5 steps to improve your brain health
Everyone knows it’s important to exercise your body and maintain a healthy diet if you want to reach optimal physical fitness, but experts say we…
Easy ways to enhance your brain health. (Shutterstock)
Everyone knows it’s important to exercise your body and maintain a healthy diet if you want to reach optimal physical fitness, but experts say we are neglecting a very important part of our health.
Staying in shape physically is only half of the equation, and as people live longer and longer with the progression of medical technology, it’s time mankind took a serious look at how to improve brain health. It’s important to learn how to treat your brain properly, especially since it is the key to making sure the rest of the body is in working order.
SEE ALSO: Top 9 ways to exercise your brain
5 steps to improve your brain health
First, brain health isn’t just about exercising your brain?though that is indeed one of the steps. Brain health is about all the aspects of treating your mind properly. By following these steps you are taking an active approach to ensure your mental health stays as healthy as you body while you age.
Exercise your brain
Exercise your brain to improve your brain health. (Shutterstock)
When you think about what the brain does aside from control human body function, it should come as no surprise that this organ needs to learn in order to function well.
A report from Psychology Today indicates the brain builds new neural pathways when it is introduced to new or challenging material. Keeping the brain actively learning can mean anything from taking classes for a new skill or just playing brain games. And, thankfully, brain games don’t have to be complex. Just switching up your regular routine (like by brushing your teeth with the opposite hand) can be enough stimulation to encourage the brain to work harder.
Don’t avoid the uncomfortable
Learning new skills helps to improve brain health (Shutterstock photos)
Forcing the brain to work by changing up physical activities and learning new skills helps improve brain health for sure, but few things exercise the brain like taking a step out of your comfort zone. Emotions are some of the most complex processes in the human body, and because emotions are primarily brain-related, experiencing them throws the mind into hyper-drive.
This is particularly true if you are uncomfortable or in a new situation; the mind will be looking at all the angles, trying to find a way to fit in or adapt.
Exercise
Exercise improves your brain health. (Shutterstock)
Yes, exercise is important for proper physical health, but research indicates maintaining proper weight is also important for warding off degenerative brain disease. A study published August 20 in the Postgraduate Medical Journal, found individuals who were obese during midlife were three times as likely to develop dementia as they aged compared to people of a healthier weight.
Michael J. Goldacre, professor at the University of Oxford, United Kingdom, told Medscape Medical News, “?if the findings in the young are cause and effect ? that obesity contributes to the development of dementia, either directly or via its association with a raised risk of circulatory disease ? dementia becomes yet another hazard of obesity. So, if cause and effect, the findings add to the importance of dealing with the obesity epidemic.”
Nutrition
Healthy nutrition improves brain health. (Shutterstock)
Once you know how to exercise your brain, you should also learn how to feed your brain. While you can certainly eat foods specifically linked to brain health, studies show staying on diets considered heart-healthy or those designed to combat diabetes will be enough to give the brain what it needs.
Limited sugar and low saturated fat diets have been shown to improve blood circulation in the brain, and healthy fats, dark-colored veggies and berries are also top on the list when it comes to brain foods.
SEE ALSO: Cool facts about the human brain
Relaxing the mind
Meditation helps to improve your brain health. (Shutterstock)
With all the work your brain has to do it is important to give it a break. This doesn’t mean mindlessly watching television for a few hours; what it means is taking up a form of relaxation such as meditation or hypnosis.
While hypnosis isn’t for everyone and may require the aid of a professional, both these processes have been shown to initiate changes within the brain. Not only can meditation and hypnosis reduce stress, they can decrease the amount of inflammation in the body.
