6 Tips For Improving Your Memory As You Age

Written By Finnegan Pierson / Reviewed By Ray Spotts

Some aspects of aging can be frightening prospects. One of the most common fears people have is becoming less mentally sharp the older they get. Here are six tips for improving your memory as you age.

1. Manage Your Stress

Stress has a highly negative effect on the brain. Chronic stress can release excess amounts of cortisol into your brain tissues and damage areas of your brain related to forming, retaining and retrieving memories. Managing your stress can help you avoid these issues.

Practicing mindfulness through meditation and breathing exercises can help you calm down. Staying organized, keeping a healthy work-life balance and setting realistic goals can help you better manage stress in many aspects of your life. You can also access therapy to help you create healthy coping mechanisms.

2. Eat Healthily

Healthy diets are not only good for your body, but also for your brain. Alcohol and drug abuse can affect your memory in both the short term and the long term. If you do want to drink, make sure you do so in moderation.

Focus on whole foods, such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, healthy fats and lean meats. Avoid processed foods and excess sugar and trans fats, which may have detrimental effects on brain health and memory. You can also supplement your diet with nutrients such as collagen protein, vitamin D, and fish oil, each of which have brain health benefits.

3. Get Adequate Sleep

Sleep is vital to brain health and memory. It's also important to begin getting adequate sleep early in life, as your sleeping habits as a teenager and young adult can affect your brain health later in life. Adults should get between seven and nine hours of sleep every day.

If you have trouble regulating your sleeping habits, try meditating before bed or listening to white noise when you're trying to go to sleep. You should also avoid working or watching television in your bedroom or right before bed. If you experience frequent insomnia, talk to your doctor about how to combat it.

4. Socialize Regularly

It may not seem as though it influences the preservation of memory, but regular socializing with friends and peers can greatly boost your brain health and memory.

Relationships and social interactions have been shown to have stimulating effects on brain activity, likely because humans are social creatures who tend to thrive in group settings and whither in isolation.

If you want to increase your level of social interaction, you can find places to volunteer, join book clubs and sports teams or reach out to acquaintances or old friends. Even pets have been shown to have positive effects on memory and brain health.

5. Exercise Every Day

Like a healthy diet, exercise is an important part of your routine if you want to keep your body and mind as healthy as possible as you age. Adults are recommended to get at least 30 minutes of moderate or vigorous physical activity every day.

This can come in the form of high-impact aerobic workouts, several short, brisk walks throughout the day and all kinds of activity in-between. As you age, transition to low-impact workouts, such as yoga, tai chi and walking or jogging.

6. Keep Your Mind Active

Not only do you need to exercise your body, but also your mind. Brains have extraordinary plasticity and performing activities that challenge your mind or help you learn new things can help you maintain that plasticity.

Brain teasers, such as sudoku and crossword puzzles, are the most well-known options. However, you can also stimulate your mind by learning a new language or instrument, taking up a new hobby, performing complex tasks that exercise your hand-eye coordination and even reading.

Conclusion

Remember, these tips are to help you stave off and deal with normal age-related forgetfulness. If you have a family history of dementia or are concerned you or a loved one may be showing signs of dementia, you should speak with a doctor.

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Written By:

Finnegan Pierson loves business and has a passion for Health and technology. Even more interesting is the combination of the two. As a freelance writer, Finn hopes to influence others so they can have positive life experiences.

Reviewed By:

Founder Ray Spotts has a passion for all things natural and has made a life study of nature as it relates to health and well-being. Ray became a forerunner bringing products to market that are extraordinarily effective and free from potentially harmful chemicals and additives. For this reason Ray formed Trusted Health Products, a company you can trust for clean, effective, and healthy products. Ray is an organic gardener, likes fishing, hiking, and teaching and mentoring people to start new businesses. You can get his book for free, “How To Succeed In Business Based On God’s Word,” at www.rayspotts.com.

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