Best Practices to Boost Memory and Improve Your Mood for a Great Everyday
/There are two things that greatly impact your daily grind: your memory and mood. Any distraction to your recall and disposition will affect the outcome of your learning and daily tasks. Many people are at loss why they become more forgetful or agitated for no reason.
Being sat at a screen all day doesn’t refresh your mind, can have an impact on your clarity of thought and even give you aches and pains. Be sure to keep a natural pain relief remedy close by and get up from your desk for a walk every 20 minutes.
While memory slips and changing moods can be normal, it’s a different story when it becomes detrimental to your normal function and relationships with those around you. When that happens, it’s crucial to take steps to enhance your memory and mood and elevate your quality of life. Explore these tips to help you.
5 Proven Tips to Sharpen Your Memory
At a surface level, an excellent memory helps you remember important dates, events, to-dos, and other important details. In business and learning settings, it’s an asset. It contributes to critical thinking, problem-solving, organization, and other essential skills.
It’s only right that you incorporate ways to boost your memory. Explore these techniques that can help you do so.
Keep Your Body Active
Being active isn’t only beneficial to your physical fitness but to your cognitive well-being as well. A research study shows that exercise contributes to increased cognitive performance in younger and older adults. It also helps combat the risks of cognitive disorders like Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.
Playing sports, light jogs, and daily walks will help you remember better and provide long-term benefits to your brain health.
Do Mental Workouts
Bulking up your memory means keeping your brain in constant use. There are plenty of fun activities to help train your cognition and enhance your ability to retain information. These include jigsaw puzzles, crosswords, chess, and more.
Besides playing brain games, try learning new things like a foreign language, baking, sports, musical instruments, and arts and crafts.
Get Good Sleep
A good night’s sleep is credited for many health benefits, including improved brain function. Lack of sleep lowers your ability to learn new things by 40%. The lack of rest dulls your focus, making it hard to absorb and remember important details. Build a habit of sleeping 7 to 9 hours nightly for optimal brain performance throughout the day.
Eat Healthily
You must’ve heard of study snacks to eat before a huge exam, with nuts and dark chocolates being the top recommendations. Some foods help enrich your brain and keep it working in stellar condition. These include green leafy vegetables, fatty fish, and green tea. You can also take mood and memory-boosting supplements for added value.
Consider Your Learning Style
When it comes to memorization-heavy tasks, do what works for you. You might think that you have poor memorization skills when in fact, you just haven’t figured out your learning style.
Some memorization strategies include mnemonics, rewriting information by hand, making flashcards, and reading material out loud. Some even make up rhyming songs for better recall.
7 Simple Ways to Improve Your Mood
Maintaining a positive mood provides deeper benefits than feeling great about yourself and your day. Experts say mood directly impacts your health. Negative emotions like anger and hostility can increase the risks of heart disease. Meanwhile, positive feelings and dispositions, such as happiness, satisfaction, and gratitude, are linked to improved heart and brain health.
Here are tips to turn that frown into a smile and take better care of yourself.
Wake Up Early
Quit cramming and hurrying in the mornings. Rise early and dedicate yourself more time to prepare and organize before you grind. A stress-free morning helps put you in the best mood for the rest of the day.
Start a Grateful Journal
Maintaining a journal of things you’re grateful for motivates you to highlight the best side of things. It drives away the negativity from worries and inconveniences from taking over your day. If you’re religious, keep a sermon notebook to reflect on scriptures that help elevate your mood.
Stay Organized
Keeping your space clean and organized will do wonders in boosting your mood and staying productive daily. That’s because clutter can overwhelm your head with stimuli overload, increasing your stress levels. It stirs feelings of frustration, confusion, and irritability. Marie Kondo once said, “Keep only things that speak to your heart. Then take the plunge and discard all the rest.”
Go Outside
Stepping outside for a short stroll or change of scenery helps you calm down and keep your emotions from spiraling down. Spending time in nature has positive effects on mental health, stress reduction, attentional function, and cognitive development.
Crank Up the Music
Listening to your favorite songs efficiently eases tension, unloads pressure, and reduces anxiety, lifting your mood in just a few beats. Music keeps the brain young and helps regulate emotions. It can also help you make lifelong friends.
Call a Friend
When you have a a terrible day, a simple chat with a close friend can turn things around. That’s why don’t be afraid to reach out to your friends or family members. Talk to them about your concerns and get advice and encouragement. There’s no better feeling than knowing that there are people behind your back.
Lend a Helping Hand
Helping others isn’t merely an act of kindness. Science shows that it releases endorphins and gives you a rush of elation and calm. The helper can still experience the same high even long after their acts of kindness. Volunteering and charitable acts are a form of self-care as they promote better emotional and physical health.
Practice a Healthy Lifestyle
Healthy living can elevate every area of your life. A healthy diet, regular exercise, and good sleep are holy grails to keeping your body and mind in excellent shape. And when your body feels great, you have more energy to take on your day. You’re resilient to daily stressors that can negatively affect your mood.
Have a Great Day, Every Day
As much as you want to maintain a sharp mind and a great smile as you go through your daily hustle, worry and distractions will come at you. Fortunately, there are practical ways to fortify your memory and enhance your mood to help you perform your best in any setting. Make sure to keep in mind the best practices listed above to have a great day every day.
Did any of our tips help improve your day? Let us know in the comments and share your personal hacks to boost your mind and moon!
Disclosure: This is a collaborative post.