Mental Health Minute: Why Talking to Yourself Boosts Brainpower

Be honest: 

When you're alone in your house, or your car, do you ever talk to yourself? If the answer is yes, good news for you (and no snickering, now!)...

Good news for people who like to talk to themselves on occasion: The quirky habit may make you smarter, say researchers at the University of Wisconsin. Study participants who gabbed, out-loud, to themselves, were more likely to retain information later, say the researchers.
"The idea is that saying words out loud helps to activate properties more actively in the brain and efficiently configures your brain to help temporarily process the information,” said one of the study authors. 

In other words, if you say something aloud, you're more likely to remember it later. As weird as it sounds, when I'm driving to an event where I have to give a presentation, I always practice what I'm going to say, aloud, in the car on the way over. I plug in my headset for my phone so I at least look like I'm talking on my cell (to save face to other drivers!).