How to Train Your Memory: 9 Simple Techniques

Memory is more than just the ability to remember information. It is an integral part of our lives that shapes our identity and connects us to friends and family. Our memories bring clarity, control, and confidence into our lives.

woman forgetting her short- and long-term memories

However, we often find ourselves losing grip on the information and memories we have stored in our minds. This creates information gaps and destabilises us in many ways.

Memory loss can be attributed to many factors, including old age, but the good news is that memory is not fixed. Just like the muscle, your memory can be trained and strengthened.

This article provides a concise description of how to train your memory and offers guidance on how to exercise your mind. We will also examine harmful habits and the long-term benefits of maintaining a sharp memory.

How Memory Works

A study carried out by Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin proposes a theory of how memory works. This theory is called the “multi-store model or modal model of memory”. The multi-store model explains that memory is made up of three parts: sensory memory, short-term memory (STM) and long-term memory (LTM).

Information from your surroundings (i.e what you see, hear and touch) enters your sensory memory. Sensory memory has three main types, each linked to a different sense. The iconic memory holds visual information for less than a second. The echoic memory captures sounds you’ve heard and keeps them for a few seconds. The haptic memory stores sensations of touch for a short period. These types of memory help the brain process sensory input before it moves to short-term memory.

The short-term memory, also known as the working memory, receives this information and stores it for a short time. If you rehearse or repeat this information, it moves into long-term memory, where it is stored indefinitely.

There are three steps of memory:

Encoding: This is the first stage where the brain changes sensory information into a form that it can store. Encoding can be visual, acoustic or semantic. Visual encoding represents information as images. Acoustic encoding represents information as sounds. Semantic encoding represents information based on meaning. Short-term memory utilises acoustic coding, while long-term memory employs semantic coding.
Storage: This is the second stage of memory where the brain maintains stored information over time. Storage could be short or long-term.
Retrieval: This is the final stage of memory, where stored information is brought back into conscious awareness. Short-term memory is retrieved chronologically, while long-term memory is retrieved by linking ideas and experiences (associations).

Understanding the process of memory storage and retrieval helps in learning, recognition, recalling information and improving memory.

Why We Forget

Just like remembering, forgetting is a normal mental process. But it is important to understand how it happens so that we can avoid and manage it.

Pioneering research shows that forgetting happens for several reasons:

Decay: This is a natural fading of memory, especially information stored in short-term memory (STM).
Interference: This occurs when new memory interferes with old memory, making it difficult to remember the past. There are two types of interference: proactive interference, where old information makes it harder to remember something new, and retroactive interference, where new learning affects your ability to recall older information.
Retrieval Failure: This is also called the tip-of-the-tongue experience. It happens when information exists in your memory, but you can’t access it.
Encoding Failure: When you don’t process or pay attention to information, it doesn’t move into long-term memory. Retrieving such information will fail because it was never stored in the first place.

In addition, many health conditions can lead to the degradation of memory. Alzheimer’s disease, for example, results in mild cognitive impairment, which makes it difficult to recall even simple details. Fortunately, it is very possible to improve your memory and mental health.

The following sections present some proven ways to train and strengthen your memory.

Live a Healthy Lifestyle to Protect Your Brain

Living a healthy lifestyle is one way to protect your brain and enhance memory.

A healthy lifestyle refers to daily habits and practices you must do to improve brain health and prevent cognitive decline. Eating a balanced diet, getting enough exercise, learning new skills, and practising mental exercise are also lifestyle choices that are good for your mind, body and overall health.

Physical activities improve blood flow to the brain and encourage the growth of new brain cells.

Getting enough sleep is also a daily activity that keeps your memory sharp. During deep sleep, your brain moves information from short-term memory to long-term memory, clears out toxins and strengthens other cognitive abilities.

woman getting more sleep to improve her long-term memory and short-term memory

Nutrition for Brain Health

We cannot discuss a healthy lifestyle without talking about feeding your brain with the right food.

Your brain will thank you for a healthy diet that is rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and healthy fats (like omega-3s). Eating a lot of high-fat foods, gaining weight, and allowing your blood sugar, blood pressure, and blood cholesterol levels to get too high can also accelerate any deterioration of your brain.

An ideal brain health meal like this: Grilled turkey burger (lean protein and B-vitamins) on a whole wheat bun (complex carbs), topped with sliced avocado (healthy fats) and leafy lettuce. You could serve this with a side of steamed broccoli or chopped carrots (antioxidants and fibre), a handful of blueberries (brain-protective antioxidants), and a glass of iced water with lemon or unsweetened iced green tea.

A memory-boosting diet is essentially a balanced, whole-food diet that emphasises variety, freshness, and minimal processing. The principle is that what is good for your heart and blood vessels is also good for your brain.

Avoid Harmful Habits

To protect your brain and memory function, it’s important to avoid harmful habits and adopt brain-supportive routines.

Nutrients like vitamin D, plant-based foods, and unsaturated fats from olive oil, fatty fish, or fish oil supplements provide critical cognitive benefits and may reduce the risk of memory decline. These foods are proven to lower high cholesterol and high blood pressure, two risk factors strongly linked to heart disease and poor brain performance.

It’s recommended to avoid harmful behaviours such as smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, and a sedentary lifestyle. Instead, aim to exercise at least five days a week and limit processed, high-sugar foods that negatively affect weight and blood sugar levels.

These positive lifestyle changes not only promote long-term health benefits but also help decrease your risk of memory problems.

Exercise Your Brain Regularly

Your brain needs continuous exercise in order to stay sharp and active, to avoid losing its plasticity.

To exercise your brain, you need to challenge yourself by:

Absorbing new information. New information forces your brain to stretch, expand, and reorganise what’s already stored to make more space to remember what you’re learning.

Demanding your full attention. Good brain exercise requires your full attention, demanding some high mental effort on your part.

Challenge your brain. Do the crossword puzzle. Solve everyday mathematical problems in your head WITHOUT using your calculator or smartphone. Memorise maps and plan your routes without relying on GPS. The list of brain challenges is endless, but they will all help to increase problem-solving abilities and keep your brain flexible and adaptable.

Building on existing skills. The more you learn about any one topic, the more your brain will expand in that direction. There is always something more you can do, some new direction to take, some new level of difficulty to try and reach. Pushing yourself to go farther and do more will always be good for your brain.

The benefits of exercising your brain are countless. Daily activities and interactions require your maximum focus and concentration. So, exercising your brain is something you need to keep you sharp, resilient and productive.

Learn New Skills

Mentally demanding activities like learning new languages, playing a musical instrument, dancing, juggling, playing chess, etc, activate the cerebral cortex and strengthen communication between nerve cells.

These types of challenges support brain plasticity, which is crucial for forming and retrieving memories. Using mnemonic devices and techniques like memory palaces can further deepen memory and help build habits.

Learn New Skills

Practice Mental Challenges

Activities that force you to focus, concentrate, reason, learn and develop problem-solving skills are called mental challenges. Mental challenges are pretty much like gym activities that stretch your mental muscles and improve cognitive abilities.

Some mental challenges include:

Engaging in cognitive exercises like strategy games, puzzles and chess.
Practising mindfulness and meditation helps lower stress hormones.
Regular physical activity, such as walking, yoga, or dancing, is effective in lowering stress and boosting your mood.
Maintaining social interactions through conversations or shared activities can help us build a strong support system to reduce loneliness and support mental health.

Engaging in mental challenges supports neurodegenerative delay and helps prevent progressive diseases like Parkinson’s, which are marked by the gradual loss of nerve cells in the brain. Other mental challenges include learning skills, music and reframing negative thoughts.

These challenges are not mere games or social activities; the American Psychiatric Association recommends making these activities a lifestyle.

Leverage Music for Memory Enhancement

Music has been proven to help improve your memory in a fascinating way. A study has explained, “because emotions enhance memory processes and music evokes strong emotions, music could be involved in forming memories, either about pieces of music or about episodes and information associated with particular music.”

If you’re trying to learn something new, use music to help it stick in your brain. If you’re trying to recall a previously stored memory, use music to help you pull it up from your memory banks.

Explore Complementary Methods Like Cranial Osteopathy

Cranial Osteopathy is a form of treatment involving massage and manipulation of the tissues and bones of your skull to improve not only brain function, but also reduce health problems like asthma, cerebral palsy, and cancer.

Research on its effectiveness is limited, but in theory, the physical manipulations are believed to “normalise the rhythm of your cerebrospinal fluid”. This is supposed to aid in the curing of a number of diseases and improving brain function.

If nothing else, cranial osteopathy can help to relax you, which is known to improve your ability to recall information buried deep in your memory banks.

Develop a Daily Routine for Brain Training

Research shows that developing a habit takes between 18-254 days. This means if you can stick to to-do lists for at least 18 days, you are on your way to improving mental function.

The brain develops routines by gradually shifting control from the prefrontal cortex, where conscious decision making is made, to the basal ganglia, where actions become automatic.

When a new behavior is repeated consistently, the brain forms a cue–routine–reward loop. A specific cue triggers the behaviour, and completing the task leads to a release of dopamine, which creates a sense of satisfaction and reinforces the habit.

Over time, the brain groups the actions together, allowing the routine to become automatic and largely unconscious. This process is driven by neuroplasticity, where repeated behaviours strengthen the neural pathways that support them.

As the habit becomes more encoded, memory consolidation during sleep helps transfer the behaviour into long-term memory. This makes the habit more stable and accessible, reducing the need for conscious effort and making it a natural part of your daily routine.

Conclusion: Long-Term Benefits of a Sharp Memory

Your memory is one of the most precious things you possess, and one of the most important tools in any profession. You must protect your memory as you age by exercising your brain and keeping your mental faculties sharp.

Some of the long-term benefits of keeping your memory sharp include:

Improved decision making;
Enhanced learning ability;
Increased independence in old age;
Better emotional health and stability;
Better social connections with friends, colleagues and family.

A good memory helps you adapt and adjust properly to society, allowing you to live a balanced life. The information above is a detailed guide on the right brain-training, memory-boosting activities that you can engage in for the rest of your long and active life.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How to get rid of brain fog?

Getting rid of brain fog involves daily habits like prioritising quality sleep, staying hydrated, eating a balanced diet and managing stress.

Why can’t I think anymore?

It’s not that you can’t think or process thoughts anymore; it could simply be mental fatigue, chronic stress, which has raised your stress hormones or an underlying illness. It’s important to rest, take breaks, read a book or see a doctor if the feeling persists.

Is there such a thing as memory therapy?

Yes, there is. It is commonly referred to as cognitive rehabilitation or memory training. It is a set of structured techniques to help individuals improve or compensate for memory problems due to aging, brain injury, or neurological conditions like dementia.

References

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How to Train Your Memory: 9 Simple Techniques

Home Blog Health Organs & Systems Nervous System How to Train Your Memory: 9 Simple Techniques

How Memory Works

Why We Forget

Live a Healthy Lifestyle to Protect Your Brain

Nutrition for Brain Health

Avoid Harmful Habits

Exercise Your Brain Regularly

Learn New Skills

Practice Mental Challenges

Leverage Music for Memory Enhancement

Explore Complementary Methods Like Cranial Osteopathy

Develop a Daily Routine for Brain Training

Conclusion: Long-Term Benefits of a Sharp Memory