If you are forgetting where you put your keys, forgetting people’s names, and having memory problems, it is time to work on your neuroplasticity, which Help Guide defines as “ ability to adapt and change—even into old age.” It turns out the neuroplasticity exists even with old age; we can always improve our brain’s ability to recall information by following several steps.
Exercise (the mind):
There are games online that are fun and still cause your brain to improve in terms of memory. But, aside from those, there are definitely some exercises you can do every day to enhance your brain’s performance. For instance, you memorize ten phone numbers per day. You can count the items in a grocery cart and keep a tally of how much each one costs. Memory Improvement Tips.com also recommends playing board games, crossword puzzles, and memorizing “top ten lists each day. Examples: Top 10 Greatest Mathematicians, 10 Huge Prehistoric Cats, 10 Most Common Food Allergies, Top 10 Castles and Palaces.” You can also create flash cards of information, and go through them every day, memorizing them on a daily basis.
But there are other ways to exercise the brain. Picking up a new hobby enhances the brain, too. So, if you have always wanted to play an instrument, take it up. Learn away. Learn how to paint or draw. Learn how to play the piano. Learn a foreign language, or two, or three! Keep your brain working hard.
Exercise (the Body!):
It is important to make sure that you are fit, not only mentally, but also physically. According to Memory Improvement tips.com, exercising is crucial for brain enhancement. The website’s writers state that exercise “increases oxygen to your brain and reduces the risk for disorders that lead to memory loss, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Exercise may also enhance the effects of helpful brain chemicals and protect brain cells.” So do not put down the weights just yet.
Eat Healthy:
According to Real Age.com, there are many benefits to eating a healthy, well rounded diet, because it slows down “age-related mental decline.” Some of the foods you show consider eating are: blueberries, which slow brain drain, salmon and walnuts, for increasing the number of omega 3’s in your system. There is also dark chocolate for aiding cerebral blood flow. Another food to include in your diet is celery, which helps with brain inflammation. Finally, the website recommends eating mustard because it cleans up brain cells.
Socialize:
Help Guide recommends being with friends as a form of mental exercise. Remembering names, facts, and stories is great exercise. But, it is not just that. The website states, “Research shows that having meaningful relationships and a strong support system are vital not only to emotional health, but also to brain health.” They explain, “In one recent study from the Harvard School of Public Health, for example, researchers found that people with the most active social lives had the slowest rate of memory decline.”