How to Improve Memory Using Daily Exercises

Your brain needs exercise to stay healthy, just like your muscles. If your brain is not properly exercised, it can cause memory loss and diseases that directly affect the brain. Mental exercises help keep your brain active and in peak condition.

Instructions

1. Play a memory card game. If you don't have an actual memory card deck, take a regular playing card deck and remove six of the matches. Shuffle the cards and lay them out in front of you, face down. One by one, flip over the cards; then flip them back over, trying to remember the card and its position. Once you think you've memorized them all, begin looking for matches by recalling what card was what and where it was placed.

2. Read a few quotes out of a book once and try to repeat them back to yourself. If you do not get the quote word for word, look back at the book and repeat the process until you do. Once you've memorized a few short quotes, begin trying this exercise with even longer quotes.

3. Look at a room for 1 minute straight and try to observe as many details as possible. Then look away and immediately write down every detail about the room that you remember (or try to draw the room as you recall it). Once you've written down everything you can remember, look back at the room. The first few times you do this, you will notice that you forgot a lot of details. However, if you do this often with different pictures or different rooms, you will notice a major improvement in your memory.

4. Grab a few small items, like coins, beads, flower petals, pop tabs or candy. Have a friend lay them out on a table for you. Tell your friend to give you 30 seconds to look at the items, after which you must look away. When you look away, your friend will remove an item, and you will need to tell her which item was removed. Keep doing this exercise until you remember which item or items have been removed. Challenge yourself even more by having your friend change the position of the items after she removes one.

5. Prepare a list of items in your house. Without looking at it, pick up everything you can remember from the list. Once you've picked up all of the items you can think of, look back at the list and pick up what you've forgotten.