You’ve met them. You probably even have a few in your family that
you see at barbecues every summer. It’s the 65 year old uncle that has
the memory of an elephant and can recall small details from events in
the 1950’s. Perhaps you have a relative that can quote specific dates
from their childhood, or even experiences they had overseas in another
“life.” If you are like me, you wish that you had a magic formula to
improve your memory power to have the same abilities as these impressive
individuals. Well, I’m here to tell you that with the tips I’m going
to give you in this article, you’ll have the information to improve your
memory, and you can get started right away!
Tip #1: Reduce Stress
Stress is one of the greatest enemies of the mind, and increasingly
more common, the health of the entire body. Stress can cause heart
attacks, strokes, and the long-term degradation of one’s health.
Specifically, it kills your brain’s cells, and has a negative effect on
the hippocampus, the part of the brain that is responsible for recording
and storing long and short-term memories. Some of the best improve
your memory information I ever received was to get ahold of stress, and
eliminate as much of it as you can. There are many ways to do this, but
one of the techniques I’ve found to be most effective is meditation.
Meditation is effective in calming your nerves, finding your inner quiet
and peace, and producing a deep state of relaxation. It’s easy to
learn some basic techniques, and these will go a long way in helping
reduce your overall stress levels, thereby improving the power of your
mind.
Tip #2: Exercise Your Brain
If you were planning on running a marathon next summer, would you
train your body to increase its performance and improve your chances for
success? Of course you would! You’d specifically train your body to
target the muscles and organs necessary for successfully completing a 26
mile run. Well, your brain is no different than the rest of your
body. If you require increased performance and reliability from your
brain, you have to continually use it and train it in ways that you
don’t normally use it. Try things like brushing your teeth or writing
with your non-dominant hand. Learn a foreign language or a musical
instrument. Read about or study a new area of interest that you have
little knowledge of. All of these things will require your brain to
create new neural pathways, which will improve memory power and overall
brain performance.
Tip #3: Listen and Actively Engage
How many times have you met someone at a party, a business setting,
or any other situation, and five minutes later you can’t remember the
person’s name that you just met? It happens to all of us, and can be
embarrassing, but it is an easy faux pas to avoid if you know how to do
it. Any time you are performing a task, speaking to someone, meeting
someone for the first time, etc., make it a point to block out all other
distractions and pay attention. We humans make so many errors, and
fail to remember a lot of important information because of the failure
of this basic skill. Try to pay close attention to detail in all
aspects of your life and you will see that it becomes second nature, and
pretty soon you won’t even have to try. When you are meeting that new
person, engage him and repeat his name back while you are being
introduced. This will help reinforce the name into your brain for
future recall. Be more engaged in all of your conversations and make an
effort to listen more attentively and you’ll be amazed at how much
you’ll be able to remember later.
By putting this information to improve your memory into use, you will
soon see that your brain is sharper, and you will be recalling
important information more quickly and accurately than before. This
improvement in memory power might not put you in the league of your 65
year old uncle, but the rest of your family, friends, and colleagues
will think that you are one of the sharpest people they know!
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