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Some links in this article are affiliate links. We may earn a small commission if you make a purchase through these links, at no extra cost to you. We only recommend products we find useful to our readersHow often does it happen that you remember something and then forget about it the very next moment? Memory lapses are quite common and if you have been experiencing it extensively, chances are that you need immediate help. There are multiple ways to help memory lapses and recover your memory effectively.
The condition isn’t as rare as people take it as. This is often one of the primary reasons why people get scared easily, thinking of the worst possible reason. Let us not jump to conclusions.
Read on because you will find effective tips to reduce memory lapses and how the same can help in boosting your health altogether.
What Are Memory Lapses?
Do you often go to a room and end up forgetting what you went inside for? How often do you forget where you parked your car last?
These are the instances of memory lapses when you tend to forget a part of a certain memory temporarily. This is what ends up causing the problems and makes you think that you are either in for a big ride with Alzheimer’s or Dementia, which 99% of the time, isn’t the case.
Causes of Memory Lapses
When it comes to stating the causes behind memory lapses, it is quite hard to pinpoint them out. The main reason behind the same is because of the fact that even scientists aren’t sure what suddenly cause the temporary loss of memory in an instant.
While the complete loss of memory or permanent loss of memory can be perpetuated through injury or even the associated problems related to the nervous system as well.
With so many possibilities, it is hard to pinpoint what is the exact cause behind the memory lapse.
How Do You Know it is a Memory Lapse?
With the possibilities of so many memory related complications, it is hard to pinpoint at times whether it is just a memory loss or something to do with the condition of a lapse in the memory.
To help you get a better idea into the same, we have sorted out some of the best signs that you are struggling through with a memory lapse.
1. Overloading of the Working Memory
If you are overloading your working memory with excessive work and the similar prospects, chances are that the same will end up making you forget some important bits of memory extended along a short period of time.
2. Aging in the Brain
As you grow and age, your brain is ageing simultaneously. If you feel like you are losing the memory of certain people or even places, there are chances that you might actually be. This is mainly got to do with your brain ageing over the course of time. It is very important that you understand this for a fact and know that it is quite normal as well.
3. Depressive Episodes
Depression is one of the mental health conditions that can end up affecting your memory. Given that you aren’t always present in the moment, chances are that you are going to experience certain loss in memory which can impact in memory lapses.
4. Medicines
If you take in medicines, the same can be a possible trigger behind the loss of memory. Sleeping aids and several other types of medicines have been found to have impacts on your memory, making you forget certain parts through.
5. Lack of sleep
Yet another possible sign that you could suffer from memory lapse includes the prospect of lack of sleep. It is hard to deduce what is exactly the reason but it is best suggested to ensure that you look through the problem and bring back your sleeping schedule back on track. Get the much needed 8-9 hours of sleep on a daily basis.
How to Reduce Memory Lapses?
If you are struggling to find a baseline for the ways you can reduce the memory lapses, you need to focus on the ways in which you can boost your memory overall.
Knowing these ways can help you find a better way to prevent the repetitions with the condition and overcome the problems associated with the memory lapses.
Check Out These Ways To Recover The Memory Lapses.
1. Cut Down on the Added Sugar
While sugar itself is not the best thing to consume, it you suffer from excess problems with memory loss, it is best to cut down the consumption of the same, mainly because of the fact that it does have impacts in impairing the cognitive functions.
Even studies (R) have suggested for a fact consuming a high sugar diet is related to the poor memory and reduction in the brain volume.
Additionally, in another conducted study (R), it was found that the higher intake of the sugary beverages is associated with reduced memory and storage as well as responsiveness.
2. Indulge in An Active Lifestyle
An active lifestyle has been found to have beneficial impacts in helping with the overall prospect of memory consolidation and provides with the cure of memory lapses.
The main reason why it is one of the best ways to help memory lapses is mainly because of the fact that it boosts the blood flow to the brain, which further helps in promoting better memory and storage of information as well.
If possible, indulge in around 150 minutes of workout on a weekly basis for better impacts.
3. Enhance the Consumption of Fish Oil Supplement
Fish oil is enriched with omega-3 fatty acids which have been found to have beneficial impacts in helping with the reasons for memory lapses.
There have been a number of conducted studies which suggest that the consumption of fish oil supplements effectively.
Not only does it help boost the cognitive functions, but it has also been found beneficial in enhancing the memory scores in a number of individuals which is an added bonus altogether.
This can actually help reduce memory lapses and help in boosting the overall bout of thought process you are struggling with.
4. Give Your Brain a Workout
Giving your brain a workout doesn’t mean you run on the treadmill with your head upside down. It is indulging your brain in doing something provocative that will help in boosting its thinking power. The more you put your brain into work, the more likely you are going to experience positive impacts in getting rid of the memory lapses.
With every single day passing, you are creating more and more neural connections in your brain that helps you recall a certain event that has occurred in some point in your life.
When you work your brain more, you are exposing more stimulation to it which further does help in preventing the risks associated with memory recalling and the neural connectivity associated in the brain altogether.
The more you work your brain, easier it will be for you to reduce memory lapses and improve your power to keep your memory in check altogether.
5. Indulge in Some Meditation
Yet another one of the ways to help memory lapses is to ensure that you indulge in some meditation which has been found to help with the working memory.
For those who aren’t aware, working memory is the one that is temporarily stored and used by us on a daily basis. This has been found to have amazing impacts on your memory when you work to enhance the same.
Meditation (R) has been found to have impactful benefits in helping improve the overall working memory better than what you would expect. Studies do suggest that even for the people who don’t have any kind of prior experience in mindfulness can effectively witness amazing results in just 8 weeks which is an added bonus.
Given the fact that meditation helps in improving one’s concentration, the same has been found to have amazing impacts in the cure of memory lapses by improving the working memory.
Additionally, if you are practicing meditation the right way, in those few minutes, your brain will stop processing any kind of information and help in promoting better consolidation of the memory.
6. Focus on Improving Your Attention
When it comes to memory, it co-aligns with your attention. It is very important to ensure that you do focus your attention. If you are not attentive about a certain task, chances are that you will face a hard time in recollecting the events that has happened.
If you want your memory to be successfully consolidated into your long term memory, it is important that you do focus on actively tending to your attention during the action happening.
If possible, try to confine yourself in spots that won’t end up causing a distraction for you and will help you concentrate better. It can be a challenge at times, but it technically isn’t impossible.
7. Get Some Sleep Following Learning
Not just for the long term memory, even if you want to prevent the reasons for memory lapses and keep yourself functioning well, it is important that you get the necessary sleep following your learning session.
Consolidation is the primarily important thing for the better recollection of memory. If you want to keep the same at bay, it is important that you do indulge in getting proper sleep to strengthen those connections and prevent the trivial memory lapses that you have been experiencing.
Even studies (R) have found that sleeping is the time that your brain works to consolidate the information better inside your brain.
This is mainly important for the long term memory consolidation but can also help in preventing the constant problems associated with the persistent memory lapses that you have been experiencing.
8. Adhere to a Healthy Diet
For those who aren’t aware, the Mediterranean diet is inspired by the eating habits of the locals residing in Greece, Spain and the area around.
It is considered one of the healthiest diets currently because of how well balanced it is. Studies (R) have found that the consumption of this form of diet has been linked with the prevention of the risks associated with Alzheimer’s and other memory related issues.
Owing to the fact that the diet has beneficial impacts on the brain health and functioning, the same has been found to help in preventing the reasons for memory lapses and getting rid of the problems associated around.
9. Look Out for Your Weight as Well
If you aren’t aware, obesity is considered as one of the primary markers for the cognitive decline in individuals.
Owing to the fact that the increased body mass is associated with more risks of cardiovascular diseases and such, the same is believed to impact the brain health and functioning as well, thus propagating the risks of memory lapses too.
If you are on the obese or overweight side, try and opt for ways to bring back the weight to the acceptable margin to ensure better health for you and your brain health.
Not just that, studies (R) have also shown that the persistently excess body weight can impact the memory-related genes in the body, thus ending up inflicting negative impacts on the memory as well, thus causing lapses.
Owing to the fact that obesity has impacts in increasing the inflammation and the insulin resistance in the body, the same can have further impacts on the condition of the brain which induces memory lapses.
10. Healthy Relationships Boost Memory
Having a healthy and fun social circle has also been found to have amazing impacts in helping boost the condition of cognitive health for the better.
In one of the conducted studies done by the researchers from Harvard University found that the participants who had the best social circle were the ones with better memory functions.
If you don’t have a huge group of friends, even just volunteering for a good cause has been found to have beneficial impacts in helping out with the condition of surrounding yourself with happy and healthy relationships and connections.
11. Drink More Coffee
The impacts of caffeine in memory consolidation are still a matter of debate. While some researches do show positive impacts, some tend to have little to no impacts.
Although, amidst them all, in a conducted study (R), it was found that the administration of a caffeine pill following learning session did have better impacts in the consolidation of the memory.
It is important that you do look out for the signs and symptoms around and sees what impacts your brain function better to reduce memory lapses that you have been struggling with.
12. Have a Structure in Your Mind
It might not seem like a lot but studies do suggest that our brain stores the memory in segregated cluster based on the connection between them.
If you want to find ways to help memory lapses, it is important that you have a planned structure in your mind. This will help ensure that your brain functions in a systematic way to process the memories in chronological order to prevent forgetting them or getting them confused.
If the same is associated with your study material, it is best to learn the chapters and the terminologies that are similar or from the same group. This will further help you gain a better sense of the prospects surrounding the possible causes behind the memory lapses as well.
13. Consume Foods that Help Boost Memory
If you had your mom say to you that eating nuts can help boost your memory during your childhood, she was probably right.
It is true that adhering to a healthy diet can help your memory but there are certain memory boosting foods whose inclusion in the diet can further help boost the overall brain function and health, in turn, the memory too.
The main reason why the foods like walnuts, berries, eggs, avocado, dark chocolate and even the fermented foods work in improving the memory is because of the fact that they improve the blood flow to the brain and even enhance the levels of neurotransmitters in the bloodstream to further accentuate the memory function and prevent the aging and the cell damage, especially that of the brain.
14. Cut Down the Alcohol Consumption
Alcohol, as cool as it might seem, does have deteriorative impacts on your health which is why it is important that you do cut it out from your life, or at least, reduce the consumption for better health.
Any kind of levels of blood alcohol above 0.08 gms per ml or even more than that has been found to alter the brain functions which can have negative impacts on the memory and induce more memory lapses in you.
Study (R) suggests that mainly because of the fact that alcohol can have neurotoxic impacts in the hippocampus, the memory centre in the brain, which can alter the memory functions and make you experience memory lapses.
15. Manage Your Stress Effectively
Stress and anxiety account for one of the common reasons for memory lapses and if you want to reduce the induction of the same, it is very important that you do focus on the prospects of how to handle the signs and symptoms associated with this.
The higher levels of cortisol (R) in the body has been found to have counteractive impacts on the function of the other hormones which is possibly the last thing that you want when you are consistently suffering from the condition of memory lapses.
The condition of chronic stress has also been found to have impacts in damage of the brain cells and negatively impacts the hippocampal functioning in the brain which further has negative impacts on the memory lapses.
While meditation works, there are other ways to help memory lapses by managing your stress levels in the body.
16. Chew Gum
Chewing gum, as weird as it sounds, does help in reducing the risks associated with the persistent memory lapses that you have been experiencing.
While the findings from several studies (R) have very inconclusive results, in a conducted study, it was found that the participants did have better memory recalling capabilities if they chewed a piece of gum during the study.
The salient studies do suggest that the chewing of the gum promotes better hippocampus functions. More research does need to be conducted to find the mode of action or to find how it is actually happening.
17. Visualise the Concepts
If you tend to suffer from memory lapses and just have a hard time recalling things, it is always best to visualize the memories and the scenarios around instead or cramming things up.
Picturise the images and even the videos and the concept because the same does help in preventing the problems associated with the condition all the more.
If required, you can also draw figurines and find better visual cues to help you learn things in a better way.
18. Get the Proper Hydration
The rule with the 8 glasses of water a day does stand well and true. If you want your brain to function properly, it is necessary and quite important to ensure that you do get the optimal amount of hydration that your body needs.
It is a necessity and helps ensure the best of impacts for your body as well as the brain functions too. Your brain is made up of 73% water and even just a 2% reduction in the water levels has been found to have grave impacts on the memory.
If you feel yourself getting dehydrated, it is best suggested to ensure that you lookout for the proper hydration levels.
There are a number of ways to help memory lapses but it is important that you take a look into the overall lifestyle that you lead and make the necessary changes right then and there itself. This itself is often enough to keep your brain functioning properly and prevent the problems associated with the memory recalling process.
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