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The Eastern Echo Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024 | Print Archive
The Eastern Echo

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Advice: Exercises for a better memory

Check out these easy exercises to improve the brain's ability to remember.

Students are constantly forced to memorize information because of the situations they are placed in. Keeping track of due dates and studying test materials are all examples of those situations. What's a better reason to train your brain to be more efficient at remembering things?

You can improve your memory in many ways, but your morning newspaper is a good starting point. “Simple games like Sudoku and word games are good, as well as comic strips where you find things that are different from one picture to the next,” says John E. Morley, MD, a professor of medicine in the division of geriatric medicine at St. Louis University in Missouri. 

Practicing math in your head is also an effective way to improve your memory and mathematical skills. Someday in the future, you will thank yourself for practicing mental math, especially if you are a student of engineering, physics, or math. Researchers suggested that solving math problems positively affected participants' cognition in an article published in Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology in 2021. Walking at the same time makes this exercise more challenging and athletic.

An unexpected method of training your brain is to take a cooking class. Cooking involves a variety of senses - smell, touch, sight, and taste - that activate different parts of the brain. According to Cleveland Clinic, you'll also use cognitive skills such as planning the meal, problem-solving, creating a grocery list, multitasking, and organizing. Additionally, you can use the knowledge of your cooking class to test your taste buds by trying to identify the ingredients of a meal, which can boost your memory too!

Also, try to engage in a new hobby that involves fine motor skills, and can help you maintain your hand-eye coordination. Among these activities are racquet sports, tai chi, knitting, drawing, painting, and playing video games, according to Harvard Health Publishing. So, yeah video games have benefits!

To conclude, these are only a few exercises that can help improve memory, but there are many others that can be easily inserted in our normal daily routine.