As we age, our memory and ability to focus can decline. While aging is inevitable, we don’t have to let our mental abilities fade. There are daily habits that can help boost cognitive function.
Our habits can either help or hinder our memory. When we’re busy, our brain doesn’t get a chance to store information properly, leading to moments where we forget why we entered a room. This article will show you how certain daily habits can improve your memory and focus.
Writing things down helps store memories. When you write, you engage your body in the memory process and encourage your mind to focus. Reading aloud what you’ve written can further solidify the thought. Research by Daniel Oppenheimer and Paul Mueller in 2003 showed that writing by hand involves “mental lifting,” which helps with understanding, retention, and application. Writing down details of tasks is a good habit for improving memory.
Distractions are unavoidable, but one effective way to handle them is by acknowledging them. Writing down a distracting thought can help you refocus on your task. This method works if you tell yourself you’ll address the distraction later, freeing your mind to focus on the essential tasks.
Another method to refocus is taking deep breaths. Counting your breaths, a mindfulness task, can help bring back attention when it starts slipping away. A 2016 study by Gorman and Green found that a short breathing exercise can refocus even highly distracted people, helping them concentrate on a single task.
Meditation is another effective way to boost memory. Taking a daily break of five to ten minutes can calm your mind and pull it out of unproductive thought patterns. Meditation has been found to improve memory and offers other benefits like stress reduction and blood pressure management. It increases the gray matter in the brain, which is responsible for memory, thus positively impacting cognition and memory. Studies have shown that meditation improves short-term memory across all ages.
Morning exercise is also beneficial for memory and focus. Physical activity in the morning has been proven to expand memory, creative thinking, and brain processing. Whether it’s running, yoga, or basketball, morning exercise helps grow your mind and allows you to focus better on your tasks during the day.
Playing dart games can also help boost your focus. Dart trains the mind to concentrate before engaging the body in a physical task. It helps maintain a positive mindset and builds confidence with each throw.
Sleep plays a vital role in memory consolidation, the process by which short-term memories are transformed into long-term memories. Lack of sleep is associated with poor memory. Studies have shown that sufficient sleep improves memory performance. For example, children who slept between training and testing performed better than those who didn’t. Night shift nurses made more errors in memory tests compared to daytime nurses. Experts recommend that adults sleep between seven and nine hours daily for optimal health.
Sleep involves two main stages: slow-wave sleep (SWS) and rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep. SWS is predominant during the early part of sleep and is responsible for transforming and integrating memories into long-lasting ones. Practicing proper sleep habits supports this process and boosts your mind.
Incorporating these science-backed habits into your lifestyle can help boost your memory and focus. Consistently following these techniques can lead to noticeable improvements within a few weeks.