If you are frequently forgetting appointments, names and items from your "to do list", it's time to give your memory a boost.
The U.S. National Library of Medicine offers these suggestions to help strengthen your memory:
- Make associations between words or names. As the NLM puts it, "If Alex introduces you to Patty, you might remember them as A and P."
- Relax if you forget something, and try again to think of it or let it come to you.
- Read, do crossword puzzles and play games to keep your brain active.
- Limit how much alcohol you drink.
- When you want to remember something, repeat it out loud.
- Associate names with faces.
- Ask your doctor if any medications you take could be impairing your memory.
Health Tip: Exercise Your Brain
Workouts for your mind are as important as they are for your body, especially as you get older.
Here are suggestions on how to keep your mind sharp, courtesy of the Cleveland Clinic:
- Challenge yourself with activities. Try a crossword puzzle, take a class, or build something.
- Create to-do lists to help you remember appointments and activities.
- When learning something new, make sure you are not distracted. Give it your full attention, and use all of your senses to become familiar with it.
- Break an activity into multiple steps, and stretch it out over several days. For example, take a few days to learn how to program a new electronic device.
- Go over in your head what it is you want to remember, and be habitual in your tasks. Put things in the same place, for example.
- Get plenty of social interaction, sleep and regular physical exercise.
- Reduce stress whenever possible.
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