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If you are working at a professional level and you are required to do a presentation, and you can barely remember recent things this can be your worst nightmare because you will seem unprepared or people might think that you don’t have the knowledge of what you are doing.
So what do can you do to avoid such embarrassment? Well, challenge your mind with brain games.
So what causes people to have short term memories, the most common culprit is age, and if you have been keen then you are aware that many older individuals do suffer from dementia which is a catalyst for short term memory.
Other medical conditions such as depression, epilepsy and seizures can cause people to forget things fast. Alcohol and drug abuse are also culprits of short term memory not to forget concussions.
So what is short term memory, it is the ability to hold information but not being able to manipulate it and make it readily available in a short period of time. Many people don’t realize they have short term memories until they are asked about something that happened about 20 seconds ago.
However, there are ways of establishing if you have short term memory, one which is that the information that you have just been given cannot last for more than 20 seconds.
Any interference or interruptions will most likely affect the information that you have just acquired thus won’t be able to hold it for long.
The short term memory comes effective when retrieving information during the small talks or when we want to dial a phone number, many people are, therefore, highly dependent on their brain to retrieve information, but as we have seen above our short term memories are at risk of being weakened either by ailments or through substance abuse.
We, therefore, decided to save you from embarrassing yourself during presentations and provided you with a list of games that you could indulge in to help improve your short term memory.
Games to improve short term memory
Chess
Every living soul knows that they cannot dare play chess if they don’t have the intellectual capacity to make smart moves. Playing chess will without a doubt put your memory to task; it has thus been proved to boost cognitive abilities like a working memory, concentration capacity, and fluid intelligence.
Video games
Engaging in combat in your video game is not such a bad idea because it enhances concentration, however, to benefit from this activity find games that require you to respond to stimulus, such as a road sign.
The games help improve the ability to recall information as you solve a problem, what’s more, is that individuals can better cope with distractions as they retrieve information.
Play the crosswords
Crosswords have also been known to sharpen the brain, and even delay the development of dementia. Crosswords do come in varieties.
There are those that are easy to solve and those that will take time but the moment you realize that you have become too good for both of them then it’s time for you to find some other challenging games that will put your mind to task and improve your short term memory.
The tray game
Tray game is so much fun and it does put the short memory to task, so what happens is that different items are put on the serving tray and you are allowed to take a peek, the tray is then covered and you have to try your level best to remember all the items that you saw on the tray.
Jigsaw puzzles
One of the most convenient ways of restoring brain cells connection is via the jigsaw puzzles. When playing the above, the short term memory will be encouraged to remember colors and shapes and visualize the bigger image before you can ascertain the pieces that will fit together.
Dakim
Dakim has a set of puzzles and games that have been specially designed to offer brain comprehensive exercises. In this program, you will be able to access over 100 brain exercises that will help improve attention and enhance your short term memory.
Brain Yoga
Brain yoga is not very different from the body yoga only that now you use your hands. In brain Yoga, there is an exercise that you do with your fingers that requires great cooperation from the mind.
Therefore, if you can manage to carry out the coordination with ease then your neural connections will be strengthened and consequently enhance your short term memory.
Sudoku
You don’t have an excuse for not training your mind because Sudoku has had a home in the newspapers for quite a long time.
The game is believed to keep the brain 10 years younger, by playing the puzzle games your mind gets sharpened thus good for short term memory tests.
Card Recall
With card recall, you short term memory is bound to get activated, so what happens is that five cards are placed on the table, either playing cards or those with images and then one player will then take the cards and shuffle them up then put them back on the table but after removing one.
The other player will have to try and recall the card that is missing.
Scrabble
Scrabble is one of the games that you can even get beaten by a child if you don’t stay sharp, however, it is a lot of fun because apart from enhancing your short term memory it also teaches you some new vocabulary.
So to have maximum fun invite your friends and neighbors to play with you that alone will have you improve your short term memory because it is put to task.
Lumosity
Lumosity is an application that was developed by a neuroscientist whose aim is to keep your mind sharp with the different incorporated puzzles and games.
Lumosity has thus been established to improve cognitive abilities by activating different parts of the brain, including the parts that are responsible for attention, short term memory and problem-solving.
Backgammon
Apart from passing time, you can engage a backgammon game to help strengthen your brain and memory. And if you are bored with it then Tetris is available and will have your brain engaged in the short periods that you are free.
Fits Brain
Fits brain is an educational technology software company known for its online languages. The application has over 500 personalized training programs and more than 60 mind games.
The purpose of the incorporated games it to specifically help people exercise their cognitive functions such as the speed of thinking and problem solving and they also enhance concentration.
Conclusion
Aging and other factors discussed above contribute to the loss of cognitive functions. However, through the development of applications that help keep the brain active, it has been proved that the various mental games help enhance cognitive functions.
All the games discussed above can help with mental stimulation and help improve short term memory.And the good thing is that there are games that have also been designed for kids, to help them improve their short term memory.
However, games such as scrabble and card recall can be played by both kids and adults. And if you are at work and want to boost your short term memory through a quick game just visit the brain training applications for a brief session of mental stimulation.