How to Improve Memory Retention When Nothing Seems to Stick

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If you’ve ever sat down to study, spent hours staring at your notes, and then realized… none of it actually stuck, you’re not alone.

Learning how to improve your memory retention isn’t just about studying more. It’s about studying differently.

We’re always looking for quick and easy ways to increase our memory. One of the most prevalent fears of post-secondary students is that one day their brains will just run out of space. If it does, how would you know?

Will you receive a pop-up warning that your “brain space” is low? Or “critical error! Back up immediately.”

Do you think you would need to delete old memories to make new ones? Luckily, unlike our phones, our brains do not work that way.

Our capacity to remember is virtually limitless as long as we are vigilant about how we treat our minds and the information we process. This, of course, does not consider disease or traumatic injury, etc.

One of the biggest limiting factors to memory retention is focus. It’s hard to keep knowledge from fading away. Especially if you struggle with taking it in the first place. The easiest way to combat this is to switch up how you study the material. Today, we will discuss 10 simple methods for improving memory retention that you can apply right now.

What is Memory Retention?

Memory retention is the ability to learn new information and hold onto it for recall later. In school, exams test how well you can retain and retrieve the information you learned in class. 

Study strategies, like spaced repetition, are essential for strong, long-term memory retention. This strategy involves periodically reviewing the material to refresh your memory. You strengthen retention every time you revisit the material, allowing you to hold onto it for longer.

When studying for retention, you can use nearly any study activity. The goal is to hold onto the information and cement it in your brain. However, study strategies that use active recall are most effective for achieving this. This technique helps you retrieve information so much more easily, especially during tests.

Memory Retention and Academic Performance

Being able to remember core concepts is critical to your academic performance. Most classes in both college and university are graded primarily on exams. These test your ability to recall the information studied in class.

Not only do you need to remember these foundational concepts, but you must also be able to apply them to various situations. Memory retention helps you not only recognize how something works but also link the information to associated topics and examples. These memory cues are vital to your academic performance.

10 Simple Methods for Improving Memory Retention That You Can Apply Right Now

Some study tips can help improve your memory and preserve the quality of the information you store. By using various methods to improve your retention and recall, you will remember more each time you review the information.

Mix and match these strategies throughout your study sessions. This will keep each study period fresh, helping you stay engaged and focused on the material. These 10 simple methods for improving memory retention can be applied without any extra steps or setup.

Using your study breaks to exercise floods your brain with oxygen and glucose.

A quick exercise session can help form new memories, according to a recent study. Try to fit in a quick cardio session before you start studying or during your long Pomodoro break, to boost the effects of your study session. The extra blood pumping to your brain will flood it with oxygen and glucose, giving it everything it needs to work at optimal capacity.

Exercise will help you wake up and stay productive longer. According to that same study, regular exercise can help with memory recall and retrieval. This aids with learning and is a great reason to keep it up. You will need to keep these facts around, not only be able to retrieve them, but also build on them throughout your entire post-secondary career. Knowing that a quick workout can substantially amplify your study efforts is a great reason to get in on the action.

You don’t need a gym membership to try a morning walk or a quick 15-minute cardio session. Maintaining these simple activities can help in many areas; it’s practically a gimme.

When I don’t feel like exercising, I will use my Pomodoro breaks to do physical chores. This could be anything from tidying off a kitchen counter to doing laundry. Something that has me up, out of my seat, and moving around. These tasks will still get your blood pumping without committing to a single burpee.

Getting a good night’s sleep has an amazing effect on your memory.

It’s been proven, over and over again, that sleep is vital for processing and consolidating memory. You can often see the impact of a 15 or 20-minute nap immediately after a study session. Rest gives your brain the time it needs to discard nonessential information and reinforce pathways to the memories you want to keep.

After a long, hard study session, slip in a nap. It does not have to be a long one. 15 to 20 minutes is enough to give you a boost. This is a great reward, especially after hours of deep focus. It will help you with your memory retention by combining and filing all the new information, and feeling refreshed and ready to take on your afternoon!

In addition to any naps you might try to sneak in, ensure you get 8 hours of sleep each night. It may be tempting to sleep in on weekends, but maintaining a healthy sleep schedule, with consistent bed and wake-up times, will benefit both your memory and your overall health. It will also help you avoid feeling tired all the time.

Your diet can directly affect your memory retention.

A healthy diet will give your brain everything it needs to optimize function. Eating plenty of protein, whole grains, and omega-3 fatty acids will support healthy brain function, maximizing the brain's ability to build and access memories. These are the building blocks your body needs to create and store these essential memories.

Diets high in fat and cholesterol have been shown to have a detrimental impact on memory. Try to limit intake of these and instead choose a healthier option. That is not to say that you can never have a cheat day. Instead, make small, simple, healthy choices along the way.

Often, the problem is time constraints or cost rather than just not wanting to make these healthier choices. With a little research and some planning, you can learn many ways to make simple choices that increase access to these healthy options. Meal prepping helps make these choices and keep grocery costs down.

Focus and concentration significantly contribute to your ability to retain the information you study.

Studying is boring. But it is imperative to take in the information in the first place. Focus is essential here. You have to apply your full attention to the information you're studying to take it in and memorize it truly.

Try switching up your activities every time you sit down to study. If you use the Pomodoro method, plan different activities for every block. This will keep your study time fresh, and you will not get into the rut of reading your textbook and writing out notes all night.

Changing up the activities can be fun, and for the periods that are not, they only last 25 minutes, then you are on to something new, so you can quickly push through. There is a Pomodoro session planner in my study guide template for you to try. It also has more than 20 study activities you can track throughout the semester. Download it for free and plan your study activities for the week.

Staying organized will help save your energy for studying.

Organizing your life, from your desk to your schedule, will help you live with less clutter and frenzy. This will, in turn, relieve the chaos in your mind. When your mind is less cluttered, it’s easier to focus and pay attention to the study session at hand.

Getting organized also allows you to plan your study time so you can use it most effectively. This can translate into spending the time you need on the topics that need it, rather than being all over the place in material and subjects. Use your planner or the Pomodoro templates to plan each study session. This will help you save time by allowing you to get straight to work.

Planning out a study schedule with activities and a timeline to cover all issues will help you organize your days. Getting organized frees up brain space so you can use your memory on what is essential. This strategy ensures that you cover all concepts several times over the semester. It will also help you switch up how you study these topics so you can use a variety of techniques.

Visualize the concepts as you study them.

As you go through the content under study, stop after every sentence and visualize what you are reading. Your study sessions do not have to be rushed. Take your time on each step and really absorb the material you are learning.

Learning is not a race. The better you understand a concept, the better you will be able to remember it. Having a deep understanding is more important than getting through the material. The better you understand it, the better you will be able to retain the information.

Can you picture it and how it works? Can you relate that picture to other connected topics? Can you imagine how it would function? Stopping and using this extra layer will help imprint it in your memory. Now, this content is no longer just words on a page. You have added movement and meaning to it, which will help you understand the subject matter better and retrieve it more easily later.

Link each concept to the information you already know.

If you can apply the information under study to something in your everyday life, you will increase the chances of being able to retrieve that information when you need it the most. Creating these mental associations helps with understanding and recall by providing additional memory cues. Grouping relevant, related information creates an intricate web that multiplies the links to the data.

Being able to link the concepts you are learning to those you already have a firm grasp of will also aid in answering questions on the exam. Drawing on examples of why or how two concepts are related is a great way to show your understanding.

Layer your senses to create deep-rooted memory cues.

Mental associations and memory cues can come from any sensations. Applying several of them and layering them over the information you need to remember can improve recall. After you have visualized how something works, try drawing a diagram. Anything you smell or taste during your study session can also help with this.

All these extra prompts can work in your favor when you have to retrieve these pieces of information during exam time. A memory tied to a unique smell can also pull other associated memories, allowing you to remember all the material studied in that session.

Study in a variety of locations to boost your memory retention.

Switching up your study location often can help with focus. Not only will each site you choose have a different ambiance, but it can also increase how and where you can focus. The sounds, smells, and tastes you experience in a specific location will help layer the senses we discussed.

A common thread will link everything you study in this session, helping bring them all to the forefront. Each piece of associated information will be more easily accessible because of these crosslinks. Bringing one of these topics to the forefront will make it easier to remember and apply each related concept.

Studying in a new location will also keep you alert because your surroundings will be unfamiliar. This alertness can help you stay focused and retain information better. We are naturally more aware of our surroundings when they are different. You can harness this to boost your focus during the study session.

Snacking or chewing gum can help you retain and recall new information.

Chewing during your study sessions can help promote focus and memory. This is a great excuse to grab a snack or chew gum if you aren’t hungry. It’s also a great reason to bring a bite into an exam if allowed.

While the exact mechanics of why this works are not fully understood, there are some hypotheses. One opinion is that chewing may help to promote blood flow to the brain during these periods of concentration. This would likely have a direct impact on functions involving memory.

Chewing can also have a calming effect on some people, reducing anxiety, which is also beneficial for test time. These benefits combine to increase your overall test performance by making it easier to recall information and analyze it critically.

As you make your way through college and university, you will find that minor improvements, over time, will add up to the results you want. Post-secondary school is a marathon, not a sprint, and must be approached as such. Finding these tiny improvements and applying them to your study strategies will help your overall academic performance.

Memory retention is the foundation of learning. Taking in new information and storing it is critical to your academic journey. As you continue, these concepts are repeatedly built upon. So what you learn today will remain relevant in all your future classes.

Creating strong mental associations that you can rely on will be invaluable, so you need a study plan that works for you. Don’t forget to pick up my study guide template. It has trackers and planners to help you create study sessions that will propel you to the grade you want. Download it here.

I would like to be transparent so that there are no misunderstandings. As an affiliate, I may earn a small commission from any products linked in this post. This is not a sponsored post, and I was not asked to recommend these products. These are products that I genuinely love and want to share with my audience.