6 Habits To Largely Improve Your Memory and Brain Power
Featured photo credit: Business Bootcamp by Sebastiaan ter Burg via imcreator.com
Would you like to become smarter? Remember things easier? Increase
your brain’s overall strength? Good news! I’m going to show you six
things you can start doing immediately that will improve your memory,
strengthen your cognitive abilities and make you smarter!
Before I start with the six, I must tell you about the one thing that relates to all of them…being mindful.
The most important thing you can do to increase your brain power and memory is to be mindful.
This is basically paying attention on purpose. Being mindful is scientifically proven to increase the gray matter
in your brain. Gray matter allows you to think clearer and remember
more. The reason I don’t have mindfulness as one of my points is because
you have to be mindful to do any of these things!
Maximize Your Sleep Cycle
We
sleep 1/3 of our life, or at least we are supposed to. When we sleep,
we go through a cycle which include 3 stages. Each stage is 30 minutes
(90 minutes per cycle), and the cycle repeats itself throughout the
night. The first stage is light sleep, the first 30 minutes, and this
occurs when we first fall asleep. The next stage is deep sleep, between
30-60 minutes, and in deep sleep our body heals itself. It does this by
releasing the hormone HGH which repairs what the body needs repairing.
If you are sore from working out, this is the stage that makes you not
sore in the morning.
The final stage, or Stage 3, is the famous
REM stage which occurs between 60-90 minutes. This is the stage that
repairs our brains. REM is known as the dreaming stage, but is also the
stage where it categorizing your thoughts and memories. During the night
the cycles treat different stages with different priorities.
Your body is the first thing to heal and then it moves to the brain. This is why they say it is crucially Important to get 7.5 – 9 hours of sleep a night. The average American gets 6.8 and lives in a sleep debt most of their life.
Implementing
– Do your best to get 7.5 hours of sleep and if you need to take a nap,
take one! If you are one of those people that think sleep is weak and
you run just fine on your 6 hours, try getting 7.5 and see how efficient
you are, how much better you feel, and notice how good your mood is
throughout the day!
Maximize Your Food Intake
You
get out what you put in! If you want your car to perform at its best,
you put in high octane fuel. If you want your body and brain to perform
at its best, you put in high octane food. Begin by cutting down on the
amount of food you consume at one time. If you normally eat three larger
meals, cut those down to six smaller meals throughout the day. Our brain works best with 25grams of glucose
at one time…that is basically a banana. There are also plenty of foods
that release hormones like dopamine that make us feel good. Some say two
handfuls of cashews equals an antidepressant pill. Although they may be
a stretch, why are you not snacking on cashews all day?
Implementing
– First, cut down on the size of the meals you are eating! Next, simply
think about what you are putting in your body. Everything you put in
makes your feel differently, so put in the good stuff! Finally, if you
are not sure, look it up. Google is at your fingertips, so use it… your
body and brain will thank you!
Write it Down
When
you physically write things down your brain looks at it differently
than if you type it into your phone or computer. When you actually write
it down, it cements it into your brain. When I was in high school I wasn’t a very good student and when it came time to take tests, I always made cheat sheets.
The
fascinating thing was I never used them. About an hour before the test,
I would look at the possible questions and write down the answers on a
small piece of paper. I would then put the paper in my pocket and plan
on pulling it out when it was time to retrieve the answer. The thing
was, when I would read a question, the answer would come right to me
because I had just written it down. I could visualize how I wrote it,
and where I wrote it down on the cheat sheet.
Implementing
– There are several ways to start doing this. My favorite is write down
tomorrow’s activities/responsibilities the night before. What this does
is release any worry about what you have to do the next day and you
will sleep like a baby! It also allows you to wake up the next day and
just follow a schedule…no-brainer! Even though it is better to write
things down by hand, have an app on your phone where you can always jot
things down when they come to mind. We have so many great ideas that
come and go, if you don’t capture them, you may lose it forever!
Get Out of Your Comfort Zone
Getting
out of your comfort zone, trying new things, or putting yourself “out
there” has an effect on the way your brain sees things. Your brain
reacts differently in new environments than when you stay in the same
place. When your brain sees the same things all the time, it goes into
auto-pilot. It has seen it before so it doesn’t have to work to
understand. When you change your scenery, your brain starts to see new
things and perceive things differently. It does this because it has to
“pay attention.” This is where the magic happens.
What I mean by
that, is there are things we all have in our heads which we have no
answer for. We may be working on a project or just something you know
you are missing and when we introduce our brain to new environments
those missing pieces sometimes come to the surface…it’s amazing!
Implementing
– This can be done so many different way, but the easiest answer is
switching up a routine a bit. A few examples are driving home and
working out. Instead of driving home the exact same way, even if it
takes you another 5 minutes, take an alternative route to shake up the
brain. If you exercise, that’s next; you should change up your routine a
bit. Instead of running the same route or the same time and miles per
hour on the treadmill, shake it up a bit. You can also add in a new form
of exercise to do the same.
Exercise
Besides
being great for our body, exercising is amazing for our brain. When we
exercise, our brains release endorphins that make us feel good. It also
decreases our stress which eliminates the bad hormone cortisol,
which I like to call the “dumb” hormone. Cortisol clouds our thinking
and decreases our cognitive ability. So, to feel better and think
clearer, jump on that treadmill, lift those weights, get to that yoga
class or whatever form of exercise you choose is right for you.
Implementing
– If you don’t already, start exercising! You don’t have to go to a gym
to exercise, there are plenty of workouts you can perform in the
privacy of your own home. Beyond that, make conscious decisions to be
more active. Take the stairs not the elevator, park away from the
building instead of hunting for the best spot, and get up and take a
walk every now and again…your body and brain will thank you!
Slow Down
Slowing
down may sound like something a lazy person would tell you, but in fact
here is why it helps. Being “busy” or “multitasking” are two of the
least productive things you can do. When you slow down and mindfully
concentrate on one task at a time, you give it 100%. When you multitask
two things, you do each at 50% and when you do three, it is 33%, you get
the picture. Besides doing the job better and more efficiently, you
become less stressed which, yes, eliminates the cortisol in your brain.
As we know this allows you to think clearer which will produce less
errors. So, in fact, when you slow down you actually increase your
productivity.
Implementing – This one is pretty
simple, but for some reason one of the hardest. We are so “trained” to
go fast, and get things done, but it is that mentality that creates the
mess! So, write down the things your are going to do in the next
hour/day and mindfully do them one at a time. You will find that you
feel better as you get each one done and more relaxed. Slow down and
enjoy life!
Start implementing these six habits and you will not
only see your brain power and memory increase, you will see your mood
lift like never before. So be mindful, put these to work and I’ll see
you at the top!
GONO
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