Activate your Theta Waves

One of the steps in the IMPACT memory technique developed in England is mental preparation. Our brains are not always in the best state of readiness for remembering new material, but it turns out you can easily change this simply by changing your breathing.

When it's time to study or remember something new, switch your breathing pattern to be slower and deeper. Deeper and slower breathing actually changes the way your brain works, by inducing the brain's electrical pulses to switch to Theta waves.

Theta waves normally occur in your brain in hypnogogic sleep. This is the stage of sleep when outside noises like an alarm clock can influence dreaming. It turns out being in this stage also can aid memory.

A good example is the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon, when information you've been trying to think of all day suddenly comes back to you after napping or waking up from sleep.

To activate your Theta waves, switch your breathing to your lower abdomen - in other words, start breathing deeply from your stomach. Consciously slow your rate of breathing too. After a few moments, you should feel calmer, the Theta waves should be flowing in your brain, and you should be more receptive to remembering new information.

This reminds me a lot of meditation breathing, which makes perfect sense since recent studies have shown that regular mindfulness meditation improves memory.