You can improve memory skills by exercising your brain the same way you exercise the rest of your body. Of course your brain isn’t a muscle, so you have to exercise it a bit differently than you would exercise muscles. But in a similar fashion, you can nourish it with dietary supplements and with activities that stimulate the neural pathways underlying your memories. Here are some simple activities you can build into your daily routine to improve your memory and offset memory loss.

Rehearse Before Bed

When you mentally rehearse an action before doing it, it sets the power of your subconscious to work on the images you visualize. You can use this fact to harness your subconscious towards stimulating your memory.

Sometime before bed, write down a list of 3 to 10 items you plan to do the next day. When you first start doing this, you’ll probably want to start with a short list of only 3 items. You can then add an item a week or so until you’re able to remember 10 or more items.

Make the first item on the list something automatic and easy to remember that you’re not going to forget, like putting on your shoes. The purpose of making this item easy to remember is because it sets off the chain that helps you remember the other items on your list.

Visualize yourself remembering to do the first item when a set signal occurs that is certain to happen, such as your alarm clock ringing, or when you get out of bed, or after you shower or breakfast. The reason you should pick a signal that is certain to happen is because this provides double insurance that you will remember the item.

Next, visualize the completion of that action reminding you to do the second item on your list.

Then, visualize yourself remembering to do the second item on your list when another set signal occurs that is certain to happen, such as arriving at work or seeing the clock strike noon. As before, visualize the completion of that action reminding you to perform the next item on your list.

Continue until you have visualized your entire list. What you are doing is programming your mind so that each item on your list reminds you of the next one. Additionally, you are programming yourself so that set events throughout the day will add a double reinforcement to trigger your memory.

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Review When You Wake Up

When you wake up, as you’re doing the first item on your list, mentally review your list. See how many items you can remember without looking at what you wrote down. After you do your mental review, check your list to see how well you remembered. Think of it as a memory game.

Stretch Your Memory During the Day

As you complete each item on your list, repeat your mental review of your list, with a periodic physical look at your list as circumstances allow. To stretch your memory, review your list both forwards and backwards. Start with the last item on the list, then remember the second-last item, and continue as far back as you can remember.

Review and Repeat Before Bed

Before bed, review how well you remembered the items on your list by once again seeing how far you can remember your list backwards.

After you get good at this, for an extra challenge, try to remember backwards all the way back to your list from the previous day. See how many days back you can remember.

For an even more advanced challenge, try remembering not just your list, but your entire day in vivid detail, walking through the day backwards.

Finally, after reviewing your day, plan your list for the next day. You should find that as time goes on, it gets easier and easier to remember the items on your list, even without looking at what you wrote down.

Worthy Brain Boosting Bibliography

Lumosity
Alzheimer’s Association Brain Health

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