Carrying out everyday activities such as driving and exercising, performing well at your job, and maintaining satisfying relationships is possible in large part because of your ability to remember.

Whatever your age, you can take action to improve your short- and long-term recall skills:

• Exercise your brain. Try brushing your teeth with your nondominant hand or putting on your shoes with your eyes closed. Stimulating seldom used areas of the brain can improve functioning, including memory.

• Review often. Until you have crucial information fully committed to memory, revisit it daily and then at less frequent intervals. This can be more effective than cramming just before it’s needed.

• Write it down. Jotting down directions, speaking them aloud, or otherwise layering the ways you interact with information can enhance recall.

• Sleep well. When you’re tired, your brain, including memory, doesn’t function as efficiently as when you’re well rested.

• Exercise to improve oxygen delivery to the brain.

• Explore mnemonic devices. These are clues that can help you remember information by associating it with visual images, acronyms, and rhymes or by chunking data into smaller groups. For example, memorizing a 9-digit Social Security number is easier because it’s broken into 3 small sections.