It was once believed that brain function peaked during early adulthood and then

slowly declined, leading to lapses in memory and brain fog during your golden years.
Now it's known that our modern lifestyle plays a significant role in contributing to
cognitive decline, which is why exposure to toxins, chemicals, poor diet, lack of
sleep, stress, and much more can actually hinder the functioning of your brain.
The flipside is also true in that a healthy lifestyle can support your brain health and
even encourage your brain to grow new neurons, a process known as neurogenesis.
Your brain's hippocampus, i.e. the memory center, is especially able to grow new
cells and it's now known that your hippocampus regenerates throughout your entire
lifetime (even into your 90s), provided you give it the tools to do so.

These "tools" are primarily lifestyle-based, which is wonderful news. You don't
need an expensive prescription medication or any medical procedure at all to boost
your brain, and your memory. You simply must try out the following tricks to improve
your memory.

7 Lifestyle-Based Ways to Improve Your Memory

1. Eat Right

The foods you eat and don't eat play a crucial role in your memory. Fresh
vegetables are essential, as are healthy fats and avoiding sugar and grain
carbohydrates. You can find detailed information about nine foods for brainpower
here.

For instance, curry, celery, broccoli, cauliflower, and walnuts contain

antioxidants and other compounds that protect your brain health and may even
stimulate the production of new brain cells.

Increasing your animal-based omega-3 fat intake and reducing consumption of

damaged omega-6 fats (think processed vegetable oils) in order to balance your
omega-3 to omega-6 ratio, is also important. I prefer krill oil to fish oil, as krill oil
also contains astaxanthin, which not only protects the omega-3 fats from oxidation but
also appears to be particularly beneficial for brain health.

Coconut oil is another healthful fat for brain function. According to research by
Dr. Mary Newport, just over two tablespoons of coconut oil (about 35 ml or 7 level
teaspoons) would supply you with the equivalent of 20 grams of medium-chain
triglycerides (MCT), which is indicated as either a preventative measure against
degenerative neurological diseases, or as a treatment for an already established case.

2. Exercise

Exercise encourages your brain to work at optimum capacity by stimulating

nerve cells to multiply, strengthening their interconnections and protecting them from
damage.

During exercise nerve cells release proteins known as neurotrophic factors. One
in particular, called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), triggers numerous
other chemicals that promote neural health, and directly benefits cognitive functions,
including learning.

A 2010 study on primates published in Neuroscience also revealed that regular

exercise not only improved blood flow to the brain, but also helped the monkeys learn
new tasks twice as quickly as non-exercising monkeys.

This is a benefit the researchers believe would hold true for people as well.1 In a
separate one year-long study, individuals who engaged in exercise were actually
growing and expanding the brain's memory center one to two percent per year, where
typically that center would have continued to decline in size.

To get the most out of your workouts, I recommend a comprehensive program

that includes high-intensity interval exercise, strength training, stretching, and core
work, along with regular intermittent movement.

3. Stop Multitasking

Used for decades to describe the parallel processing abilities of computers,

multitasking is now shorthand for the human attempt to do simultaneously as many
things as possible, as quickly as possible. Ultimately, multitasking may actually slow
you down, make you prone to errors as well as make you forgetful.

Research shows you actually need about eight seconds to commit a piece of
information to your memory, so if you're talking on your phone and carrying in
groceries when you put down your car keys, you're unlikely to remember where you
left them.

The opposite of multitasking would be mindfulness, which helps you achieve

undistracted focus. Students who took a mindfulness class improved reading
comprehension test scores and working memory capacity, as well as experienced
fewer distracting thoughts.2

If you find yourself trying to complete five tasks at once, stop yourself and focus
your attention back to the task at hand. If distracting thoughts enter your head, remind
yourself that these are only "projections," not reality, and allow them to pass by
without stressing you out. You can then end your day with a 10- or 15-minute
meditation session to help stop your mind from wandering and relax into a restful
sleep.

4. Get a Good Night's Sleep

Research from Harvard indicates that people are 33 percent more likely to infer
connections among distantly related ideas after sleeping,3 but few realize that their
performance has actually improved. Sleep is also known to enhance your memories
and help you "practice" and improve your performance of challenging skills. In fact, a
single night of sleeping only four to six hours can impact your ability to think clearly
the next day.

The process of brain growth, or neuroplasticity, is believed to underlie your

brain's capacity to control behavior, including learning and memory. Plasticity occurs
when neurons are stimulated by events, or information, from the environment.
However, sleep and sleep loss modify the expression of several genes and gene
products that may be important for synaptic plasticity.

Furthermore, certain forms of long-term potentiation, a neural process associated

with the laying down of learning and memory, can be elicited in sleep, suggesting
synaptic connections are strengthened while you slumber.

As you might suspect, this holds true for infants too, and research shows that
naps can give a boost to babies' brainpower. Specifically, infants who slept in between
learning and testing sessions had a better ability to recognize patterns in new
information, which signals an important change in memory that plays an essential role
in cognitive development.4 There's reason to believe this holds true for adults, too, as
even among adults, a mid-day nap was found to dramatically boost and restore
brainpower.5 You can find 33 tips to help you get the shut-eye you need here.

5. Play Brain Games

If you don't sufficiently challenge your brain with new, surprising information, it
eventually begins to deteriorate. What research into brain plasticity shows us,
however, is that by providing your brain with appropriate stimulus, you can
counteract this degeneration.

One way to challenge your brain is via 'brain games,' which you can play online
via Web sites like Lumosity.com. Dr. Michael Merzenich, professor emeritus at the
University of California, who I interviewed two years ago, has pioneered research in
brain plasticity (also called neuroplasticity) for more than 30 years, has also
developed a computer-based brain-training program that can help you sharpen a range
of skills, from reading and comprehension to improved memorization and more.

The program is called Brain HQ, and the website has many different exercises
designed to improve brain function and it also allows you to track and monitor your
progress over time. While there are many similar sites on the Web, Brain HQ is one of
the oldest and most widely used.

If you decide to try brain games, ideally it would be wise to invest at least 20
minutes a day, but no more than five to seven minutes is to be spent on a specific task.
When you spend longer amounts of time on a task, the benefits weaken. According to

Dr. Merzenich, the primary benefits occur in the first five or six minutes of the task.
The only downside to brain games is that it may become just another "task" you need
to fit into an already busy day. If you don't enjoy brain games, you can also try
learning a new skill or hobby (see below).

6. Master a New Skill

Engaging in "purposeful and meaningful activities" stimulates your neurological

system, counters the effects of stress-related diseases, reduces the risk of dementia
and enhances health and well-being.6 A key factor necessary for improving your brain
function or reversing functional decline is the seriousness of purpose with which you
engage in a task. In other words, the task must be important to you, or somehow
meaningful or interesting it must hold your attention.

For instance, one study revealed that craft activities such as quilting and knitting
were associated with decreased odds of having mild cognitive impairment.7 Another
study, published earlier this year, found that taking part in "cognitively demanding"
activities like learning to quilt or take digital photography enhanced memory function
in older adults.8 The key is to find an activity that is mentally stimulating for you.
Ideally this should be something that requires your undivided attention and gives you
great satisfaction it should be an activity that you look forward to doing, such as
playing a musical instrument, gardening, building model ships, crafting or many
others.

7. Try Mnemonic Devices

Mnemonic devices are memory tools to help you remember words, information
or concepts. They help you to organize information into an easier-to-remember
format. Try:

Acronyms (such as PUG for "pick up grapes")

Visualizations (such as imagining a tooth to remember your dentist's
appointment)
Rhymes (if you need to remember a name, for instance, think "Shirley's hair is
curly)

Chunking, which is breaking up information into smaller "chunks" (such as

organizing numbers into the format of a phone number)

3 More Smart Tips for Brainpower

If you're serious about improving your memory and your cognitive function, you'll
also want to know about these three important variables for brain health.

Vitamin D

Activated vitamin D receptors increase nerve growth in your brain, and

researchers have also located metabolic pathways for vitamin D in the hippocampus
and cerebellum of the brain, areas that are involved in planning, processing of
information, and the formation of new memories. In older adults, research has shown
that low vitamin D levels are associated with poorer brain function, and increasing
levels may help keep older adults mentally fit. Appropriate sun exposure is all it takes
to keep your levels where they need to be for healthy brain function. If this is not an
option, a safe tanning bed is the next best alternative, followed by a vitamin D3
supplement.

Intermittent Fasting

Contrary to popular belief, the ideal fuel for your brain is not glucose but
ketones, which is the fat that your body mobilizes when you stop feeding it carbs and
introduce coconut oil and other sources of healthy fats into your diet. A one-day fast
can help your body to "reset" itself, and start to burn fat instead of sugar. Further, it
will help you to reduce your overall calorie consumption, which promotes brain cell
growth and connectivity.

As part of a healthy lifestyle, however, I prefer an intermittent fasting schedule

that simply calls for limiting your eating to a narrower window of time each day. By
restricting your eating to a 6-8 hour window, you effectively fast 16-18 hours each
day. To learn more, please see this previous intermittent fasting article.

Gut Health

Your gut is your "second brain," and your gut bacteria transmits information to
your brain via the vagus nerve, the tenth cranial nerve that runs from your brain stem
into your enteric nervous system (the nervous system of your gastrointestinal tract).
There is a close connection between abnormal gut flora and abnormal brain
development, and just as you have neurons in your brain, you also have neurons in
your gut -- including neurons that produce neurotransmitters like serotonin, which is
also found in your brain and is linked to mood.

Quite simply, your gut health can impact your brain function, psyche, and
behavior, as they are interconnected and interdependent in a number of different ways.
In addition to avoiding sugar, one of the best ways to support gut health is to consume
beneficial bacteria. You can use a probiotic supplement for this, but I'm particularly
fond of using fermented vegetables, because they can deliver extraordinarily high
levels of beneficial bacteria. Most people aren't aware that in a healthy serving of
sauerkraut two to three ounces or so you're getting the equivalent of nearly 100
capsules of the highest-potency probiotic you can buy. It's clearly one of the most
cost-effective alternatives.

The Choline-Brain Connection

Choline is an essential nutrient your body makes in small amounts. However, you
must consume it through your diet to get enough. In adults, choline helps keep your
cell membranes functioning properly, plays a role in nerve communications, prevents
the buildup of homocysteine in your blood (elevated levels are linked to heart disease)
and reduces chronic inflammation. In pregnant women, choline plays an equally, if
not more, important role, helping to prevent certain birth defects, such as spina bifida,
and playing a role in brain development.

Prior research has concluded that choline intake during pregnancy "super-charged"
the brain activity of animals in utero, indicating that it may boost cognitive function,
improve learning and memory, and even diminish age-related memory decline and the
brain's vulnerability to toxins during childhood, as well as conferring protection later
in life.9

If you're pregnant, making sure your diet includes plenty of choline-rich foods is
important, as research shows higher choline intake led to changes in epigenetic
markers in the fetus.10 Specifically, it affected markers that regulate the
hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, which controls hormone production and
activity. The changes in fetal genetic expression will likely continue into adulthood,
where they play a role in disease prevention. Eggs and meat are two of the best
dietary sources of choline; if you're a vegan or vegetarian who does not consume any
animal foods, you may be at risk of deficiency and may want to consider
supplementation.

Memory lapses can be both embarrassing (whats my neighbors kids name again?)
and troubling (is senility coming on?). But a few slipups dont necessarily doom you
to a future of utter forgetfulness. A memory is made by linking two or more of the 100
billion nerve cells in your brain, called neurons, then solidifying the connection so
you can use it later, says Neal Barnard, an adjunct associate professor of medicine at
the George Washington University School of Medicine, in Washington, D.C. And
your brain continues to develop neurons and build new connections to strengthen
memory as you age, a phenomenon called neuroplasticity, says Brianne Bettcher, a
neuropsychology fellow at the University of California, San Francisco, Memory and
Aging Center. So its never too late to improve your powers of recall. Thats where
these nine strategies come in. Theyll help you hone your memory today and keep it
robust for years to come.

1. Get More Sleep

Experts agree that if you do only one thing to improve your memory, getting more
sleep should be it. Sleep is key time for your brain to solidify the connections
between neurons, says Barnard. In a study published in the journal Sleep Medicine,
researchers asked subjects to perform some memory tasks and then either take a nap
or stay awake. The people who napped remembered more of the tasks they had
performed than did those who stayed up. Rule of thumb: Get seven to nine hours of
sleep total each day. And, yes, naps count.

2. Jog Your Memory

Literally. Runningor biking or swimming or doing any other type of

cardiovascular activityfor 20 to 30 minutes three times a week has been proven to
help you remember things better. Raising your heart rate gets blood flowing to your
brain, enlarges the hippocampus (the most vital part of the brain for memory), and
increases the secretion of brain-derived neurotrophic factor, a protein necessary for
long-term memory. Also, cardiovascular exercise can actually cause new connections
to sprout between neurons in the hippocampus, says Peter J. Snyder, a professor of
neurology at Brown Universitys Alpert Medical School.

3. Have Some Food (and Drink) for Thought

Your brain cant function properly without essential nutrients and chemical
compounds. Blueberries are the top source of substances called anthocyanins, which
are brain-boosting antioxidants, says Joy Bauer, a registered dietitian based in New
York City and the author of The Joy Fit Club ($28, amazon.com). Studies have
shown that anthocyanins shield the brain against inflammation and oxidation, both of
which can damage neurons and make them less effective at communicating with one
another. Bauer also recommends fitting in leafy green vegetables as often as
possible. Long-term studies have shown that people who eat large amounts of
spinach, kale, and other leafy greens have less age-related memory decline, thanks to
phytonutrients like vitamin C, she says. You might also want to start enjoying a drink
with dinner. Research published in The New England Journal of Medicine found that
women who had one drink a day were 20 percent less likely than teetotalers or heavier
drinkers to experience a decline in their cognitive function, including the ability to
remember points of a paragraph that had been read to them 15 minutes earlier. The
researchers believe this may be because moderate alcohol consumption elevates levels
of HDL cholesterol (the good kind) and improves the condition of the blood that
reaches the brain.
4. Choose Smart Supplements

Forget about ginkgo biloba. A recent study found that this herbal supplement has no
positive impact on memory. However, a few supplements are known to encourage the
growth of new neurons and decrease substances that can inhibit cognitive function.
The gold standard is fish oil, according to Lori Daiello, an assistant professor of
neurology (research) at the Alpert Medical School. Fish oil has been associated with
lowering the risk of dementia because it contains DHA, an omega-3 fatty acid that
decreases the production of memory-inhibiting substances in the brain and that may
be involved in the formation of new neurons, says Daiello. Increasing your
consumption of fatty fish, like salmon, helps; or you can take a daily supplement
containing at least 180 milligrams of DHA. Vitamin D may also work, since it
stimulates the growth of new neurons and helps clear protein abnormalities
associated with diseases that affect memory, such as dementia, says David J.
Llewellyn, a research fellow in epidemiology and public health at the University of
Exeter, in England. (The U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends women take at
least 600 international units [IU] daily.) You might also consider a folic acid, B6, and
B12 complex. All three of these B vitamins are needed to remove the amino acid
homocysteine from your blood, says Barnard. Homocysteine is produced during
normal processes in the body, but if too much of it builds up, it can result in poor
brain function.

5. Get Still

Meditation improves your concentration and focus, which benefits memory, says
Dharma Singh Khalsa, the medical director and the president of the Alzheimers
Research & Prevention Foundation, in Tucson. In addition, meditation has been
shown to reduce stress, which can do a number on memory. When were under
stress, our body and brain release hormones such as cortisol, adrenaline, and CRH
[corticotropin-releasing hormone], which in short bursts can help us fight or flee
danger, says Tallie Z. Baram, a professor of neurological sciences at the University
of California, Irvine. But when youre stressed-out over long periods of time, these
hormones change the structure of the hippocampus, destroying nerve endings
involved in information flow. A study released last year showed that subjects who
performed a 12-minute chanting meditation once a day for eight weeks saw marked
improvement in their memory and increased blood flow in the areas of the brain used
in a variety of memory tasks. (Find instructions on how to start a meditation practice
at mayoclinic.com.)

6. Do Something Out of the Ordinary

New experiences, such as taking a different route to work, can also improve recall.
Our brains are constantly deciding whats important enough to remember and what
can be tossed away, says R. Douglas Fields, a senior investigator in neuroscience at
the National Institutes of Health, in Bethesda, Maryland. When youre in a novel
situation, your brain assumes that information is going to be important and holds on to
it. Also, youll better retain things that happen immediately after a novel
experience, he says. The cellular machinery of consolidating short-term memories
into long-term ones has been activated, so it keeps working. Which means that after
your new commute, you may be better able to remember what happens at the morning
meeting.

7. Check Your Medicine Cabinet

A number of medications can affect memory, says Barnard, including

antihistamines; antidepressants, like Prozac; antianxiety drugs, like Xanax; and sleep
aids, like Ambien. Each has its own way of working in the brain. For instance,
Barnard says, antihistamines block acetylcholine, a brain transmitter necessary for
short-term memory, while Xanax and Ambien knock out episodic memory, so
anything that happens when youre on the medication may not stick around in your
brain. Dont stop taking any prescription drug without talking to your doctor, but

bring up the subject at your next visit. An alternative medicine or treatment may be
available.

8. Get Checked Out

Two more-serious (but less common) issues could cause memory lapses: gluten
sensitivity and thyroid disease. If you have an undiagnosed sensitivity to gluten, a
protein found in wheat, barley, and rye, and youre eating foods like bread and
crackers, your memory could suffer, says Stefano Guandalini, the medical director of
the Celiac Disease Center at the University of Chicago Comer Childrens Hospital.
Many people describe the feeling as a brain foga slightly out-of-it, fuzzy
sensation. Your doctor can screen for gluten sensitivity, and dietary modifications can
keep the condition in check. Thyroid disorders can also wreak havoc on recall. If you
notice increasing forgetfulness, along with depression or a change in weight or your
periods, see your doctor. Medication often gets the condition under control.

9. Challenge Your Head

We know that people who are cognitively active have better memory as they age,
says Michael Kahana, the director of the Computational Memory Lab at the
University of Pennsylvania and the author of Foundations of Human Memory ($60,
amazon.com). So how can you keep your brain going strong? Staying engaged in the
world around you reinforces the connections between neurons, says Bettcher. So do
some fun activities that make you think. Go to a museum once a month, learn words
in a new language, watch a documentary on a subject that fascinates you, oryes
do a crossword or sudoku puzzle. Another strategy: Quiz yourself. For example, if
you want to remember new people you met at an event, picture each of their faces
and try to remember their names on the ride home, says Henry L. Roediger III, a
professor of psychology at Washington University, in St. Louis. When you flex your
brain this way, youll be able to pull up their names at the next gathering. Fred from
accounting (remember him?) will be impressed.

Weve looked at a few different strategies to help remember the names of people
you meet on the Buffer blog before, but theres lots to say about memory.

It turns out that science is continually finding new connections between simple
things we can do every day and an improvement in our general memory capacity.

Memory is a complicated process thats made up of a few different brain activities.

Heres a simplified version to help us understand how the process takes place:
1. Creating a memory

Our brain sends signals in a particular pattern associated with the event were
experiencing and creates connections between our neurons, called synapses.
2. Consolidating the memory

If we didnt do anything further, that memory would fall right out of our heads
again. Consolidation is the process of committing it to long-term memory so we can
recall it later. A lot of this process happens while were sleeping, as our brains recreate
that same pattern of brain activity to strengthen the synapses we created earlier.
3. Recalling the memory

This is what most of us think of when we talk about memory, or especially memory
loss. Recalling the memory is easier if its been strengthened over time, and each time
we do so, we run through that same pattern of brain activity again, making it a little
stronger.

Memory loss is a normal part of aging, but that doesnt mean we cant take action
to slow it down a little. Lets take a look at some of the ways research has found to
keep our memories around as long as possible.
1. Meditate to improve your working memory

Working memory, which is a bit like the brains notepad, is where new information
is held temporarily. When you learn someones name or hear the address of a place

youre going to, you hang on to those details in working memory until youre done
with them. If theyre not useful anymore, you let go of them entirely. If they are, you
commit them to long-term memory where they can be strengthened and recalled later.

Working memory is something we use every day, and it makes our lives a lot easier
when its stronger. For most adults, the maximum we can hold in our working
memory is about seven items, but if youre not quite using your working memory to
its max capacity, meditation is one thing you can try to strengthen it.

Research has shown that participants with no experience in mindfulness meditation

can improve their memory recall in just eight weeks. Meditation, with its power to
help us concentrate, has also been shown to improve improve standardized test scores
and working memory abilities after just two weeks.

Why does meditation benefit memory? Its somewhat counterintuitive. During

meditation, our brains stop processing information as actively as they normally
would.

In the image below you can see how the beta waves (shown in bright colors on the
left), which indicate that our brains are processing information, are dramatically
reduced during meditation (on the right).

2. Drink coffee to improve your memory consolidation

Whether caffeine can improve memory if taken before learning something new is
debatable. Most research has found little-to-no effect from ingesting caffeine prior to
creating new memories. One recent study, however, found that taking a caffeine pill
after a learning task actually improved memory recall up to 24 hours later.

Participants memorized a set of images, and were later tested by viewing the same
images (targets), similar images (lures) and completely different images (foils). The
task was to pick out which were the exact pictures they had memorized, without being
tricked by the lures which were very similar. This is a process called pattern
separation, which, according to the researchers, reflects a deeper level of memory
retention.

caffeine memory test

The researchers in this study focused on the effects of caffeine on memory

consolidation: the process of strengthening the memories weve created. This is why
they believe there were effects when caffeine was ingested after the learning task,
rather than before.
3. Eat berries for better long-term memory

Another diet-related effect on memory is the mounting research that eating berries
can help to stave off memory decline.

A study from the University of Reading and the Peninsula Medical School found
that supplementing a normal diet with blueberries for twelve weeks improved
performance on spatial working memory tasks. The effects started just three weeks in
and continued for the length of the study.

A long-term berry study that tested the memory of female nurses who were over 70
years old found that those who had regularly eaten at least two servings of
strawberries or blueberries each week had a moderate reduction in memory decline.
(The effects of strawberries might be debatable, though, since that study was partly
funded by the California Strawberry Commission and another study focusing on
strawberries suggested that youd need to eat roughly 10 pounds of strawberries per
day to see any effect).

More research is needed in this area, but science is getting closer to understanding
how berries might affect our brains. In particular, blueberries are known for being
high in flavanoids, which appear to strengthen existing connections in the brain. That
could explain why theyre beneficial for long-term memory.
4. Exercise to improve your memory recall

Studies in both rat and human brains have shown that regular exercise can improve
memory recall. Fitness in older adults has even been proven to slow the decline of
memory without the aid of continued regular exercise.

In particular, studies shown that regular exercise can improve spatial memory, so
its not necessarily a way to improve all kinds of memory recall.

Of course, the benefits of exercise are numerous, but for the brain in particular,
regular exercise has been shown to improve cognitive abilities beyond memory. So if
youre looking for a way to stay sharp mentally, taking a walk could be the answer.
See how a quick walk ignites the brain in the scan below:

5. Chew gum to make stronger memories

Another easy method to try that could improve your memory is chewing gum while
you learn new things. Theres been some contradictory research around this topic, so
its not a solid bet, but a study published last year showed that participants who
completed a memory recall task were more accurate and had higher reaction times if
they chewed gum during the study.

One reason that chewing gum might affect our memory recall is that it increases
activity in the hippocampus, an important area of the brain for memory. Its still
unclear why this happens, though.

hippocampus

Another theory focuses on the increase of oxygen from chewing gum, which can
help with focus and attention. This could mean were creating stronger connections in
the brain as we learn new things while chewing gum. One study found that
participants who chewed gum during learning and memory tests had higher heart rate
levels than control groups, which can also lead to more oxygen flowing to the brain.
6. Sleep more to consolidate your memories

Sleep has proven to be one of the most important elements in having a good
memory. Since sleep is when most of our memory consolidation process occurs, it
makes sense that without enough sleep were going to struggle to remember the things
weve learned. Even a short nap can improve your memory recall.

In one study, participants memorized illustrated cards to test their memory strength.
After memorizing a set of cards, they had a 40-minute break wherein one group
napped, and the other stayed awake. After the break, both groups were tested on their
memory of the cards the group who had napped performed better:

Much to the surprise of the researchers, the sleep group performed significantly
better, retaining on average 85 percent of the patterns, compared to 60 percent for
those who had remained awake.

how naps affect your brain - memory

Apparently, napping actually helps our brain to solidify memories:

Research indicates that when memory is first recorded in the brainin the
hippocampus, to be specificits still fragile and easily forgotten, especially if the
brain is asked to memorize more things. Napping, it seems, pushes memories to the
neocortex, the brains more permanent storage, preventing them from being
overwritten.

Not only is sleep after learning a critical part of the memory creation process, but
sleep before learning something new is important as well. Research has found that
sleep deprivation can affect our ability to commit new things to memory and
consolidate any new memories we create.

Have you tried any of these methods for improving your memory? What works best
for you? Let us know in the comments.

If you liked this post, you might also like Inactivity and the Brain: Why Exercise is
More Important than Ever and The Secret to Creativity, Intelligence, and Scientific
Thinking: Being Able to Make Connections.