How to Exercise Memory? Neuroscientist Shares Brain Training Exercises

One has the power to improve their memory because it's not an innate talent but a skill that can be honed over time. A neuroscientist shares brain training exercises to help improve memory.

Brain Training Exercises To Improve Memory

Boris Konrad is a neuroscientist and World Memory Champion who holds several Guinness World Records for memory. He recently shared what he does to keep his memory sharp.

Konrad said that enhancing memory is possible and doing so is a skill. The most important thing to do to maintain a good memory is to use and test it. He enjoys playing a fast game of memory sports a few times a week. To accomplish it, he would memorize a deck of playing cards or 100 numbers in a minute.

An inexperienced memorizer can find this to be an intimidating endeavor. Konrad, though, has a unique method for remembering extensive data sets.

Here are some of his tips.

Mnemonic

The memory palace technique, made popular by Sherlock Holmes, involves imagining a familiar area and creating a route. Along the way, you identify particular turning points to which you attribute a single fact.

After assigning all of your essential locations, it's time to reinforce each association by taking a trip through your memory palace. These associations will get stronger the more times you do the practice.

As per Konrad, their study has demonstrated that merely six weeks of daily training in those mnemonics results in alterations in neural networks and enhanced neuronal coding efficiency for more resilient memory performance.

Short Mindfulness Exercises

Aside from pattern-based exercises, Konrad practices mindfulness. By this, he takes a few minutes to remember what he just read or saw. This may be as simple as taking a five-minute break on his way to work to observe the natural world with all of his senses.

He also uses the retrieval practice's benefits after reading by taking a minute or two, without consulting the text, to summarize the article's content or a piece of a book he believed was worthwhile to remember. He practices the same mindful strategy after a phone, video, or meeting.

Use Your Surrounding Environment

According to Konrad, we can make our environment work in our favor. Think about including mnemonic devices in your surroundings. You might name household goods in the target language, for example, if you're learning a new language.

Place clues where you often see them as a reminder to take short breaks throughout the day to maintain mental acuity and engage in memory exercises to keep your memory challenged and in good working order.

Konrad added that stress and sleep deprivation can affect memory negatively. Poor diet, especially one high in sugars and saturated fats, can also have long-term negative impacts on the health of the brain.

How to Improve Short-Term Memory?

Alexander Easton, a professor of neuroscience at Durham University in the U.K., also previously shared a tip to improve short-term memory through our daily routine. Among the things that many struggle to find at home are car keys. To address this, he suggests placing the keys in the same location when one enters the house.

He also added that when one makes a departure from that habit, it would be easier to recall.

"Creating distinctiveness, therefore is also very helpful," he said.

The expert admits that there are situations in which we have little control over the location of events; however, we may choose to focus on the particulars that make them memorable, like who we are speaking to, where we are sitting, the time of day, and the other people in the room. Easton said that if we can bring uniqueness into our daily lives, it will be easier to remember information and discern one memory from another.

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