5 Ways to Boost Your Brain
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5 Ways to Boost Your Brain
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After school, there are so many instances where one might think that they’re not giving their brains enough challenges, or chances to grow. The monotony of doing something you do everyday that might not even take much brain power might make you think that you’re not giving your brain enough stimulation. There are so many different ways to stimulate and enhance your brain health that can help you have a healthier and fuller life.
Brain function and how effective your brain works is such an important aspect that dictates how healthy you are and how encompassing that health in your life is. Being in good health not only constitutes your wellbeing through your body, but also through your emotions and mental health.
We know it might seem like a lot of these tips are quite obvious or you have heard it all your life, but you might know exactly what type of effect it might have on your actual brain and mental health.
1. Get out and get moving
Exercise is such a huge beneficial aspect of life that has such a very beneficial effect on your brain. Exercise in its own right multiplies those nerve cells which strengthens the connections and connective receptors in your mind. These cells also release this special protein called Neurotrophic factors. This protein kick-starts the process in which the body spirals into triggering other chemicals that help neural health in general and pinpoints the points of the mind that makes developmental aspects, like learning, easier.
Another way that exercise helps improve your mental health, is the fact that the main stream of blood flow heads to your brain is greatly increased through movements in exercise.
2. Hit the snooze button
When you can, get the sleep you need to help your brain truly rest and reset for the next day.
After a long day of working running nonstop, (the brain works overtime without you even realizing it!), your mind needs to wind down and have some rest before it begins for he next day. The main aspect of sleep that is associated with and directly affects your brain is the plasticity of it. This concept, the idea that sleeping “does the brain good”, is responsible and targets behavior, learning and memory. These characteristics and products of your mind are strengthened while you sleep.
3. Plug your headphones in
Not too loud of course, the destruction of our ear drums, etc., is connectedly largely with the direct relationship between headphones and increased volume in our generation. But of course, listening to music in general can be really beneficial for the brain.
The studies associated between Mozart and increasing your IQ numbers is factual and have been studied for decades. This even goes so far in increasing a trend in which women have been known to play classical music directly from (overstretched) headphones to the barrier of their bellies holding their babies still in the womb. It has also been used in practices of listening to classical music while learning, relaxing, or studying, and has been shown to increase attentiveness and calm down the listener to be in a state that is perfect to receive information. In general: it helps focus.
4. Learn more
For those who said that life was a school, however nerdy that might sound, they had the right idea. For those who graduate from school (or just stop going), and then get hired in a job where they have you working a monotonous 9-5 of just doing busy work, office work, or work that requires the same amount of brain power that choosing which coffee to get at Starbucks (Latte Macchiato, obvs, so no brain power at all), it is difficult to really get that mental challenge you need on a daily basis.
Though you might think you’re getting away with not doing a lot of work, it’s quite the opposite. Instead of easing a salary and giving your brain a break, you’re actually preventing it from getting better. Studies show that learning something new, like a language, and challenging your brain on a regular basis, helps the brain improve in the long run and greatly reduces any degeneration that may occur from aging and natural causes.
5. Watch what you eat
Unlike most advice that tells you to care for your nutrition because you want to lose, this part of nutrition will help you GAIN. And that’s exactly what you WANT to do, when it comes to your brain health. The more you can increase the longevity of your intellect, the better quality of life you will lead.
There are certain brain power foods that are helpful when it comes to increasing and improving brain power, in other words, giving you brain that boost. For instance, nuts are amazing for your brain. They have loads of magnesium, which helps your short and long term memory. Magnesium also strengthens the connections between brain cells. When it comes to these connections, the more, the better.
All in all, there are so many different ways to help boost your brain on a daily, or a lifetime basis. Here is listed just five different and simple pieces of advice that you can take and implement into your life to help improve your overall brain health and give it the kick it needs.
Of course, there are also so many other ways to increase your brain power, but these are just a few. We want to also add that these few can be some of the easiest things to add into your life. For instance, to fulfill all five tips here, these are some practical ways to hit all the points:
- Commit to exercise, even twenty minutes per day, preferably in the morning, right when you wake up. This will get your overall blood flowing to get yourself ready for the day, and will help stimulate those brain cells you’ll need to face what’s next.
- Discipline yourself to go to sleep early. We know that sounds a bit juvenile, but setting a bed time will help you ensure that you get the sleep you need for the night. Making it the time more regular and constant will allow your body to adjust to it as well.
- Listen to music while you study, even if it’s at a low volume in the background, will help keep you calmer and get more done.
Dedicate yourself to doing some brain teasers or five minutes on an app that helps your brain (there’s loads!). Or take up a new language. Even learning for five or ten minutes per day will help you in the long run, mental-wise and also, ordering two baguettes and a coffee on that trip to France will be a lot easier. - Take the time to go over your daily diet. Avoid those bad foods, not only for your physical health, but your mental health as well. Trade those sugary snacks for fat free nuts, for instance.
