Your brain plays a huge part in what makes you ‘you’. It is by far your most precious organ. It works hard around the clock (even while you’re sleeping). The brain is involved in everything you do. Now the question comes what do you do to keep your brain young and healthy? Or can say do you check up on your brain health as you do for your body? The answer is probably ‘no’. Your brain is working overtime for you, and you barely give it a thought.
Why? Because we rarely think to invest in brain training. But we forget every brain changes with age and mental function changes along with it. Mental decline is common, and it’s one of the most feared consequences of aging. And if you are thinking that you are trapped with the brain you were given then you are wrong. Thanks to neuroplasticity — it has proven one extremely amazing fact i.e. our brain has the ability to change. That means if you are lacking in one area of your brain don’t worry you have the option to change it via a bit of training.
Remember, the brain is like a muscle, and just like any other muscle it also requires regular exercise. Who doesn’t want to enhance their memory, sharpen their focus, and improve concentration? The amazing part is you do not have to be a millionaire to boost your brainpower or you do not have to invest in expensive technology for that matter. All you need to do is consistently train your brain.
And to go with that here are simple steps you can take to boost your brainpower:
1. Give challenges to your brain
According to Shlomo Breznitz, one of the challenges is that when the brain develops ingrained habits, it doesn’t need to think anymore. Things get done quickly and efficiently on automatic pilot, often in a very advantageous way. This way it creates a tendency to stick to routines or it employs well-used nerve pathways. If there are several ways to solve a problem, the brain chooses the easiest way instead of exploring a new approach that may be more difficult. Although this is aimed at making life easier, this process is bad news for long-term cognitive health. Performing a routine act means that very little thought is required for these activities.
Therefore, the only way of breaking these is to confront the brain with new information. The brain is like a muscle. The more you use it the stronger it gets. Find a new hobby, try a new language, do things such as drawing, painting, and other crafts. Presented with new information, the brain creates new connections and is revitalized. That is why it is so important to expose yourself to change, even if stepping outside your comfort zone means feeling a bit of anxiety.
2. Exercise Your Muscles and Strengthen Your Brain
Get off of the couch and move around! Your brain will be going to thank you for this. Because consistent exercise plays an important role in neuroplasticity by boosting growth factors and stimulating new neural connections. It can have a profoundly positive impact on depression, anxiety, and ADHD. Exercise also relieves stress, improves memory, helps you sleep better, and boosts your overall mood.
It is recommended that you exercise at least for 30 min, 5 times a week. If you are new to this start with a couple of days a week and then slowly build it up. Otherwise, you shouldn’t end up growing bored of a new routine even before it developed into a habit. Here’s how to add life to days just by walking?.
3. Get proper sleep
Sleep is like a mini-detoxification for your brain. Research shows sleep is necessary for memory consolidation. Memory enhancing activity occurs during the deepest stages of sleep. Therefore, make sure you get enough sleep at night and also a 20-30 min power nap during the day. When you get a proper amount of sleep your body gets enough time to repair and rejuvenate for another day. Memory, creativity, problem-solving abilities, and critical thinking skills wouldn’t be compromised then.
To get on a regular sleep schedule you must go to bed at the same time every night and get up at the same time each morning. It’s good to go to bed between 9:00 pm-12:00 am to benefit from the most efficient hours of sleep.
It’s always recommended to avoid screens for at least one hour before bed. Because the blue light emitted from the screen suppress hormones such as melatonin that make you sleepy and triggers wakefulness.
Moreover, try reducing the intake of caffeine before a few hours of sleep. Also, note caffeine affects people differently so it’s up to you how you can reduce it. How to know if you are getting enough sleep? Read this to find out
4. Meditate
Just 5-10 min of meditation can help you clear your mind, relax and leave you more prepared for any mental activity. Its effects are great such as it calms your body, slows your breathing, and reduces stress and anxiety. It also helps fine-tune your memory.
5. Healthy diet
Do you know your diet has a massive impact not only physically but also upon brain functioning? Remember your brain consumes 20% of all oxygen and nutrients which you consume. Therefore be careful of what you feed your brain. People who consume fruits, veggies, nuts, unsaturated oils, the plant source of proteins are less likely to develop cognitive impairment and dementia.
6. Check on your stress
The worst enemy to your brain is stress. Over time, chronic stress destroys your brain cells and damages the hippocampus(region of the brain where the formation of new memories and the restoration of the old ones happen). Many studies have also shown stress is linked to memory loss.
7. Write
When you opt to write things you tell the memory what’s important, it helps in clarifying thoughts and also helps in remembering things more easily in the future. Writing is a method of exercising your analytical ability and creativity. This doesn’t mean you have to write a book. You can use journals, note-making, diary writing, story writing, poetry, etc. Simply write, even if nobody else ever read it. Just the act of writing can help expand and better the brain.
8. Take a break
Research shows even the slightest change in your daily routine can help energize your brain and improve your productivity and efficiency. Take a different route, add a new activity frequently, try a different mode of transportation, the aim is to stimulate your brain with new things and not to get stuck in a rut. Be willing to try new ways to do the same things.
9. Take care of your emotions
We easily talk about any kind of health but when it comes to emotional health we tend to dismiss it. One reason we do this is that talking about our physical health offers external validation from others, said Marline Francois-Madden. Talking about our emotional health, however, feels too vulnerable, she said. And this is understandable. Our pain feels fresh, tender, private. Often, we don’t even admit we’re hurting ourselves.
Many of us also have been taught that if we’re sad, we should be able to pick ourselves up “quickly and quietly,” said Tanvi Patel, LPC-S, a psychotherapist. In reality, however, “the ability to look at painful experiences and painful emotions is far more developmentally mature and healthy, and takes enormous strength.”
Therefore, don’t bottle up your emotions. Welcome all emotions, practice self-compassionate break, track your mood, cultivate curiosity, ask yourself about your difficult feelings, avoid self-criticism or violent communication with yourself.
The bottom line is keeping your brain in up-to-date condition can give you a head start towards success. But it doesn’t mean you start forcing yourself or criticizing yourself if you can’t do them all. Rather than putting your brain under more stress, start off integrating a couple of steps and your brain will appreciate it.
About the Author
Prerna Dhulekar is a thinker, observer, avid reader, and freelance writer who specializes in personal development & wellness. She is the content creator behind ‘Just More Alive’ where she shares every day growing up opportunities. She is always curious to learn more about human psychology. Hence, non-fiction books cover a large area of her bookshelf. She believes humanity is the best way to navigate an ever-changing world.
Email Id – prernadhulekar03@gmail.com
Website – www.justmorealive.com
