As a doctor, I come across a lot of ways to boost your memory. I’m a huge fan of supplements because they work. I love to play brain games like Wordle, Sudoku, and crossword puzzles. And exercise really helps.
But I recently came across some studies that totally surprised me. These studies found that an activity I enjoyed as a kid can substantially boost memory. In fact, it can double your memory recall.
This activity is fun. It’s easy. And it costs nothing.
The studies came out of the University of Waterloo in Canada. In the first study, the researchers gave two groups of participants a simple list of words. One group wrote down the words multiple times. The other group drew a picture of each word on the list. Here’s what happened:
Those who drew pictures were able to remember twice as many words as the second group!
Why is this? Researchers have found that drawing boosts memory function because it forces your brain to use multiple “modalities” or thought processes. These include picturing the item you’re drawing (pictorial), brain-hand-eye coordination (motoric), and creativity (elaborative).
What’s more, these results have been replicated many times.
This same group of researchers conducted a similar experiment on college students. This time they gave the groups complicated scientific words. The results were exactly the same. Those who drew pictures remembered twice as many words as the other group.
The researchers did six more experiments to see how effective drawing is for your memory. In each case, they found that it boosted both short-term and long-term memory. And it doubled their recall.
Dr. Arnold Bresky, author of Brain Tune Up, has found even better results in his practice. He says drawing is the most effective way to boost his patients’ memory. He regularly sees their scores on memory tests improve by up to 70% when they start drawing!
So if you want to improve your overall memory, just start drawing.
When you’re sitting in front of the TV, try doodling. When you’re in the waiting room at the doctor, pull out a pad and pencil and draw. Draw your kids or grandkids. Draw your dog or cat.
Oh, and your drawings don’t have to be pretty or precise. If the best you can do is stick figures, that’s fine. The researchers found that the quality of drawing made no difference in the benefits. So have fun with it.