Brain Games: How to Improve Your Memory
Head games.
If you, too, are forgetting simple details these days, please don’t call them “senior moments.” Besides the inherent ageism in the phrase, it’s almost certainly not the culprit. Case in point: This recent article citing a 32-year-old professor (and memory researcher) who completely forgot the name of his teaching assistant in front of his class. Memory experts seem to agree that the tremendous amount of change and stress we’re under is chewing up valuable cognitive horsepower: “Our brains are like computers with so many tabs open right now.” So how to hold onto better recall while toggling those tabs? Beyond the article’s many excellent suggestions (and our own recommended brain games), we present you with some ways to keep matters in your mind.
Word up.
Since you’re a grown-up, we know you already appreciate the virtues of word games. If you’ve found your feeds peppered with green and yellow squares of late, and wondered what all the fuss is about, might we suggest you get on board with Wordle. The game gives you six tries to guess a word; a yellow letter says you have the right letter in the wrong place and a green letter is the right letter in the right place. Before you have flashbacks to your Candy Crush addiction, please know this game follows one of our new favorite digital trends—scarcity—as it comes out just once a day. If you’re looking for a slightly more challenging take (also just once a day), try Quordle, where you’ll get nine tries to solve four words.
What a card.
Before you scoff at your seatmate playing solitaire or turn down poker night, please know that card games both increase your brain’s volume in several regions and sharpen your memory. Any of the old standbys (besides the aforementioned)—gin, hearts, bridge or even crazy 8s—will do. So when you’re packing up for summer travels, don’t leave home without your deck.
Dance it out.
As if we needed an excuse to indulge our longstanding goal of taking a hip-hop class, if we must do so in service of our beautiful mind, then so be it. Not only will we be learning something new (a perfect pickup for our brain), but dancing increases our processing speed and enhances our memory. Sadly, we’re more Elaine Benes—one of us literally tore an ACL in a hip-hop class—than Paula Abdul. But we still dance like no one’s looking.
Make some Headspace.
For a deeper dive on all the reasons why meditation is good for our brain, you can see this issue’s Try It, but it won't surprise you to know it can increase your concentration and decision-making, and fine-tune your memory. With any number of apps, finding a quick guided meditation is absolutely doable. Start with a bite-size chunk of time and try to increase it once you’re feeling more comfortable.
Mix-a-lot.
We like a tried-and-true routine, but it stands to reason that if you want to create a new neural path, you need to be willing to take a new path. Whether it’s switching up the way you get to work, your coffee shop, your dog walking route or any routine task, the memory favors novelty. And while it may seem the last two years have given you all the “novel” you would ever want, we bet there are some small things in the mix that could use a little remix.
