How can I improve my memory?
There are exercises you can do to increase the size of your hippocampus, which controls memory; cross-training different parts of your brain can help make it stronger. Watch as neurologist Majid Fotuhi, MD/PhD, shares some memory-boosting exercises.
Transcript
When you memorize your grocery list or other things, you're actually increasing the size of your brain.
[UPBEAT MUSIC]
As I mentioned earlier, hippocampus has two special features. One of them is that it's very fragile and shrinks easily,
but it is also fixable and malleable. It can grow very easily with very simple interventions.
One of the best ways to increase the size of your hippocampus and reduce the effects of aging on your brain
is to memorize long lists. When you memorize your grocery list or other things, you're actually increasing the size of your brain.
And the more you stimulate your brain and memorize more things, the bigger and stronger your hippocampus gets. Another way to stimulate your hippocampus
and the rest of your brain is to step out of your comfort zone and take on challenges and hobbies that
stimulate your brain. One of the things you could do is to do simple switch-ups. So if you usually wear the watch on your left wrist,
try wearing it on your right wrist. If you eat with a fork in your right hand, switch it to your left hand.
By doing these exercises, you activate parts of your brain which are not usually activated.
You can in this way cross-train different parts of your brain and make it stronger. Another thing you can do is called mirror writing.
You hold a pen in each hand, you draw a line in the middle of the page, and then you start writing the letters of your name one
by one in opposite direction as if they are mirror images of each other on a horizontal line. It is a lot easier than you think.
Try it. [AUDIO LOGO]
brain health nervous system
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