While memory lapses are a common sign of aging, we don’t have to accept our fate as such. No matter our age, there are things we can do to help improve both short- and long-term memory.

Boro Park Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing has a look at five simple life adjustments you can make give your brain a boost.

  1. Eat Less Sugar

In addition to harming overall health by increasing the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and certain cancers, eating too much processed sugar and affect your memory as well. Studies have found that consistently elevated blood-sugar levels damage both short- and long-term memory.

  1. Keep Walking

Simply being consistent about walking can keep your memory sharp even into your senior years. On study found that people 65 and older who walked 5.5 miles per week at a moderate pace were 27% less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia.

  1. Stay Social

Having a large social network with meaningful relationships (meaning not scrolling social media endlessly) has also been found to reduce the risk of dementia by a little more than 25%. Many people had reinforced this fact during the COVID-19 pandemic, as it was more difficult to maintain relationships during lockdown.

  1. Sleep Well

You should be getting between 7 and 9 hours of sleep per night, according to experts. Getting less than that routinely—or even more than that—can place a heavier burden on your brain to help you get through the waking hours, and not enough sleep also doesn’t give your brain time to recharge at night.

  1. Flex Your Recall Ability

One way to keep your brain working is by training it, and you can do so every day by purposely jogging your memory. During the day, pay attention to the clothes people are wearing that you associate with during the day. Write down four details after your meeting about the color, texture, etc. of an item of clothing they wore. That night before bed, see if you can remember all of them and compare them to your notes.

 

To learn more about Boro Park Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing and all of the services they offer, visit http://boro-park-center.facilities.centershealthcare.org.