Many of us engage in regular exercise to improve our physical health, but how many of us deliberately engage in activities to improve our mental health, specifically our ability to retain information?

It requires determination, alterations to your body, and a shift in your way of life. In addition, you won't have to spend a ton of time practicing memory techniques to improve your ability to recall important dates, names, and items from your mental to-do list. Here are six quick and easy strategies to boost your memory:

Adjust Your Posture

When you slouch at your desk, you don't just increase the pain in your neck and shoulders; you also make it harder to remember the assignment your supervisor discussed with you yesterday.

Research from San Francisco State University found that a little chin tilt forward while standing or sitting increases blood and oxygen flow to the brain by up to 40%, making it easier to recall memories. This was mentioned in a recent piece by Fast Company.

If you want to improve your posture, you should take a cue from ballet instructors everywhere and picture a thread tugging from your stomach to your head. Take your focus off your shoulders and look straight ahead. Adjusting your weight distribution helps bring your spine into proper alignment.

Laugh

Laughing for 20 minutes will improve memory, as the same Fast Company article mentioned, so you now have an excuse to watch an episode of your favorite comedy after work. A study conducted by academics from Loma Linda University involved displaying one group of individuals a 20-minute comedic movie while the other group sat silently.

After the experiment, participants' memories were tested, and the results showed that those who had laughed did better. The stress hormone cortisol was dramatically reduced in the laughing group, which translated to improved test scores. Laughter releases endorphins, which reduce stress and improve mood, leading to enhanced memory.

Get In The Habit Of Meditating

Michael Grothaus wanted to know how long one must meditate before seeing a change in memory function. Dr. Small advised patients to "take 10 minutes, 5 minutes, or 2 minutes; whatever you do has a tremendous impact." He pointed out that it's more important to devote time to introspection and less to quiet meditation.

Dr. Small recommends a specific routine. Start by finding a comfortable chair and shutting your eyes. Inhale fully, exhale completely, and maintain this slow, deep breathing for the rest of the exercise. Concentrate on specific muscle groups while you breathe.

Improve Your Morning Habits.

There's a good reason why skipping a single morning task might throw off your entire day's schedule. Similarly, Dr. Small mentioned that routines and habits help with memory in the same discussion with Grothaus. If you have trouble remembering to take your vitamins every day, try taking them with your morning cup of coffee.

Leash up Fido before you head out the door for your nightly stroll, and you'll be reminded to take out the trash every time. The deeper a habit is embedded in a person's regular activities, the more difficult it is to break.

Start eating Healthier Foods, Including Berries

Small told Grothaus that oxidative stress caused by free radicals is a major contributor to memory loss. He compared the brain's chemical processes to a rusty bicycle left in the rain.

Consuming foods rich in antioxidants, such as fruits and vegetables, might be beneficial. Berry eating, in particular, is recommended because of their high antioxidant content.

Adding blueberries to one's regular diet for twelve weeks has been shown to boost performance on spatial working memory tests, according to research from the University of Reading and the Peninsula Medical School. It's a tasty and painless method to keep your mind sharp.

Write Down Your Tasks

Drawing instead of writing notes improves memory just as much as someone decades younger, according to recent research from the University of Waterloo, as investigated by Fast Company's Mark Wilson. Participants' levels of creative talent needed to have more bearing on whether or not the technique was effective for them. Therefore, if you need to recall your shopping list, which is loaded with tons of berries, try sketching it, and you won't need the list to remind you.

Relax And Rest For A While

Scientists have long recognized sleep's benefits on learning and memory. Sleeping on newly acquired knowledge has been demonstrated to improve retention and recall. A genuine physical change in the brain occurs during sleep following new learning, according to research published in 2014. After completing a learning exercise, sleep-deprived mice had less dendritic development than their well-rested counterparts.