Your memory plays a vital role in your success as a student. It’ll be easier for you to retain information, which can eventually help you excel in your classes, if you have a good memory. Moreover, your memory can affect your ability to concentrate and follow instructions.
And, while some are blessed with a photographic memory, others aren’t. The people who belong to the latter are usually students who have a hard time remembering information in class, preventing them to move forward. Over time, having weak memory can become the reason why students will perform poorly.
If you want to improve your memory and excel in your academic life, take note of these tips:
- Take Memory Lessons
One of the most effective yet unpopular ways to improve your memory is through taking memory lessons. These lessons are usually provided by experts in the industry, and are designed to train your mind to improve your memory skills.
When you take these memory lessons, expect that you’ll be playing games to improve working memory. These lessons will also teach you how to read different kinds of sentences and how to recognize the words. You’ll also learn how to build your memory by associating the words with what you have already read. Learning these skills will allow you to be able to memorize pieces of information more quickly.
- Get Enough Sleep
Being a student means wearing different hats at the same time. But, regardless of how hectic your schedule is, you should never deprive yourself of sleep because this can have adverse effects on your health and memory. When you don't get enough sleep, your brain activity slows down and your memory starts to deteriorate. Moreover, sleep deprivation will also prevent your brain from absorbing and retaining information.
If you want to improve your memory, make sure that you get enough sleep. According to studies, sleep is essential because it puts you in the right state of mind, making it very easy for you to grasp, process, and retain information. Prioritizing sleep will also solidify the memories present in your brain by strengthening connections of the different regions of your brain to your brain cells.
- Exercise More
One of the best ways to improve your memory is to do more exercises for your body. Exercises like yoga, Pilates, and walking will help increase blood flow to your brain. When the blood flow increases, you’re able to think faster, which will help improve your memory in the long run.
As a student, you can start incorporating exercises to your daily routine by walking or running around your dorm or campus during your leisure, or following instructional videos in your apartment. There are many ways on how you can sweat even as a full-time student; you just have to be resourceful and creative with your efforts.
- Stick To A Healthy Diet
Another effective way of improving your memory is to pay attention to what you eat. A diet with excessive amounts of sugar, unhealthy fats, and processed foods can cause inflammation in the brain, which may can result in impaired learning and memory.
By eating a well-balanced diet, you’ll be able to support your brain functions and ensure that you’ll develop a good memory overtime. Some of the best foods you can add to your diet to improve your memory are vegetables (such as cabbage, broccoli, and other dark leafy vegetables), berries, as well as foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids, such as bluefin tuna, salmon, and sardines.
A healthy diet is one of the best ways to improve your memory and keep it strong, which is why you should start changing your diet right away if you’re used to consuming unhealthy food options.
- Accomplish Tasks Strategically
How you handle your tasks can also affect your memory in many ways. Contrary to popular belief, multitasking is actually bad for your brain as this can reduce your efficiency and mental performance, as well as your ability to focus and concentrate. Over time, multitasking can even make you dumber.
Make sure that none of these happen by trying to do one thing at a time, not to multitask, so that you can focus your mind on a single task at a time. Break huge responsibilities into smaller, easier to handle tasks. Also, strive to use a quiet, distraction-free environment to complete these tasks.
Making these changes might be challenging, especially if you’re already fond of multitasking, but your brain will surely thank you for your efforts.
- Strive To Learn New Things
One of the oldest tricks in the book when it comes to improving your memory is making sure that your brain remains active. You can do this by pursuing another hobby, learning another language, or playing a musical instrument you never held in the past. Being a student opens countless of doors for you to learn new things, and you need to make the most out of these opportunities to ensure that your memory works perfectly evenn as you age.
When you learn something new, especially something you’ve never tried before, you'll strive to remember all of the details and processes involved. If you’re going to play the guitar for the first time, you’ll have to memorize chords and remember where your fingers should be placed when playing. By doing these regularly, your brain will be able to focus on the task at hand (in this case, learning how to play the guitar), allowing you to memorize things faster and learn quickly. Repetition encourages your brain to make connections between your neurons, thereby improving your memory in the long run.
Learning new things can do wonders to your memory and mental health, which is why you should make sure that learning becomes innate to you. The more things you regularly learn, the better your memory becomes.
It’ll Take Time
Remember that improving your memory isn’t something that you can accomplish overnight. In fact, you’ll have to make certain changes to your routine to ensure that your memory will be at its best. Fortunately, you’ll see some results over time once you incorporate all of the tips presented in this article to your daily routine.
