By Macie Burt and Madison O’Malley
Memory is something that we, as high schoolers, often utilize (I’m looking at all of the freshmen currently trying to memorize Romeo’s death speech). Although, not many of us put much focus on improving our memories. Here’s some advice to help you improve yours!
This is the most basic, yet more important piece of advice that we can give. Sleep! Get enough sleep! A full eight hours per night is highly recommended.
Play word games! Playing simple word games such as the ever popular game “Worlde” can exercise your brain and even improve your vocabulary.
Exercise is absolutely awful in the moment, but it is amazing in terms of memory improvement. A simple 15 minutes of exercise everyday can go a long way!
Eat Chocolate (specifically dark), which may not seem like the first choice but research has shown that certain antioxidants are contained in chocolate that can help improve your memory and Increase blood flow to the brain. The darker the chocolate, the more antioxidants that it has, so go for dark chocolate over white chocolate (which we know is better anyways)
Hanging out with some friends is always super fun and (surprise!) is good for your memory too! Emotional health is one of the most important things when it comes to your brain health, so just having lunch out with a few people can boost your ability to memorize!
While you might be sick of hearing this tip, mnemonic devices could be just what you’re looking for. Visual images, acrostics, acronyms, rhymes, and chunking are all forms of mnemonic devices, and are some of the most efficient forms of memorization.
Make it into a song. We've all heard the songs for memorizing pi or the periodic table, and that's because putting material into a song can make it much easier to recite and remember, so if you're struggling with memorizing something, give songwriting a shot!