5 Healthy Lifestyle habits to boost memory

6th July, 2022

5 Healthy Lifestyle habits to boost memory

Lifestyle affects memory. For example, your diet plays a role. If your cholesterol, blood pressure, and blood sugar are too high, the blood vessels in and around your brain can get clogged or damaged. A Harvard study showed that people who eat more saturated fat (found in meat and dairy products) do worse on memory tests than those who eat less. If you’re trying to make better food choices, consider the Mediterranean diet (The principal aspects of this diet include proportionally high consumption of olive, legumes, unrefined cereals, fruits and vegetables, moderate to high consumption of fish, moderate consumption of dairy products (mostly as cheese and yogurt). This way of eating which features omega-3-rich fish, heart-healthy olive oil, and plenty of fresh produce has been linked with protecting thinking and memory.

Exercise

Guess what is just as good for your memory as for the rest of your body? Regular exercise. It promotes blood flow to the brain. You should be getting 30 minutes each day. And you need regular sleep, which helps your brain file memories so you can access them later on.

Sleep

Getting enough sleep every night is one of those healthy lifestyle habits that can positively affect nearly every major system in the body, including improved focus. During a regular sleep cycle, the brain is undergoing a number of processes that repair and restore key structures and functions. Not getting enough sleep hampers these processes and prevents proper recuperation of neural activity. A research done by Havard Univeristy recommended that 7-8 hours of sleep is needed for good health.

Reading

Reading is a great exercise for the mind. It involves different parts of the brain, such as vision, language, and associative learning. Due to the associative nature of memory, it also stimulates different parts of your memory that might not otherwise be stimulated. That is, things that you read can trigger memories that you haven’t thought about in a long time.
Reading helps preserve your mind as you get older. It can lower the level of beta-amyloid, a protein in the brain involved in the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. Reading will also improve your mental flexibility, in the same way that physical exercise can increase agility.
So, which type of reading is more effective at improving memory? Researchers recommend reading fiction because it stimulates the imagination, which is more likely to trigger old memories.

Mindful Meditation

One of the ways that mindfulness meditation can improve memory is by calming your mind. It’s hard for you to think straight if there is a big traffic jam in your mind. So, by calming your mind, you’re able to focus your attention and allow for better acquisition of new information. A calm mind will also make it easier for you to retrieve information.

Eating the right food

Your brain needs a steady stream of nutrients to stay energized and operate at its best. But too many of the wrong kinds of food can have a damaging effect. Foods that are high in refined simple carbs think white bread, candy, soda, and pastries can cause a spike in blood sugar that can damage the brain over time. Some of the foods that are good for your health are fruits, vegetables, and grains (cereal).

Sources:
https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/boost-your-memory-by-eating-right
https://www.ameritas.com/newsroom/5-healthy-lifestyle-habits-to-boost-memory-and-cognitive-abilities