caffeine.

Caffeine may also boost memory in the short term. A study in Frontiers in Psychology found that young adults who took caffeine in the morning had improved short term memory. This insight might be useful for individuals who have to take tests or recall information during a time of day when they may otherwise be tired.

The results of a study suggest that cocoa flavonoids, which are the active compounds in chocolate, help boost brain function. People who ate dark chocolate performed better on spatial memory tests than those who did not. The researchers noted that cocoa flavonoids improved the blood flow to the brain.

There are risk factors a person has no control over, such as genetics. In other cases, a person may be able to reduce the risk of memory impairment.

Eating a diet high in refined sugar and fats and leading a sedentary lifestyle may increase the risk of memory loss. Eating a rounded, healthful diet and exercising regularly may contribute to keeping the mind sharp and reduce memory loss.

For example, practicing mindfulness meditation may not only make a person less forgetful but can also reduce stress.

Some activities may boost brain function and connectivity, which may help protect the brain from age-related degeneration. Here are 22 brain exercises…. The diet can have a significant impact on the brain's function. A brain-healthy diet, rich in antioxidants and omega-3 fatty acids, can boost memory….

Short-term memory refers to small amounts of information that people can remember for a short period of time. Learn more. Memories come in many different forms. There is still a lot that researchers do not understand about how human memory works.

This article outlines the causes of short-term and long-term memory loss and the differences between typical age-related memory loss and dementia. My podcast changed me Can 'biological race' explain disparities in health?

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Medical News Today. Create meaningful groups. A good strategy for memorizing is to create meaningful groups that simplify the material. The first letters abbreviate to GRHM, so you can connect that with the image of a GRAHAM cracker.

Now all you need to do is remember to picture a graham cracker, and the names of the plants will be easier to recall. Use mnemonics. Mnemonics are systems and tricks that make information for memorable. One common type is when the first letter of each word in a sentence is also the first letter of each word in a list that needs to be memorized.

For example, many children learned the order of operations in math by using the sentence Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally parentheses, exponents, multiply, divide, add, subtract.

Check out Wikipedia for a good list of examples and ideas. Talk to yourself. It may seem strange at first, but talking to yourself about the material you are trying to memorize can be an effective memory tool.

Try speaking aloud instead of simply highlighting or rereading information. Studies show that exercise can improve our memory and learning capabilities because it helps create neurons in areas that relate to memory.

Cardio and resistance training weights both have powerful effects, so do what works best for you. Practice interleaving. Interleaving is the idea of mixing or alternating skills or concepts that you want to memorize.

For example, spend some time memorizing vocabulary words for your science class and then immediately switch to studying historical dates and names for your history class.

Follow that up with practicing a few math problems, and then jump back to the science definitions. This method may seem confusing at first, but yields better results in the end than simply spending long periods of time on the same concept.

Check out this video for more explanation on interleaving and other similar strategies. Visual and spatial techniques are memory tricks that involve your five senses. They utilize images, songs, feelings, and our bodies to help information stick.

Humans have outstanding visual and spatial memory systems. When you use visual and spatial memory techniques, you use fun, memorable, and creative approaches rather than boring, rote memorization. This makes it easier to see, feel, or hear the things you want to remember. Visual and spatial techniques also free up your working memory.

When you group things together, you enhance your long-term memory. Using visual and spatial techniques helps your mind focus and pay attention when your mind would rather wander to something else. They help you make what you learn meaningful, memorable, and fun.

The common practice of using your knuckles to remember the number of days in each month is a great example of an easy visual spatial technique to help you remember details.

Memorable visual images. The next time you have a key item you need to remember, try making a memorable visual image to represent that item. Images help you remember difficult concepts by tapping into visual areas. Rather than just visualizing an image, try to smell , feel , and hear the image as well.

For example, if you are trying to remember that the capital of Louisiana is Baton Rouge, draw up an image of a girl named Louise carrying a red baton. The memory palace technique. This technique involves visualizing a familiar place—like the layout of your house or dorm room—and using it as a visual space where you can deposit concept-images that you want to remember.

So you furiously scribble down notes, ask questions, and scribble some more. This goes to the heart of the Protégé Effect , which suggests that people put in more effort to learn information when they know they're going to teach it to someone else.

Then when you share your key takeaways, you're likely to explain the concepts you learned in your own words. You'll probably even demonstrate a few of these lessons while explaining the concepts, which will make it more meaningful.

And these acts—paraphrasing and adding meaning to information—all help with encoding. Turns out, taking care of your body also takes care of your brain. You've heard these tips before, but here's how your physical well-being can improve your memory.

As a shock to no one, there's a direct relationship between sleep and productivity —and that productivity extends to our ability to take in new information.

As much as possible, try to get your recommended six to eight hours of deep sleep—the knocked-out-cold kind—every night. This will help "reset" your brain , allowing you to wake up feeling refreshed and ready to take on the world—or, at least, more information.

Just as sleep is important for both your physical and mental health, so, too, is that other pillar of health: exercise. Moving your body regularly at moderate intensity—whatever that looks like to you—can directly and indirectly boost your memory.

Indirectly, it can reduce anxiety and stress, and improve the quality of your sleep. Oftentimes, problems in these areas contribute to cognitive impairment. Directly, it improves the flow of oxygen-rich blood to your brain. This blood flow keeps your brain functioning properly, which includes processing and storing information.

Adult human brains can store the equivalent of 2. So, in theory, you have the capacity to memorize…everything. But just because you can, doesn't mean you have to. Instead, use the memorization techniques listed in this article to help you recall the information that you might need at the drop of a hat, like your emergency contact's phone number.

Or the password to your password manager. Everything else? Use a note-taking app to take a cognitive load off. What does "thinking big" really mean? When to give up on a goal—and how to do it. How and why to take a personal inventory. This article was originally published in June by Melanie Pinola.

The most recent update was in April Jessica Lau is a senior content specialist at Zapier. Outside of writing, she likes to snuggle her dogs, and provide unsolicited podcast and book recommendations.

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It is relaxing and soothing, and has been found to reduce stress and pain, lower blood pressure and even improve memory 8. In fact, meditation has been shown to increase gray matter in the brain. Gray matter contains neuron cell bodies 9.

As you age, gray matter declines, which negatively impacts memory and cognition Meditation and relaxation techniques have been shown to improve short-term memory in people of all ages, from people in their 20s to older adults For example, one study showed that Taiwanese college students who engaged in meditation practices like mindfulness had significantly better spatial working memory than students who did not practice meditation Spatial working memory is the ability to hold and process information in your mind about the positions of objects in space.

Research suggests meditation may increase gray matter in the brain and improve spatial working memory. Maintaining a moderate body weight is essential for well-being and is one of the best ways to keep your body and mind in top condition.

Having obesity can actually cause changes to memory-associated genes in the brain, negatively affecting memory Obesity can also lead to insulin resistance and inflammation, both of which can negatively impact the brain A study of 50 people between ages 18 and 35 years found that a higher body mass index was associated with significantly worse performance on memory tests Summary Obesity is a risk factor for cognitive decline.

Maintaining a body mass index within the normal range may help you avoid a host of issues associated with obesity, including a poorer memory.

Lack of proper sleep has been associated with poor memory for quite some time. Sleep plays an important role in memory consolidation, a process in which short-term memories are strengthened and transformed into long-lasting memories.

For example, one study looked at the effects of sleep in 40 children between ages 10 and 14 years. The other group was trained and tested on the same day, with no sleep between training and testing.

Health experts recommend adults get between 7 and 9 hours of sleep each night for optimal health Summary Studies have consistently associated sufficient sleep with better memory performance. Sleep helps consolidate memories. Mindfulness is a mental state in which you focus on your present situation, maintaining awareness of your surroundings and feelings.

Meditation is a more formal practice, whereas mindfulness is a mental habit you can use in any situation. Studies have shown that mindfulness is effective at lowering stress and improving concentration and memory.

One study of psychology students showed that those who underwent mindfulness training had improved recognition-memory performance when recalling objects compared with students who did not receive mindfulness training Mindfulness has also been linked with a lower risk of age-related cognitive decline and an overall improvement in psychological well-being Incorporate mindfulness techniques into your daily routine by paying more attention to your present situation, concentrating on your breathing, and gently resetting your attention when your mind wanders.

Summary Practicing mindfulness techniques has been associated with increased memory performance. Mindfulness is also linked to reduced age-related cognitive decline. Consuming too many alcoholic beverages can be detrimental to your health in many ways and can negatively impact your memory.

Binge drinking is a pattern of drinking that raises your blood alcohol levels to 0. Studies have shown it alters the brain and results in memory deficits.

A study of college freshmen found that students who consumed six or more drinks within a short period of time, either weekly or monthly, had difficulties in immediate and delayed memory-recall tests compared with students who never binge drank Alcohol exhibits neurotoxic effects on the brain.

Repeated episodes of binge drinking can damage the hippocampus, a part of the brain that plays a vital role in memory While having a drink or two now and then is likely OK, avoiding excessive alcohol intake is a smart way to protect your memory.

Summary Alcohol has neurotoxic effects on the brain, including reducing memory performance. Occasional moderate drinking is typically not an issue, but binge drinking can damage your hippocampus, a key area of your brain associated with memory.

Exercising your cognitive skills by playing brain games is a fun and effective way to boost your memory. Crosswords, word-recall games, Tetris, and even mobile apps dedicated to memory training are excellent ways to strengthen memory.

A study that included 42 adults with mild cognitive impairment found that playing games on a brain-training app for 8 hours over a 4-week period improved performance in memory tests Another study of 4, people showed that when they did 15 minutes of an online brain-training program at least 5 days a week, their short-term memory, working memory, concentration, and problem-solving improved significantly compared to a control group Plus, brain-training games have been shown to help reduce the risk of dementia in older adults Summary Games that challenge your brain may help you strengthen your memory and may even reduce the risk of dementia.

Consuming large amounts of refined carbohydrates like cakes, cereal, cookies, white rice, and white bread may be damaging to your memory.

These foods have a high glycemic index, meaning the body digests these carbohydrates quickly, leading to a spike in blood sugar levels Studies have shown that the Western diet, which is high in refined carbohydrates , is associated with dementia, cognitive decline, and reduced cognitive function One study involving healthy Korean children found that those who consumed more processed carbs like white rice, noodles, and fast food had reduced cognitive capacity, including poorer short-term and working memory Another study demonstrated that adults who consumed ready-to-eat breakfast cereal daily had poorer cognitive function than those who consumed cereal less frequently Summary Like added sugar, refined carbohydrates lead to a spike in blood sugar levels, which can damage your brain over time.

Diets high in refined carbs have been associated with dementia, cognitive decline, and reduced brain function. The more senses that can be recruited, the more likely you will be able to form a long-lasting memory, as more areas of the brain are involved. Our brains are designed to work with meaning.

The easiest way to organise unrelated information is to place things you are trying to remember into a framework, like a story or a rhyme. As an example, I parked my car yesterday in space in a seven-storey garage.

So how to guarantee that I will be able to find it? By using the sounds-like system based on rhymes. I pictured a tree under a blazing sun in full bloom with beehives so numerous and ponderous that they weigh down all the branches. It was the 16th-century architect and philosopher Giulio Camillo who suggested the memory theatre as a way of using images and loci the position of these images to remember.

The loci method remains one of the most popular used by mnemonists and a few of the ones I use are 1 my home, 2 a nearby library and 3 a coffee shop. So if I want to remember, say, three items — milk, bread, watermelon — here is how I would do it.

House — imagine the house as a pint of milk turned on its side with milk pouring out of the chimney. Library — when I look through the floor-length window facing me, I see loaves of bread instead of books on shelves.

Coffee shop — a giant coffee cup on a table outside contains a watermelon. Come up with a longer list of your own loci and place a list of random items in them — the more bizarre or irreverent the images you come up with, the easier they will be to remember.

Simply thinking about how two or more things can be associated requires you to concentrate and attend — two brain activities which on their own lead to enhanced memory. Situational awareness exercises are used by US Navy Seals, and other branches of the military.

On request a Seal who must be able to describe the location of the doors and windows of the room in which they are sitting, along with other details that would be helpful to remember in order to be able to make a quick escape in the event of an enemy attack.

To get a feel for this, the next time you are in a restaurant, close your eyes for a few seconds and mentally picture the arrangement of the people sitting around you at the nearby tables.

The goal is to employ your attentional focus in the manner of a searchlight scanning the night sky. The more you practise, the greater the breadth and depth of your memory. You will remember more because at a given moment, your memory is encompassing larger swathes of your immediate surroundings.

One step beyond are situational exercises directed inward. To remember an important idea that comes up in a meeting, highlight what's most exciting about it — or challenging, surprising or funny. When you meet someone new, spend a moment thinking about whether their name seems to "match" their character.

You give information a pattern when you use rhymes and rhythms, or turn sets of letters into mnemonic words or phrases. Examples of this are the SMART Goals acronym, which is a mnemonic for goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound; and the phrase Every Good Boy Deserves Football, for remembering the notes on the lines of the treble clef, EGBDF.

As you'll see below, some memory techniques use spatial patterns to store vast amounts of information. To remember a telephone number for a short time, you could repeat it to yourself rhythmically. Or, when you're taking notes, experiment with different ways of organizing and arranging your words on the page.

As you start inventing mnemonics of your own, keep in mind three more principles: imagination , association and location. Imagination : create images that are vivid, engaging, and rich enough to jog your memory. You could be visualizing a real situation in order to remember and re-use it, or inventing one that will help you write, say or do something in the future.

Association : make the most of your brain's habit of linking ideas. Separate pieces of information can be linked so that you remember them all. That might help you remember all the items to pack for a trip, for example.

Or, two ideas can be paired, so that one thing reminds you of another. Using that strategy, you might think of your colleague holding a microphone to recall his name is Mike. Location : use your memories of real-world places to help you remember new material.

Since you can easily remember the layout of your home, why not use the rooms to "hold" items from the list you're trying to learn? The three principles above have been developed into a number of specific memory techniques. They can be divided into three main categories:.

Image clues: these are memory tools in which ideas are represented by pictures. Just like logos or icons, image clues can trigger your brain to think about complex ideas.

Memorable, multi-sensory images are associated with others in pairs or sequences, or arranged in your "mind's eye" around familiar places.

Specific systems have been developed to "peg" new information onto ready-made images. Storytelling strategies: these are tools that capitalize on the fact that well-told stories are automatically memorable.

Storytelling strategies allow you to link individual image clues into long chains, in order to remember lists, processes, and all the points you want to make in essays or presentations. You can get an extra memory boost by choosing a setting that relates to your subject matter.

Spatial systems: these are tools that let you use all the real-world journeys you know to store new information.

These journeys might include your route from home to work, or a favorite countryside walk. You also know your way around many different buildings, and you can imagine their layouts with ease. Spatial systems allow you to associate key images with particular places, or to visualize them positioned around familiar routes in your mind.

When the time comes to recall some information, you can go back in your imagination and "find" the images you left behind — helping you to retrieve important details quickly and accurately. Start experimenting with some of these mnemonic principles and you'll discover that you can quickly become much more confident about your memory!

We have a selection of memory-boosting resources that explain how you can apply all the techniques described above. The Link and Story Methods explains storytelling strategies.

A good spatial system to start with is the Roman Room System. It's even possible to combine different techniques, to create memory methods that are exactly right for you. Memory tools — "mnemonics" — have been used for centuries, helping to boost confidence and combat information overload.

The best memory techniques use rich imagery, strong emotions, and clear patterns. A number of specific systems have been developed, based on the key principles of imagination, association and location. Available here. You've accessed 1 of your 2 free resources.

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