Why does paying attention make such a difference in your memory? What simple daily habits can protect your brain from memory decline?
In her book Remember, Lisa Genova explores the science of memory and shares practical ways to bolster your cognitive abilities. From managing stress to preventing Alzheimer’s, she reveals evidence-based strategies that can help anyone improve their memory function.
Keep reading to discover how to strengthen your memory through simple lifestyle changes that can make a lasting difference in your cognitive health.
How to Strengthen Your Memory
Genova offers many tips for how to strengthen your memory. One of the most important is to pay attention to what’s important to you, since we can remember only what we pay attention to. This requires a conscious effort, as our default state is one of inattentiveness. She recommends making a concerted effort to focus on things you want to remember—such as joyful experiences or semantic information you think you’ll need later—and avoiding multitasking as well as minimizing the distractions in your life, such as devices and social media.
(Shortform note: To combat your natural state of inattentiveness, you may want to try engaging in hyperfocus—deliberately focusing on a single task for a specific period of time—when trying to pay attention to what you want to remember. In Hyperfocus, Chris Bailey provides the following steps for how to hyperfocus: 1) Choose when and how long you want to hyperfocus, 2) choose what you want to hyperfocus on, 3) limit and manage the distractions you may face, 4) use mindfulness and meditation to stay in the present moment, and 5) maintain your focus by preventing your mind from wandering.)
Managing Stress
Genova explains that managing stress well is an important part of maintaining a healthy memory. While we can’t eliminate stress from our lives, we can influence how we respond to it. The author recommends practices such as meditation, yoga, exercise, mindfulness, and gratitude to reduce chronic stress’s negative effects. She specifically notes that regular meditation and exercise can increase hippocampal size. She also recommends you get plenty of sleep—at least seven hours per night—as sleep is important for the consolidation stage of memory formation. Finally, she advises against stressing about normal forgetting, as anxiety about memory lapses can create a self-fulfilling prophecy of increased forgetfulness.
(Shortform note: One reason mindfulness practices such as meditation may reduce stress and improve your memory is because they can help you better identify and accept your emotions, emotion helps us identify what’s important to remember. This is further supported by research showing that suppressing emotions impairs memory—if you force your brain to ignore its emotional responses, you’re essentially communicating to it that nothing is important to remember. The importance of sleep may also be related to emotion, as studies show that sleep plays a critical role in the ability to regulate your emotions.)
Avoiding Memory Decay
As we’ve learned, memories can also decay over time even after they’ve been stored. To combat this, Genova recommends two main strategies: repetition and adding meaning. Repetition or rehearsal can make memories extremely durable, especially when done to a point that seems excessive. Adding meaning to information by connecting it to personal narratives or existing knowledge helps preserve memories as well.
(Shortform note: While Genova encourages repetition to the point of overlearning, other experts caution against it: In A Mind for Numbers, Barbara Oakley suggests that overlearning may become tedious, increasing emotional stress and making learning less efficient. Additionally, Oakley provides some tips on making information more meaningful, including turning it into a story. In Wired for Story, Lisa Cron explains why: Stories appeal to us neurologically because they helped us remember important information related to our survival during ancient times—so if you want to remember something, try turning it into a story.)
Remembering What’s on the Tip of Your Tongue
Genova also gives some specific advice on how to deal with moments when you know you have a piece of information stored in your memory, such as a word or a name, but you can’t quite seem to call it to mind—when it’s just on the tip of your tongue. Despite what many assume, using the internet to look up words that are on the tip of your tongue doesn’t weaken memory, and suffering through such states doesn’t strengthen it. To better remember names, she suggests creating elaborate associations, such as linking abstract names to concrete visual images or making meaningful connections.
For example, if your favorite book is the war novel Catch-22 but you keep forgetting the author’s name (Joseph Heller), you can think of the common phrase “War is Hell” to remember “Heller.” This similarity between the content of the book and the phrase about war will add meaning to the author’s name that makes it stick better in your memory.
(Shortform note: While using the internet to look up words during tip-of-the-tongue states may not weaken your memory overall, doing so casually may prevent you from storing that information for retrieval again later. Experts point to the “Google effect,” a phenomenon in which memory retrieval is poorer for information that’s easily accessible through external means. So you may look up a word that’s on the tip of your tongue and immediately resolve your tip-of-the-tongue state, but you may find yourself in the same state the next time you try to remember that same word. You can combat this by paying close attention to the information and making an effort to commit it to memory rather than looking it up and immediately discarding it.)
Improving Prospective Memory
When it comes to improving your prospective memory, Genova recommends techniques such as using to-do lists and calendars. Additionally, being specific about plans (what exactly you intend to do and when) and using visual cues in impossible-to-miss locations (such as placing needed items in a spot where you know you’ll see them) can significantly improve success. Also, take note of any changes to your routine, as these can interfere with the cues you normally use to remember to do things. Try to identify things that your usual daily activities remind you to do, and if your routine is altered, come up with something else to remind you to do those things.
For example, if you have a pet hamster that you feed each morning when you eat lunch, but then one day you skip your lunch, you might also forget to feed your hamster as you miss your usual memory cue. Rather than hoping or assuming you’ll remember to do it anyway, set a reminder on your phone or put a note on your computer screen to ensure you don’t forget.
(Shortform note: Other ways to improve your prospective memory include saying things out loud or telling someone else what you plan to do, linking the memory to a goal, and thinking through what you planned to remember while showering or doing other automatic activities. You can also take advantage of the role emotion plays in memory by attaching a strong emotion to the thing you’re trying to remember to do so it will feel more meaningful. If you struggle with prospective memory due to a brain injury, you may also want to consider therapy focused on prospective memory intervention.)
Preventing Alzheimer’s
Genova explains that most Alzheimer’s cases are the result of our genes combined with our lifestyles. Because of this, there are many things you can do to avoid developing Alzheimer’s disease. Some of these we’ve already covered, such as managing stress and getting enough sleep. Exercise—especially aerobic exercise—is also a major factor in preventing Alzheimer’s, as is mental stimulation (specifically, stimulation from learning new things, not necessarily brain exercises such as puzzles or word games). Both of these promote hippocampal neurogenesis (the creation of new neurons), whereas physical and mental inactivity can lead the brain to shrink.
Genova also explains the importance of diet in Alzheimer’s prevention. She recommends diets such as the Mediterranean and MIND diets, which consist of a lot of leafy greens, berries, nuts, whole grains, and healthy fat sources such as olive oil and fish. She notes that, contrary to popular belief, there’s no evidence that drinking red wine reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s and points out that drinking alcohol can actually increase the risk because it can disrupt sleep. And, while chocolate and coffee show some promise due to their antioxidant properties and caffeine content, more research is needed to confirm their protective effects.
Exercise
Reflect on Genova’s strategies for improving memory, such as repetition, creating meaningful associations, managing stress, and getting adequate sleep. Which of these strategies do you think would be most helpful for addressing your memory challenges identified above? Describe specifically how you plan to implement this strategy.
