Easy Mental Exercises for Memory Loss Prevention!

What do your brain and the Amazon rain forest have in common?

The rain forest contains about 100 billion trees.  Your brain has about 100 billion nerve cells.  But that’s not the end of the connection.  Each of your cells is connected to approximately another 10,000 cells.  This means that the total amount of connections in your brain is the same number of leaves in the rainforest – or about 1,000 trillion.

It’s a nice piece of trivia – if you can remember it.  But right about now you may be saying that your mental health is at stake because you can barely remember where you left your car keys.

The more important question weighing on your mind: Is there anything you can do to promote cognitive enhancement?  Absolutely.   It wasn’t very long ago that scientists thought that the aging brain – just by nature -- declined.  Period. End of story.  As a person got older, the memory waned.  Memory enhancement, cognitive enhancement was not possible.  Now, researchers are delighted to report that the aging brain is not necessarily a failing brain. 

Think of the brain as you would any muscle in your body.  If you don’t use it, it weakens.  You know all too well what happens to your leg muscles if you stop your walking regimen.  You don’t worry that you’ll never be able to use your legs again, do you?  Of course not!  It’s the same with the brain. Cognitive enhancement is not only possible, it’s a lot easier than you would think.

A good “mental workout” prevents memory. When your brain is stimulated by a new challenge, by a new mental exercise, your body actually creates new branches from your neurons. 

These are called dendrites. They’re essential for processing and assimilating information.  Imagine telephone cable.  Building new dendrites is like laying down more cable for faster and better communications.  If you’re more familiar with computers, it’s a lot like adding RAM to your computer.  Creating new dendrites is the only way to ensure memory loss prevention and to improve cognitive enhancement.

Granted, scientists say that it’s easier to make new dendrites when you’re young, but it’s not impossible to do it as you grow older.  In fact, there’s no time like the present to create new dendrites.  Scientists now believe that if you enter your golden years armed with as many dendrites as possible, you’re far more likely to stave off dementia and you’re more likely to enjoy robust mental health.

Ready to create some dendrites?

Here are two exercises to help memory enhancement.  Both are designed for memory loss prevention as well as to sharpen your ability to retrieve information on demand. The first, though, is specifically designed to boost your ability to recall numbers (how many times have you forgotten an important phone number or an anniversary date?).  The second exercise helps you to remember names and place them with faces more quickly.

But now, here’s the trick.  These exercises for your mental enhancement are just like exercises for your body:  they only work if you perform them consistently.  If you’re serious about creating new dendrites and memory loss prevention, commit yourself to setting aside a specific time every day for your brain workout.  David Perlmutter, MD, founder of the Perlmutter Health Center, and author of The Better Brain Book, suggests that, for maximum mental health you perform these mental exercises three times a day – after every meal!

Mental Exercise #1

Step #1.  This first exercise requires a deck of playing cards.  Remove all the aces and face cards from the deck.  Choose a card. Write the number (don’t worry about what suit it is) on a piece of paper.  Now, say the number out loud.  This is a vital part of the exercise.  By speaking the number out loud, you’re activating different regions of your brain.  These all work together to bolster cognitive enhancement.

Step #2.  Next, create a “mental file.” You need to mentally process this information so you can call upon it and use it later.  In other words, you need to find “a safe place” within your brain to store this number.  Really!  Just like in the physical world, you’d take an important piece of paper and put it into a folder (or a document on your computer and file it in a virtual folder).  You’re going to do this now.

Close your eyes.  Visualize a file folder. Place this number in there.  Now recall your number.  Continue with your daily routines.

Step #3.  After lunch, purposely recall this number.  But don’t just think of the number.  Ask yourself first where you stored this number.  Your brain will immediately bring to mind your file folder.

Step #4. Recall this number again after supper.

Step #5. Repeat this exercise every day using only the day’s number.  When you can recall the number six days out of seven, then you’re ready to move on to increasing the scope of the mental exercise.

Step #6.  Repeat this mental exercise.  But this time take two cards from the deck. Perform the mental exercise in exactly the same way:  create the file, file your numbers, recall them immediately and then again two more times throughout the day. 

Continue this pattern until you can master the recalling of seven numbers at a time! 

Once you master this mental exercise and are working toward your cognitive enhancement, then it’s time to move to another exercise to keep those dendrites growing.

Mental Exercise #2

This next exercise is perfect when you can “place the face, but can’t remember the name!”   This mental workout requires the use of a deck of cards (all 52 this time) and a telephone book. Every morning following breakfast, open the telephone book and select a name at random.  Then choose a card from the deck.  Write down only the first name and only the suit of the card.  In fact, write both of these down as if the suit is the individual’s last name.  For example, you choose the name John Jones as well as the nine of diamonds.  You’ll write the name as John Diamonds.  Again, as in the first exercise, create a mental file and file this information in there.

Following lunch, recall the name and the suit.  Follow the exact pattern as with the first exercise:  once you’re able to remember this information six out of seven days, move on to two names and two cards.

The new mental exercise this time is to take a full name from the telephone book – first and last – and choose one card from the deck.  Now write down both the first and last name of the person and the suit of the card.  Now recall these just as you did in the previous mental exercise.

This mental exercise, performed over time, helps you to visualize an object – in this case the suit of the cards – along with a complete name. This helps with cognitive enhancement.

But don’t stop here!  Once you’ve mastered this exercise with the phone book and cards, try using it in your everyday life.  As you are introduced to a new individual, say his name out loud, mentally create a file folder and file his name and face into it.  Now, thanks to those mental exercises, it’s there to stay anytime you need it!