Memory exercises | Tips and exercises to prevent memory loss, according to researchers

We all forget certain things from time to time. Who hasn’t come to not know where they left the house keys? Have you ever failed to remember where you parked the car? These are sporadic forgetfulness without further concern, but when the memory loss becomes more frequent, attention should be paid to it.

Although there is no guarantee that memory loss or dementia will be avoided, certain activities can help. This is the case of neurologist Richard Restak, of the George Washington Hospital School of Medicine and Health, who through one of his books (The Complete Guide to Memory: The Science of Strengthening Your Mind / The complete guide to memory: The Science of Mental Strengthening) has shared simple day-to-day methods and recommendations for knowing when to seek professional help. According to the New York Times, here are the expert’s 7 keys to avoiding memory loss over the years:

1.- Pay more attention. There are times when attention problems are mistaken for memory lapses. According to Restak, if you forget the name of someone you met at an event, it might be because you were talking to several people at once and didn’t pay attention when the name was. was mentioned.

The technique that the expert advises in these cases: To memorize information such as a name, you have to pay attention and visualize the word or associate it with an image.

2.-
Challenge memory every day. To do this, Restak proposes that in daily acts such as making the shopping list, instead of writing it on the mobile or on a piece of paper, we use memory.

Tip: When you arrive at the supermarket, avoid taking the list out of your pocket immediately and try to retain as many products as possible.

3.-
mind games. Restak highlights bridge or chess as “excellent” for memory. However, the expert also shared some of his favorite games to exercise his memory:

– There must be several players and one of them thinks of a place, a person, an object, a film… and the others, through an interrogation, must guess it.

– Use pen and paper to write, in order, the presidents of the government, then try to say them backwards, starting from the current situation.

4.-
read more novels. Restak assures that during the several decades that he has treated patients, he has verified that fiction requires an active behavior of the reader with the text from the beginning and until the end. “You have to remember what the character did on page 3 by the time you get to page 11,” he confesses.

5-
beware of technology because, according to Restak, it can erode mental abilities. “Why bother focusing, concentrating and straining to visualize something when a cell phone camera can do all the work for you?” he warns. Moreover, it highlights that people today can check their email while watching Netflix, chatting with a friend, or walking down the street. All this prevents, he says, from concentrating on the present moment.

6.- Consult a professional before
emotional situations. Mood is a big part of what gets remembered or forgotten, he says, so he recommends seeing a mental health professional if you think it’s necessary. Additionally, he also pointed out that depression, among other psychological conditions, can reduce memory capacity.

seven.-
Assess if memory loss is worrisome. To be aware of what this entails, Restak illustrated the following: “Not remembering where you parked your car in a huge garage full of vehicles is completely normal. However, forgetting how you got to the parking lot in the first place indicates possible memory issues.