Brain health is really important. If you want to lower your chances of being diagnosed with illnesses like Alzheimer’s and dementia in the future and stay as bright as you can for as long as you can, you need to take good care of your brain, but most of us don’t really think too much about it.
That’s why I’ve put together a list of seriously effective ways to boost your brain health that you can start adding to your routine today:
Control your blood sugar
We tend to think about blood sugar in terms of diabetes if we think about it at all, but your blood sugar can have a big impact on your brain health too. Sustaining a healthy blood sugar level will enable your brain chemistry to stay balanced, which means you won’t end up with brain fog or fatigue, amongst other things, now, and you’re less likely to get dementia in the future.
How do you maintain healthy blood sugar levels? By eating a healthy diet of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains and minimizing the amount of sugar and junk food you eat for a start. Eating regularly is also helpful.
If you are unsure about regulating your blood sugar, it’s always a good idea to speak to your doctor.
Immerse yourself in nature
Nature is great for the brain. Not only has it been shown to boost focus, but it can also improve mood and reduce stress levels. Since all of these things can affect how healthy your brain is in the long-term, it’s really important that you get out there and visit as many green spaces as possible.
If you’re someone who has mobility issues, and you find this hard, it may be worth looking at the high ground clearance mobility scooters at https://www.scootersnchairs.com/blogs/mobility-scooters/best-high-ground-clearance-suspension-mobility-scooters. They should help you more easily access the kinds of places where nature is abundant so your brain can benefit too.
Oh, and if you can access a green space that is as far away from any pollutants as possible, that will be even better for your brain. Why? Because pesticides and pollutants have been linked to anxiety, depression, and dementia, so the more fresh air you can get the better. Which brings us to…
Buy an air filter
For the reasons mentioned above, it is a really good idea to buy a few air filters to place around your home. They will remove pollutants from your breathing space, not only boosting your brain health but helping you to breathe more easily in general too. If you can’t get an air filter, try opening your windows for as long as possible because indoor air is quite often dirtier than the air outdoors. Obviously, don’t do this if you live near a chemical plant or a really busy highway or whatever, but in general, the more fresh air you can get into your lungs, the better it will be for your whole body including your brain.
Up your omega-3 intake
Consuming more omega-3 oils. Whether in the form of fatty fish or flaxseed, is a great way to preserve your brain health. These kinds of oils will help to prevent inflammation, which will, in turn, help to prevent anxiety, stress, depression, and degradation of brain cells. You can only get omega-3 fatty acids from your diet, so be sure to add a serving to as many of your meals as possible, or if you’d find it easier, take a supplement.
Eat organic
If your budget stretches to it, eating organic produce could be one of the best things you ever do for your brain health. Why? Because it doesn’t contain any o the pesticides you’ll find on regular produce, which means your body and brain will be unpolluted by organic produce.
If you can’t eat organic, do your best to really scrub your produce clean before consuming and you should be able to remove a lot of the substances that can cause the brain and body to be less healthy than they should.
Meditate
Meditation is like a vigorous workout for your brain, It can do for your brain what an hour in the gym each day can do for your heart, so it’s safe to say, if you’re serious about boosting your brain health, you should be serious about meditation too.
As well as helping you to maintain a calm equilibrium, meditation has been shown to increase prefrontal cortex activity, boost blood flow to the brain and even improve various connections within the organ itself, including the ones that deal with memory, and you can achieve all of this with as little as 12 minutes of meditation. That’s pretty amazing!
Practice mindfulness
A lot of people think meditation and mindfulness are the same things, but there are lots of different kinds of meditation of which mindfulness is just one, and you can also practice mindfulness in your daily life too.
What is mindfulness? It’s basically the practice of paying attention to what you’re doing and only what you’re doing. So, if you’re eating you just eat – you don’t watch the TV or read the news or whatever – or if you’re washing the dishes, you just focus on that one task, how the bubbles feel on your hands, the temperature of the water, and… well you get the idea.
How is this beneficial for your brain health? Basically, it helps to improve concentration which can boost your cognitive function, It can also help you to live a more fulfilling life where you live fully in the moment instead of living fully in your head like most of us do most of the time!
Try new things
Your brain is an amazing organ and it requires a lot of stimulation. If you do the same thing day in day out with little variation, eventually you will go into cognitive decline. Present your brain with a challenge, whether it’s doing printable word search puzzles, learning how to sing or reading a new genre of book that you may not have considered before and it will rise to the challenge, help you achieve your goals, and most importantly of all, stay sharp.
Socialize
Socializing with friends and family out in the real world, face-to-face (remember that) is one of the simplest pleasures in life. It is also one of the most effective ways to boat your brain health.
Humans are social creatures for the most part and we need to feel loved, connected, and supported if we are to maintain good mental health. Loneliness is strongly correlated with depression and anxiety so anything you can do to reach out to others will be good news for your brain.
Oh, and numerous studies have shown that socializing in person is far better for us than socializing online, so if you can do it in person, that is exactly what you should do.
Make sleep a priority
As you will probably know, sleep is one of the most important processes our bodies must go through. Sleep allows our bodies to rest, relax and rejuvenate. When you sleep, you are better able to learn, more likely to be creative, and less likely to suffer from brain fog, anxiety, or depression. Your body even runs a so-called self-cleaning cycle that gets rid of plaques in the brain that can cause Alzheimer’s when you sleep. So, yeah, sleep is very important.
Most researchers suggest that getting anywhere between 7 and 9 hours of sleep a night is optimal. If you struggle with this, going to bed and waking up at the same time may help, You could also try supplements designed to help you sleep, melatonin, or a simple lavender pillow spray. If none of that stuff works, a trip to the doctor may be required.
Indulge in regular exercise
You knew it was coming, but there is no avoiding it, exercise is great for your health period. It’s as good for your brain as it is for your heart or lungs. Ideally, you should be exercising at a moderate pace for at least 150 minutes each week. Why should you bother? Some studies have shown that exercise can be as good as antidepressants for treating anxiety and depression. It will also boost blood flow to your brain, which can improve cognitive function and help to fight the decline of your brain by getting rid of the plaques that can cause Alzheimer’s and dementia. If that doesn’t convince you to put your running shoes on, nothing will.
As you can see, there are lots of activities you can try to help boost your brain health, The more of them you do, and the more often you do them, the healthier your brain is likely to be.
Although one of us can 100 percent prevent cognitive decline and illnesses like dementia from befalling us, we can increase our chances of maintaining good brain health throughout our lives, and the above ideas should certainly help with that.
