✓1. Drink water. This may sound so simple, but it’s so important. Your brain is 80% water, so avoid anything that dehydrates you – like caffeine or alcohol. Being just 2% dehydrated impairs performance on tasks that require attention, immediate memory skills, and physical performance.

2. Add additional sensory information. When learning something new, try to incorporate as much of the appropriate sensory information as possible. Take in what you hear, see, smell and touch to give more context to the information.

3. Sleep well. Sleep rejuvenates every cell in your body, gives your brain cells a chance to repair itself, helps flush out neurodegenerative toxins that build up during the day, and activates neuronal connections that could otherwise deteriorate due to inactivity. Research has shown that sleep deprivation can cause dramatic memory deficits. Practice good sleep hygiene to optimize your sleep habits.

4. Use mnemonic devices Mnemonic devices are a technique often used by students to help with recall. A mnemonic is simply a way of remembering information. For example, you might associate a term that you need to remember with a common item that you are very familiar with. The best mnemonics are those that use positive imagery, humor, or novelty.

5. Avoid toxins. Smoking and drug and alcohol abuse increase your risk of dementia, so if this is a problem for you, stopping immediately lowers these risk factors. Even one glass of beer or wine a day can be harmful to your brain and can make you feel toxic. And recent research shows that smoking negatively affects the hippocampus, the brain’s main memory center.

6. Read it aloud. Research published in 2017 suggests that reading materials aloud significantly improves your memory of the material. Educators and psychologists have also found that having students actually teach new concepts to others improves comprehension and retention.