How to Improve Memory: 15+ Ways to Keep Your Brain Sharp

To improve memory and keep your brain working to its full potential, the first thing you need to examine is your lifestyle and habits and determine whether they contribute to the development of your cognitive faculties or hinder it.

We’ve consulted our experts to gain a better understanding of how memory works and what affects it, and they’ve helped us compile a list of tips for improving memory and devising memorizing strategies.

So, let’s explore them in more depth!

Key Takeaways

• You can improve memory by targeting it directly through memory games, IQ tests, and constant learning.
• Limited sugar intake and a diet of fruit, vegetables, and healthy fats can improve memory and prevent cognitive decline.
• An active, healthy life with a regular sleeping schedule and frequent socialization is particularly beneficial for your memory and brain in general.
• If you want to improve your memory for studying, use mnemonic devices and associations to make information more digestible.

16 Ways to Improve Memory

Below, you will find 16 ways to improve memory, designed to help those struggling with memory loss and information retention, as well as those who simply want to boost their memory capacity and protect their cognitive abilities from deterioration.

#1. Limit Your Sugar Intake

The brain is the most energy-consuming organ, and as such, it requires a constant supply of sugar to function. However, that doesn’t mean people with elevated glucose levels think better or faster than everyone else. Quite the contrary—too much sugar leads to cell aging and cognitive decline.

Patients with uncontrolled diabetes are a perfect example of this. As a result of their hyperglycemia, they experience brain fog, memory loss, and a higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s.

Of course, these are extreme cases—most people with normal blood sugar levels can still enjoy sweets without fear of damaging their brains.

However, if you want to improve your memory, consider limiting your sugar intake. You don’t have to stop treating yourself once in a while, but whenever possible, try to avoid processed sugar and get your carbs from healthier sources, such as fruit and certain vegetables.

#2. Eat Dark Chocolate

If you must eat processed sugar, make sure it comes from dark chocolate. Usually, it contains less sugar than other types of chocolate and a high percentage of cocoa, which actually benefits the brain.

For instance, cocoa boosts blood flow to the brain thanks to flavanol, an antioxidant present in cocoa beans. As a result, memory, concentration, processing speed, and other cognitive faculties improve to some extent.

In addition, research suggests that cocoa may slow down cognitive decline in older adults and lower the risk of dementia.

However, the same rule that applies to other sweets is true for dark chocolate, too: don’t overdo it. No matter what cognitive benefits it has, they will pale in comparison to the damage caused by excess sugar. A few pieces a day is perfectly fine, but avoid eating the whole bar yourself.

#3. Be Active

Everyone is aware of the benefits exercise has on your body, but did you know it can boost your memory as well? As it turns out, working out literally makes your brain grow, increasing its capacity for thinking and memorizing.

To be specific, regular exercise increases the volume of your hippocampus, particularly the areas responsible for memory. In fact, staying active can minimize your risk of developing dementia or experiencing other memory-related conditions.

Although any exercise benefits the brain, cardio is usually highlighted as especially good for developing cognition. That’s because it gets the heart pumping and increases blood flow to the brain, which then receives more nutrients, allowing it to operate at full capacity.

#4. Meditate

Surprisingly, sitting in silence and taking deep breaths can affect your blood flow similarly to going for a jog. Studies have shown that meditation and yoga can also increase your brain’s blood supply and result in better cognitive performance overall.

In addition, meditation can significantly benefit your mental health, alleviating the symptoms of depression and anxiety. Both disorders can lead to clouded thinking and difficulty remembering details and memorizing new information.

Although experts recommend between 15 and 20 minutes of meditation daily for maximum effect, you don’t have to force yourself to reach that goal. Start with short dips into mindfulness and extend them bit by bit as you get more used to the process.

Even once you become an expert in meditation, don’t feel like you must meditate for 20 minutes each time. The quality of each session is what matters, not the quantity.

Check out our article on IQ and meditation to learn more about how meditation can improve memory and cognitive abilities.

#5. Get Enough Sleep

Sleep is crucial for the normal functioning of long-term memory as well as information processing and consolidation.

As you sleep, your brain reinforces the memories of the previous day and makes new and often unexpected connections between them. That’s why you have an easier time recalling information in the morning and solving problems after sleeping on it.

On the other hand, when you consistently don’t get enough sleep, your memories don’t get consolidated, and you may start forgetting details or experiencing memory lapses. There is even some evidence that lack of sleep may lead to the formation of false memories.

To avoid these consequences and keep your memory sharp, make sure to get 7–9 hours of sleep every night. Staying active, limiting your screen time, and developing a calming nighttime routine can help you achieve this.

#6. Play Memory Games

One of the most effective ways to improve memory and concentration is to play games that specifically target your working memory. You can find plenty of those online or even devise a few on your own if you feel inspired.

A typical example of a memory game would be a pair-matching game. In this game, which usually involves a set of cards lying face down, the player must match each card to another one of the same kind by memorizing card positions.

Nowadays, you can find many iterations of this game online, both with cards and various other objects.

However, if you want to challenge yourself in a different way, you can turn your everyday chores into memory games.

For example, memorize your entire shopping list next time you go to the supermarket and try to get everything without looking at it. Once you’re done, check the list to see if you’ve missed anything.

#7. Pay Attention to Your Diet

Food high in trans and omega-6 fats tends to lead to poorer memory and an increased risk of developing dementia.

Although this connection isn’t fully explored yet, the reason might be that these fats cause cholesterol buildup, which can partially obstruct or damage blood vessels.

As mentioned before, the brain needs a high blood supply to reach its full potential. When the blood vessels carrying nutrients and oxygen to the brain are partially obstructed, cognitive function becomes impaired due to a lack of blood. In the worst-case scenario, this can progress into a silent or full-blown stroke.

On the other hand, foods that improve memory, such as fish and olive oil, contain omega-3 and omega-9 fats and promote blood vessel health, resulting in a healthy brain and enhanced cognition.

#8. Don’t Drink Too Much Alcohol

It’s no secret that a night of heavy drinking can lead to short-term memory loss, commonly known as a blackout. Blackouts can be fragmented, meaning that the person still remembers some of the events from their drinking session, or total, characterized by a lack of recollection.

In either case, alcohol affects nerve communication in the hippocampus, slowing it down and leading to short-term memory loss.

However, with continuous alcohol abuse, this short-term effect can become long-term. Frequent binge drinking and alcoholism don’t only slow down the hippocampus but also damage it. Consequently, alcohol-related dementia may develop, resulting in memory gaps, an inability to form new memories, and general confusion.

So, although an occasional drinking binge won’t significantly impact your memory, keep your alcohol intake at a minimum to ensure you don’t damage your brain.

You can learn more by reading our in-depth article on alcohol and IQ.

#9. Socialize

Although socializing seems like a fun, relaxing activity that doesn’t require much thinking, your brain is hard at work when you’re interacting with friends. After all, to communicate with others, you need to store and process information quickly, as well as instantly formulate an adequate response.

In other words, your brain, and particularly your working memory, gets proper exercise when you socialize. Long-term memory becomes active, too, allowing you to recall specific events or information mentioned in a previous conversation.

In addition, socializing benefits mental health and relieves the brain of stress and anxiety, two common culprits of lapses in memory. As a result, your mind feels clearer and more prepared to retain new information.

For all these reasons, socializing is highly recommended for the older population with a higher risk of dementia, as it can slow down cognitive decline.

#10. Make Associations

Associations are a great way to improve memory and boost information retention, especially while studying. Essentially, they create a connection between the concept you’re memorizing and another idea, image, or event you’re already familiar with.

As a result, all you have to do is think of the familiar concept, and the new information will instantly come to mind.

For example, if you’re bad at remembering names, try to think of a celebrity with the same name as the person you’re being introduced to. So, if you meet someone named Adam, you can instantly make a connection with Adam Sandler and use that to memorize their name.

When coming up with associations, make them as concrete and personal as you can. You’re unlikely to remember something vague or an association you don’t have much of an attachment to.

#11. Use Mnemonic Devices

Mnemonic devices are memorizing tools that help you retain new information with ease. They are particularly useful for people with ADHD who want to improve their memory, as they are fun, creative, and usually break down large chunks of information into smaller ones.

Here are some common types of mnemonic devices:

• Musical mnemonics. The alphabet song is a well-known example of a musical mnemonic that helps you easily memorize 26 letters of the English alphabet.
• Acronyms. Acronyms are formed from the first letters of each item in a list you’re trying to memorize. For example, teachers often use SVOMPT (Subject, Verb, Object, Manner, Place, Time) to help students memorize the word order in English.
• Acrostics. Acrostics work similarly to acronyms, but they form a sentence or a phrase instead of a single word. “Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally” is a good acrostic for memorizing the order of algebra operations: Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, and Subtraction.

Aside from these, there are many other types of mnemonics you can use to improve your memory. You can even invent some on your own—after all, you understand what works best for you.

#12. Keep Learning

Although much of the information you learned in school may not serve a big purpose in your adult life, it did have one practical use: boosting your memory capacity. In many ways, memory is like a muscle that can be trained with continuous use.

So, if you want to increase your memory power naturally, don’t stop learning even after you’re done with school. You don’t have to sit down with your old geography textbook and memorize every country’s capital cities, but you should find topics that interest you and explore them in more depth.

Learning a new skill also counts. Picking up a new instrument or taking foreign language classes is particularly beneficial for your working and long-term memory. But generally speaking, any new challenge you take on will fire up your neurons and help your brain work better.

In fact, learning a new language can also provide significant cognitive benefits; discover more about this in our article on the cognitive benefits of being bilingual.

#13. Minimize Stress

Stress can significantly impair your ability to create short-term memories as well as turn those into long-term memories. That’s because the brain is already using so much of its energy to just manage stress that it needs to minimize some of the seemingly less crucial functions.

In addition, extreme stress can lead to the formation of false memories, a phenomenon often encountered in eyewitness testimonies. Stress experienced during witnessing a crime can color memories in a certain light, making eyewitnesses more likely to remember only certain things or unintentionally fabricate events.

Of course, everyday stress is nowhere near as extreme, but when you’re exposed to it for a long time, your ability to retain information and recall events suffers.

To avoid memory impairment, minimize stress as much as possible and focus on self-care. The better your mental health, the sharper your memory.

#14. Change Up Your Routine

Without stimulation, your brain can easily switch to autopilot and simply go through motions day in and day out. Although this may seem comfortable for a while, it’s also detrimental to your cognitive faculties, which slowly deteriorate when not challenged.

In other words, you need to consistently provide your brain with something to chew on. That doesn’t have to be anything mind-blowing, but you should at least try to change up your routine once in a while.

For example, if you’re always taking the same route back home from work, use an alternative one once a week. Or, if you cook, try preparing a new recipe instead of sticking to the same old ones.

When possible, you can take the routine-changing practice to another level and visit a new city or a country you’ve never been to before.

Whatever you choose to do, your working and long-term memory, as well as your overall cognition, will benefit from a change.

#15. Practice With IQ Tests

IQ tests may be designed to measure your intelligence and determine the scope of your cognitive abilities, but they can also serve as excellent tools for improving bad memory.

Among other things, IQ tests assess your working memory through tasks that require you to hold certain information in your mind and then manipulate it. Plus, if there’s a verbal component to the test, your long-term memory can also be evaluated through questions that test the extent of your vocabulary.

These same tasks can be used to improve your memory, too. The more you practice, the better you will be at solving them. At the same time, your memory capacity and information retention speed will grow.

It’s not just your memory that will benefit, either. All other cognitive faculties, such as concentration, deductive reasoning, and problem-solving, will also gain a boost.

#16. Stay Organized

The brain loves to organize and categorize things and thrives in structured, predictable environments. When your home or workspace is in disarray, and your schedule is all over the place, you’re likely to become forgetful and struggle with memorizing information.

But why doesn’t the brain enjoy being surrounded by chaos? Simply put, it’s distracting and requires constant adjusting and processing of new information, which expends the brain’s energy.

So, while excessive adherence to routines can lead to cognitive stagnation, having a daily plan may benefit your brain. You don’t have to stick to this plan no matter what, but it is useful to have a guideline and save up some of your mental energy.

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Final Thoughts

Struggling with forgetfulness and memory loss is frustrating, but it’s not an irreversible condition. If you put enough effort into changing your bad habits and making good lifestyle choices, you can improve your memory and cognition overall.

It’s also useful to develop a few memorizing strategies to help you on bad days. Mnemonic devices and associations do wonders for information retention, even for people with conditions that make memorizing harder.

Ultimately, it’s all about finding the approach to improve your memory specifically. And remember—if you can’t memorize it, write it down!