How to Improve Your Memory Power ?

Eat Brain-Strong Foods

You are what you eat. While you may not literally transform into the things you eat, your nutritional choices certainly play an important role in your overall health. Not only that, but there are certain foods that can even help to maintain or improve the health of your brain. Eating the right foods to keep your brain healthy can dramatically decrease your risk of developing neurological problems later in life. Here are some of the best foods for your brain: 

Eggs

Eggs are rich in B vitamins and a nutrient called choline. B vitamins help to slow cognitive decline and deficiencies in B vitamins have been associated with depression and dementia. The body uses choline to create the neurotransmitters responsible for mood and memory. 

Blueberries

Blueberries contain a compound that has both anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects. This means that blueberries can reduce inflammation, which reduces the risk of brain aging and neurodegenerative disease. Furthermore, antioxidants have also been found to aid in communication between brain cells. 

Fruits

Certain fruits such as oranges, bell peppers, guava, kiwi, tomatoes, and strawberries, contain high amounts of vitamin C. Vitamin C helps prevent brain cells from becoming damaged and supports overall brain health. In fact, a study found that vitamin C can potentially prevent Alzheimer’s. 

Fatty Fish

Fish such as trout, salmon, and sardines contain large amounts of omega-3 fatty acids. Not only is 60% of your brain composed of fat containing omega 3s, but it is also essential in the production of brain and nerve cells. Deficiencies in omega 3s can cause learning problems and depression. 

Nuts

Nuts contain healthy fats, antioxidants, and vitamin E, which have been found to be beneficial for both the brain and heart. Walnuts, in particular, also contain omega-3 fatty acids to further improve brain function. In fact, nuts have been linked to improved cognition, sharper memory, and slower mental decline. 

Leafy Greens

Leafy greens such as broccoli, collards, spinach, and kale contain various nutrients such as vitamin K, lutein, folate, and beta carotene. Vitamin K helps with the formation of fat inside brain cells and has been seen to improve memory. 

Pumpkin Seeds

Pumpkin seeds contain antioxidants, as well as zinc, magnesium, copper, and iron. The brain uses zinc for nerve signaling, magnesium for learning and memory, copper for controlling nerve signals, and iron to prevent brain fog.

Turmeric

Turmeric is a dark-yellow spice that is commonly found in curry powder. Not only is it a strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory substance, but it can pass through the blood-brain barrier to enter the brain directly. Tumeric has been associated with improved memory, less depression, and the growth of new brain cells. 

Whole Grains

Whole grains such as bread, pasta, barley, brown rice, oatmeal, and bulgur wheat contain vitamin E, which is used to protect and preserve healthy cells. In protecting these cells, vitamin E preserves brain function and prevents neurodegeneration. 

Tea and Coffee

Both tea and coffee contain caffeine, which boosts brain function and improves alertness, as well as antioxidants. Green tea also contains the amino acid L-theanine which can cross the blood-brain barrier and increase neurotransmitter activity. 

Convert Information Into A Picture
Because most information–a name or series of numbers–is abstract, converting it into a related image helps your brain latch onto it. If you park your car in row B13 of a parking garage, for example, you may imagine a birthday cake with 13 candles. When you return later, your mind will draw up the information faster.

I've always been envious of people with exceptional memories. You know, the kind of people who amass encyclopedic knowledge with seemingly little effort, while the rest of us struggle to remember the name of the person we were introduced to seconds ago.

There's hope for all of us, though. Just as we can strengthen any other muscle in our bodies, we can train our brains to remember more and learn anything faster. You don't need to be born with a photographic memory (and, in fact, with a few notable exceptions, virtually no adults actually have a photographic memory).

Whether you need to study for an exam, want to learn a new language, hope to avoid embarrassing memory lapses (what's the name of your manager's spouse again?), or simply want to stay mentally sharp, improving your memory is easier than it sounds. All it takes is trying out new memorization techniques or making key adjustments in your lifestyle. Here are 10 of the best tips and tricks to help boost your memory for both the short and the long term.

Store Info In A ‘Memory Palace’
You need to be able to retrieve the information that you’ve stored in your brain quickly and easily. One technique is creating a “memory palace,” in which you imagine a space–like your home–and populate rooms with the images you’ve assigned to pieces of information. Then when you mentally walk through the space, you’ll be able to recall the information you stored there.

First I recommend that you put as much connecting action as you can between images.

The trick you may have missed is the turning of a fact into something fun. Language is a simple example something unknown being associated with meaning. I still can recall the image of a parked car with a lot of birds in it from Lorrayne's book to help recall that parjaro means bird in Spanish.

Thus what you are doing is looking for an alternate way of looking at a fact and turning it into a picture. The less relevant the picture and more silly you can make it the better.

Apple thrown to a Bat is much easier to remember than a Bat made out of apples. This is what I mean by putting action into the pictures you combine.

The silly stuff you do with your imagination is ONLY there to aid recall it is not the fact or argument in itself. Recall becomes easier when you attach some amazing outstanding emotional pictures to something dry and boring.

It is also important to do timed recall of the image(s) and fact(s). So make notes of the images you are making up and read them the next day or else the effort may not help you.

You might eventually teach your brain to have no problems in recalling as the famous Mr S. did with his background mental story telling. Example when Mr S. was asked to remember a nonsense mathematical formula that started N dot square root symbol etc he made up a story that went Nieman took his cane and stamped it in the ground (full stop for multiply) he then climbed some stairs (square root symbol) ...... (That’s all I can recall reading!) So S made an avatar Nieman to traverse the picture of a math formula making actions so that years later it was not too great a problem to recall.

You might be able to use this technique to have an alternate peculiar way of looking at the legal stuff you want to learn.

Also make up cartoon faces and/or characters to go with what you are looking at. The faces might become your first link to recall further what you were reading and looking at. The first thing you learn as a child is to identify faces so use this fact to help with recalling new information.

Connect Info In A Story
The brain remembers stories better than fragments of information. So connect the dots. If you’re trying to memorize information for a test, come up with a story that will connect the various piece of information.

Do Something Wacky To Activate Memory
Especially when you’re busy and doing something routine, it helps to break that routine with a memorable action. So when you put down your keys or purse, and know you’ll have trouble finding them later, say something strange out loud (“yee-haw”) or do something out of the ordinary (stomp your foot). You’ll remember the action, which will remind you of the location you set down your keys.

Get Multiple Senses Involved
One of the most common problems for people is remembering names. One trick is to associate a distinguishing feature with the sound of the name. If someone’s name is Brian (which reminds you of “brain”) and he has fluffy eyebrows, visualize his brain coming out of his eyebrows.

Sleep Soundly
For the memory to work optimally, it needs to be well rested. Sleep about eight hours a night, every night.

A relationship between memory and sleep has been reported. For example, a facilitative effect of sleep on declarative memory has been demonstrated in humans. Specifically, performance on paired-association task has been associated with slow-wave sleep, REM sleep, stage 2 sleep, and spindles . In particular, subjects with sleep apnea syndrome perform worse on tests of memory consolidation compared with healthy individuals . Further, sleep deprivation has been shown to impair attention span . These lines of evidence suggest an importance of an appropriate amount of sleep in general and the maintenance, and, possibly, enhancement of memory.

The over lapping replay of related memories selectively strengthens shared elements. Repeated reactivation of memories in different combinations progressively builds schematic representations of the relationships between stimuli. Sleep can integrate information into existing memory networks, look for common patterns and distil overarching rules, or simply stabilize and strengthen the memory exactly as it was learned.

The above considerations led us to hypothesize that sleep would improve memory organization. To date, however, there is little information on the link between this domain of cognitive ability and sleep. Therefore, the present study was performed to determine whether organization of memory, as evaluated word list learning, would be enhanced during sleep in healthy subjects.

Physical Exercise

It also acts directly on the brain itself. Many studies have suggested that the parts of the brain that control thinking and memory are larger in volume in people who exercise than in people who don't. "Even more exciting is the finding that engaging in a program of regular exercise of moderate intensity over six months or a year is associated with an increase in the volume of selected brain regions," says Dr. McGinnis.

Exercise can also boost memory and thinking indirectly by improving mood and sleep, and by reducing stress and anxiety. Problems in these areas frequently cause or contribute to cognitive impairment.

Is one exercise better than another in terms of brain health? We don't know the answer to this question, because almost all of the research so far has looked at walking. "But it's likely that other forms of aerobic exercise that get your heart pumping might yield similar benefits," explains Dr. McGinnis.

A study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society found that tai chi showed the potential to enhance cognitive function in older adults, especially in the realm of executive function, which manages cognitive processes such as planning, working memory, attention, problem solving, and verbal reasoning. That may be because tai chi, a martial art that involves slow, focused movements, requires learning and memorizing new skills and movement patterns.

Dr. McGinnis recommends establishing exercise as a habit, almost like taking a prescription medication. And since several studies have shown that it takes about six months to start reaping the cognitive benefits of exercise, he reminds you to be patient as you look for the first results — and to then continue exercising for life.

Aim for a goal of exercising at a moderate intensity — such as brisk walking — for 150 minutes per week. Start with a few minutes a day, and increase the amount by five or 10 minutes every week until you reach your goal.

Neurologists say the single most effective way to boost memory is through regular physical exercise.

Make An Effort
Be present in situations in which you’ll gather important information. When meeting someone new, make the effort to learn their name by confirming that you’ve heard it correctly, asking for the spelling or history, and then using it in the conversation.

Review Progressively
If you have a big event that requires tapping your memory, like giving a speech or presentation, work up to it slowly rather than cramming. By reviewing the material progressively it will be stored in the cortex, a more protected, longer-term part of the brain.