10 tips to improve your memory

Memory is the capacity of our brain to store and analyse information in order to retrieve it later. Sometimes our memory falters… and we have the impression that senility is coming for us. But do not panic, you can train your memory at any age! Here are some tips.

Meditation helps sort out our thoughts. According to a study from the University of California, meditating reduces problems with concentration and improves the ability to memorize. However, for this to be really effective, you'd have to practice meditation assiduously. There are meditation apps available that can help you get into the routine.

Games, like scrabble, chess and card games, are the perfect stimulus for concentration and memorization skills. There are so many games for children and adults to exercise your memory and brain, that it would be a shame not to play any of them! Also, if you don't have a playmate, you can always fall back on crosswords or Sudoku.

Reading is the brain activity par excellence. Indeed, reading maintains and even improves the performance of your memory. It's not enough to simply learn things by heart. You have to really understand them. To memorize things well, you have to rephrase, explain aloud and not hesitate to reread them until you really appropriate the material.

65% of the population use their visual memory above all else. The brain behaves like a camera and associates words with pictures to better remember them. Visual memory can be strengthened with mnemonic means, associating an idea or word with an image.

Sports increase the blood flow to the brain and, along with it, our mental agility. For people of age, regular exercise has been shown to reduce memory loss. Exercise helps with our cognitive capacities, especially spatial memory. So consider running, jumping, cycling! You will see your intellectual performance improve.

A healthy and balanced diet plays an important role in the functioning of our meninges. Foods rich in omega-3s, such as salmon, herring or fish roe, are particularly good for boosting our brain activity. Coffee can also increase our concentration, but its consumption must remain reasonable.

Good, restful sleep is essential for brain activity. At night, our neurons organize and classify the information that we've received throughout the day. Sleeping well is therefore essential to improve our memory.

Making your memory work hard and doing it often helps us to remember more and more things. It's the same as with sports: if you don't maintain the daily exercise, you lose agility.
An example of daily training is to try to remember our appointments without always having recourse to the alarm of our mobile phone.

There are targeted exercises online to stimulate and motivate our memory. A short break from work will allow us to relax while working our brains. These little, often fun, exercises help reconnect neurons and facilitate all learning over time.

(Image: Richard Bell / Unsplash)

Stress scares memories away, while calm allows for concentration and better memorization. We must therefore try to avoid stress, breathe well, and control our thoughts to have good concentration and top memory. Meditation can be a good practice to help relieve stress, even if you just do it occasionally.