Yes, give your brain some rest. You can try meditation. It really costs nothing save a bit of time. Put a timer on 15 minutes, sit straight (in a position that

Yes, give your brain some rest. You can try meditation. It really costs nothing save a bit of time. Put a timer on 15 minutes, sit straight (in a position that requires a little bit of effort so you don't fall asleep) and do nothing. No mails, no internet, phone out of reach, concentrate on yourself, your body, your breath. Forbid yourself to do anything else before the 15 minutes are over. That really helped me. Memorizing happens when you try to recall. If you want to learn a list of things, spend half of your time trying to remember them. Let your brain push as much as it can to reach the memory before giving it the answer. This helps memorization a lot.