Want To Boost Your Memory? These Natural Tips Can Help

It's mid-morning. You go into the kitchen, meaning to get your water bottle out of the fridge before leaving the house only to remember you haven’t fed the cat. Halfway through that task, you start wondering where you left your sunglasses. Before you know it, you’re out the door and down the street, with your house keys still inside. Or maybe you're simply at a party, realising you've forgotten the name of someone you've been introduced to five times already.

We all experience those momentary memory lapses. But that doesn't make them any less frustrating.

Here, Healf is cutting through the noise to explore what genuinely supports memory function across the Four Pillars: what you can eat to help cognition, how movement boosts brain function, how your mental state plays a role, and the ways sleep contributes, too. By understanding how deeply lifestyle and physiology influence our overall cognitive performance, we can make a plan to combat these frustrating slips or misses. 

We're not in the business of confusing and complex wellness routines; often, these tips are as simple as a few dietary or nighttime switches. 

What’s happening in your brain when memory fails? (And when to worry)

“Memory isn't one thing,” says Veronika Larisova, a nutritionist and exercise physiologist who works a lot with older adults. “Mental encoding, consolidating, and retrieving information each rely on distinct neural circuits, such as the hippocampus for forming new memories, the prefrontal cortex for holding information in mind, and the amygdala for processing emotionally charged information.”

It sounds complex, but when we blank on a name, or walk into a room and forget why, Larisova says this almost always comes down to ‘retrieval interference’, i.e. a disruption in the usual neural pathways described above. Most of the time, this is nothing to worry about, with stress, anxiety, poor sleep, brain fog, and divided attention all interfering with our concentration on a daily basis. Usually, the solution to all of the above is rest.

Larisova says you need to start paying attention when these lapses becomes more permanent. “Forgetting recent conversations, getting disoriented in familiar places, or struggling with tasks that used to be automatic are issues worth a conversation with your GP," she explains.

The best foods and nutrients for memory and brain health

Mays Al-Ali, ‘Healthy Mays’, is a BANT-registered nutritionist who has appeared in the New York Times and the Guardian. As a food-forward practitioner, she believes mixing up our diets can often have the greatest impact on our health. “One of the biggest misconceptions in the wellness industry is the idea that memory can be dramatically improved through a single supplement or nootropic,” she says. “In reality, long-term cognitive resilience is built through consistent dietary patterns that reduce inflammation, stabilise blood sugar, support mitochondrial health and provide the brain with the nutrients required for neurotransmitter production and neuronal repair.”

The science backs it up. A 2024 review published in Advances in Nutrition concluded that whole-diet interventions demonstrated promising benefits for memory and cognition in healthy ageing populations, particularly when dietary patterns focused on nutrient-dense, anti-inflammatory foods, rather than isolated supplementation strategies.

“Eating more extra virgin olive oil, oily fish, nuts, legumes, berries, dark leafy greens and high-fibre plant foods while reducing ultra-processed foods and refined sugars is key,” Al-Ali says, adding that these foods work on several pathways involved in cognitive ageing, including oxidative stress, vascular health, inflammation and insulin sensitivity. These findings are also backed by another study in Frontiers in Nutrition.

All of this isn’t to say you should ditch the supplements. They have their time and place. Al-Ali frequently recommends vitamin B12, iron, magnesium, vitamin D, choline and omega-3 for clients suffering from cognitive symptoms, as deficiencies in one or more of these vitamins can impair neurological function. “These are not fringe wellness concepts; they are fundamental biological requirements for healthy brain performance,” she says.

How exercise protects and strengthens your memory

As an exercise physiologist, Larisova calls physical activity “the most evidence-backed lifestyle intervention for brain health we have.” Aerobic exercise (that’s lower-impact exercise like zone 2 jogging) is great for your brain, boosting the amounts of BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor), a protein that acts as a growth and maintenance signal for neurons. 

A landmark 2011 study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America found that 12 months of aerobic training increased hippocampal volume in older adults by 2 percent, effectively reversing one to two years of age-related decline, which is a massive win.

More recently, a 2024 meta-analysis in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that 150 to 180 minutes of moderate aerobic activity per week (that’s roughly a half hour per day) produced the greatest cognitive benefit, with resistance training adding further gains, particularly for executive function and working memory. 

“You don't need to be an athlete,” says Larisova. “Brisk walking, cycling, or swimming is enough, with consistency mattering more than intensity.”

Stress, focus, and cognitive training that actually works

We can all feel a bit mentally out of it during times of intense stress. For Larisova, feeling stressed is “the most under-appreciated driver of memory problems in otherwise healthy people.” This is because sustained levels of the stress hormone cortisol can interfere with the production of new, healthy neurons in the brain. It also interferes with brain elasticity, which is partly responsible for our brain’s ability to adapt to new or difficult situations. Managing stress, then, is crucial for overall health and well-being, including cognitive health. 

“Mindfulness-based stress reduction comes highly recommended,” says Larisova, adding that learning to play an instrument, a new language, or conquer a physically and cognitively demanding skill can also help. “Even just handwriting your study notes and journal instead of typing them up helps your brain health and memory,” she says. “Dual-task training, combining physical and cognitive challenge simultaneously, is one of the more promising areas of current research.”

Try cleaning the kitchen while you take a work call, or jotting down notes while using the stationary bike in the gym, and see how well your brain adapts.

Along the same lines, Al-Ali recommends somatic therapy retreats, which combine talk therapy with physical activities like yoga for the best of both worlds.

Why sleep is non-negotiable for memory consolidation

In 2026 we’re learning more and more about the importance of sleep. It’s easy to struggle with concentration after a bad night, let alone if you’re dealing with frequent bad sleep or insomnia. “Sleep is non-negotiable,” says Hannah Coakley, an expert in public health and human nutrition who studied at John Hopkins University.

Sleep is when the brain ‘cleans’ itself, offering a refresh for us emotionally, psychologically, and physiologically. “A good night’s rest is related to a decrease in stress and inflammation,” says Coakley, adding that it’s also great at clearing out brain plaques, build ups of protein fragments that are linked to memory loss, and Alzheimer’s. “Sleep is not passive rest; it is an active neurological process during which the brain consolidates memories, regulates inflammation, clears metabolic waste and strengthens neural pathways involved in learning and cognition,” adds Al-Ali, pointing to a 2023 study in the journal Quantitive Biology which explored just how critical sleep is for long-term cognitive performance. 

Glycine and magnesium can help. If you’re really struggling, CBT-I experts (that’s psychologists specialising in cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia) recommend delaying bedtime until you feel absolutely exhausted. Then, if you struggle to drop off, get out of bed, go into another room and do something mentally engaging but not too stimulating, like working on a puzzle or reading. Once you feel tired again, go back to bed. The more you try it, the easier it becomes. Your memory will thank you.

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