Yes, mommy brain is a real thing. We have all been there. You enter a room to grab something and instantly forget why you entered the room in the first place. Or you head to the grocery store and bring back everything but the item that made you go to the store in the first place! Forgetfulness can be frustrating, but luckily there are easy ways to combat it. Here are four ways to fight mom brain and keep your memory going strong.
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1. Boost your iron intake: Since about 25 percent of pregnant women are iron deficient, they end up experiencing short term memory loss known as pregnancy brain. Making sure to add iron into your daily diet could improve your memory and combat mommy brain. Foods like lean red meat, nuts and beans can all help increase your iron intake.
2. Cut back on multitasking: Carrying out multiple projects at once can lead to memory lapses and short term memory loss, a study conducted by the National Academy of Science found. During the study, participants were asked to look at a scene and then were interrupted several times. When they were asked to describe the scene, people that were interrupted were less likely to remember the initial scene. New moms try to multitask and cover as much as they can at once, but cutting down on the things you need to remember could help improve your overall memory.
3. Read more and play more analytical games: Puzzles and books are great ways to beat mommy brain. Several studies have found that solving puzzles and reading can greatly improve long-term memory. As your brain stores information about the storyline or processes how to solve a problem; you end up flexing your brain's memory muscles. You can even download some games that you can play on your downtime. "My guess is that playing them activates synapses in the whole brain, including the memory areas," explains Marcel Danesi, Ph.D., author of Extreme Brain Workout.
4. Sleep more: This one may sound impossible for new moms, but even squeezing in an hour nap during the day can greatly help sustain your memory sensors. Dr. Matt Walker, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, states "If you learn something in the evening, sleep on it for eight hours, and then are tested on it, your memory of it is likely to be 20 to 30 percent better than if you'd learned it in the morning and were tested eight hours later." Catching more rest will allow you to remember all of the beautiful memories and continue getting more of that mommy work done without the forgetfulness.
Image via Corbis
