Five ways to boost your memory

1. Eat a brain-boosting diet

The body needs fuel to function properly, and this holds true for the brain, as well. Eating the right foods and avoiding the wrong ones can be an effective strategy for powering your brain and keeping it fit and healthy for life.

• Mediterranean diet
• Ketogenic diet
• Memory-improving foods

2. Get physically active

If you want your memory to stay sharp, it is important to keep active. Exercise increases oxygen levels in your brain, reduces your risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes — which leads to memory loss — decreases levels of stress hormones, and increases the effect of helpful brain chemicals.

3. Take a nap

Do you think that enhancing your memory will be challenging? Think again; you can nap your way to a superior memory.

Adults need 7–9 hours of sleep per night to maintain physical and mental health. Sleep helps us to solidify and consolidate short-term memory to long-term memory. After sleep, people tend to improve information retention and perform better in memory tests. Skipping the recommended amount of sleep, however, interferes with the brain’s ability to form new memories.

4. Give your brain a workout

The popularity of brain-training apps has turned the industry into a billion-dollar business. However, do brain-training programs really work? Evidence increasingly suggests that they do not.

Brain-training programs lead to improvement in the task that you have been practicing, but they do not appear to strengthen memory, intelligence, or cognitive abilities. However, there are techniques you can use to help you learn to encode and recall important information, and these are called mnemonic devices. These methods can be your superpower when needing to remember people’s names — at a big event, for example.

5. Kick back and relax

Chronic stress has an adverse effect on the brain. Over time, stress destroys brain cells, damages the hippocampus, and is linked with memory loss. Managing stress can therefore be one of the best ways to protect your memory.

Meditation and listening to music may be effective strategies for relieving stress and reversing early memory loss in older adults with cognitive decline.

Lastly, if you find that you relax with certain aromas, you might want to try rosemary essential oil. Children who took part in a memory game after being in a rosemary-diffused room scored significantly higher than children who had been in a room with no scent.

A simple weekly plan

• Move: a brisk walk or yoga most days.
• Eat: vegetables, pulses, nuts, fruit and whole grains, with fish or eggs if you eat them.
• Sleep: seven to nine hours, at regular times, with a short afternoon rest if needed.
• Connect: a daily call, a visit or a group activity.
• Learn: a language, a craft, a new recipe or a card game.
• Check: blood pressure, sugar, hearing and vision, and ask the doctor about medicines that cause forgetfulness.

Everyday memory helpers

Use one notebook or diary, a wall calendar, a large clock, a weekly pill organiser and a key tray by the door. Keep things in the same place. See setting up a weekly medicine box and talking clocks.

When forgetting is more than normal

Seek a medical check if your parent repeats questions often, gets lost in familiar places, struggles with bills or cooking, or shows changes in mood or personality. See reduce your fear of Alzheimer's disease and memory and brain health.

When to ask a professional

A doctor can check for treatable causes such as thyroid problems, low vitamin B12, depression, poor sleep and medicine side effects.