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WE ALL WISH we could be a little sharper , a little quicker , or have a better memory . Like when you read a paragraph over and over again and it still doesn ’ t make sense . Or when you walk out of a meeting and immediately draw a blank on what the takeaway was . Or you swear you could finish that task if you could just make yourself focus .
The good news is that after decades of research , there are some science-backed ways to strengthen your cognitive abilities . The less good news : Just like with physical health , there are no hacks or shortcuts to a better mental performance . In fact , the best thing for your brain is also the best thing for the rest of your body :
exercise .
Study after
study shows that breaking a sweat can improve attention , memory , and overall cognition . The reason is that exercise may be the only thing that helps
new neurons grow in the adult brain .
Another biggie is getting a full night ’ s sleep . This one is less about positive benefits and more about avoiding negative ones . Simply put , you ’ re never less sharp than when you ’ re a sleep-deprived zombie .
Fortunately , even if you ’ re not exercising or sleeping quite as much as you should ( though try if you can !), there are some relatively quick changes you can make to give your brain a boost . Some of these strategies actually rewire your brain to make it a little stronger and faster ; others take advantage of the right tools to make things easier on your noggin . The key is tweaking your existing habits , and maybe adding a new one or two , to help you and your brain work smarter .
The pen is mightier than the keyboard
We ’ re so used to rapidly tapping out our thoughts on keyboards or smartphones that it can seem like the devices are an extension of our thinking . But it turns out the best tool for writing is one that makes us slow down .
Research has shown that when people type up notes , the speed they gain compared to writing by hand can be disadvantageous when it comes to remembering the material . In 2014 , psychologists found that college students who took notes longhand
were better at remembering complicated concepts presented in a lecture than students who typed notes on a laptop . The two groups did equally well on straightforward fact-based questions , but the writers had an advantage over the typers on the more conceptual questions .
The researchers hypothesize that because typing is faster , students working on a laptop were more likely to take down notes verbatim . In contrast , the students taking notes by hand could only summarize the lecture . But rather than that being a handicap , it led to deeper encoding and understanding of the material .
“ In order to take notes in your own words , you have to think deeply enough about the content to identify what is important and how to best articulate the main points ,” says Daniel Oppenheimer , a psychology professor at Carnegie Mellon University who led the research .
A
study from Japan found a similar benefit of paper notebooks over digital devices for an even simpler task : recording future events in a calendar . People who wrote down appointments on paper were more likely to remember them than those who used a tablet or smartphone to record the dates . The researchers say that people ’ s memory may be aided by the visual cues that paper provides — i . e ., you ’ re more likely to remember something if
Meditation has been shown to be about you envision it in the top left corner of the page . These types of spatial reminders are missing when you record
30 % effective the information digitally . at treating
Of course , handwriting isn ’ t always better . If your goal depression and anxiety , on is to have a verbatim transcript , then typing is your best par with some bet . And pop-up calendar reminders on your computer or traditional antidepressant smartphone will definitely help you make it to a meeting medications . on time . The key , Oppenheimer says , is making sure that the tool you use supports your goals . J
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