When you’re studying for a big exam, you need all the brainpower that you can get. That’s why it’s important to know the healthy and natural ways you can properly boost your concentration, memory, and brain function. In this article, we will discuss ways you can improve your concentration, things to avoid, and foods to add to your diet.
How To Improve Concentration And Memory While Studying
It can be difficult to stay concentrated while studying or working on a challenging task and during your struggles, you might wish that there were ways to improve your concentration. Concentration refers to the mental effort you direct toward whatever you’re working on or learning at the moment. It’s sometimes confused with attention span, but attention span refers to the length of time you can concentrate on something. Failing to be able to concentrate can lead to stress and irritation, which can make focusing on the task at hand even more difficult. Luckily there are some things you can do to improve your concentration:
- Train your brain using games - Things such as crossword puzzles, chess, jigsaw puzzles, word searches, and memory games can help you improve your concentration
- Video games - Believe it or not, video games can help improve your concentration. Of course, it’s recommended that you enjoy video games in moderation
- Sleep better - Sleep deprivation is perhaps the number one reason why you may have a difficult time concentrating. Improving your sleep schedule will not only improve your brainpower but your physical wellbeing as well
- Exercise - Moderate aerobic physical activity can help stop or even reverse memory loss. This exercise can be something as simple as walking your dog, walking your kids to school, walking to the store, or getting a quick 20-minute jog in every morning
- Spend time outside - Being outside, even if it’s just for 15-20 minutes per day can help you improve your concentration
- Meditate - Research suggests that meditation can help increase attention and focus
- Listen to music - Listening to music, nature sounds, or white noise to mask background sounds can help improve concentration and other brain functions
While implementing these tips into your everyday life will help improve your brain function, they will also help boost your overall health. By living a healthy lifestyle, you can make sure that your brain is always working at its highest capacity.
What Foods To Avoid While Studying?
Perhaps just as important as it is to eat healthy foods to improve brain power, it’s equally as important to avoid foods that are bad for your brain and memory. Unfortunately, most students practice a horrific diet, which includes many of the foods we’re about to list. In order to get the most out of your brain when studying, it’s highly recommended that you avoid the following things in your diet:
- Trans-fats - Eating a trans fat in large quantities can lead to brain shrinkage and less processing power
- Sugar - A diet that includes high sugar content can lead to both long-term and short-term memory loss. It can also hinder your ability to problem solve
- Tuna - Believe it or not, tuna can severely damage the brain. High levels of mercury have been found in our oceans in recent years, thanks in large part to pollution. This mercury makes its way to the fish that we eat, specifically tuna, which can negatively impact cognitive function
- Fried food - Fried food can be tempting, especially to college students. Unfortunately, the saturated fats and cholesterol found in fried food can block blood from entering the brain, thus reducing brain power
While you should try to steer clear from these foods as much as possible, that doesn’t mean that you have to cut them out of your diet for the rest of your life. Simply try to reduce your consumption of these types of foods. Instead of enjoying fast food once every other day, limit your intake to once per week or even once per month.
How Can I Improve My Long Term Memory For Studying?
When it comes to studying, many of the things you do to try and squeeze the last bit of information into your brain can actually do more harm than good. That’s because your brain is delicate. It can only take so much work before it overloads, failing to remember anything you just studied. Here are some things you can do to improve your long term memory for studying:
- Avoid cramming - There are mounds of research that points to studying regularly rather than cramming last minute being much more effective
- Stay organized - Organizing the material your studying in a way that’s easy to follow can help you better memorize the material
- Mnemonic devices - Mnemonic devices are preached by everyone giving studying tips because they simply work. The best mnemonics utilize positive imagery, humor, or novelty
- Use information you already know - Relating new material to material that you already knew can help you better remember the new material
- Read out loud - Studies have found that reading materials out loud can significantly improve your memory of the material
If you are struggling to retain information when studying, try implementing some of these tips into your studying routine.
What Fruit Is Good For The Brain?
The importance of your diet when it comes to brain function can not be overstated. You can try all the memory games in the world but as long as your diet is poor, you will have a difficult time retaining information. Here is some brain food you should add to your diet to get the most out of the most important muscle in your body, your brain:
- Coffee - The two main components in coffee, caffeine, and antioxidants, help boost your brainpower
- Blueberries - Blueberries and other deeply colored berries deliver anthocyanins, a group of plant compounds with anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects
- Turmeric - The main ingredient in turmeric, curcumin, can cross the blood-brain barrier, meaning it can directly enter the brain and benefit the cells there
- Broccoli - Broccoli and other leafy greens are loaded with power plant compounds including antioxidants. It’s also high in vitamin K, which has been shown to help memory
- Nuts - Implementing nuts in your diet can help boost your heart health, which in turn boosts your brain health
- Oranges - Vitamin C plays a huge role in preventing mental decline. Luckily, you can get all the vitamin C you need in a day by eating one medium orange
You can help support your brain health and boost your alertness, memory, and mood by strategically including these foods in your diet.
Supplements Can Help
We mentioned how big of a role your diet plays when it comes to brainpower and being able to retain information. However, even if you follow a diet to a T, it can still be difficult to get your recommended daily dose of the recommended nutrients.
This is where supplements can come in handy. For example, spermidine helps induce autophagy, which is a crucial bodily function that helps you live a longer, healthier life. Unfortunately, most people struggle to get their recommended daily dose of spermidine. This is why spermidine supplements can help you live a longer, healthier life.
