Compare your brain to a complex machine or computer because it operates like one.  Yet, to boost its power, improve performance and memory, your brain has to be exercised like a muscle.
What is the health of your brain? Is it sluggish and lacking in vitality and void of new ideas?
Whether you’re a professional seeking ways to sharpen your mind, a student needing to memorize facts for exams, or a retired senior desiring to keep your brain functioning at its best, there are ways to improve your mental performance.
Anti-Aging:
The human brain has an anti-aging capacity built in. This ability to adapt and change —even as we age is called neuroplasticity.
 When stimulated, your brain forms new neural pathways, changing and making new connections for new patterns and new ways of thinking.
The good news is that you can consciously stimulate your brain to increase your memory and learning.
Here are a few options to include in your life right now that can get your mind fit.
New Skills and Activities:
When you perform the same task and activities every day, boredom sets in and your mind gets clogged and fogged.  You need a new activity, a new route to work.
Switching up activities, trying your hand at a new skill or hobby can enhance your brain power and keep it challenged.
Oxygenate:
Physical exercise increases oxygen to your brain. It can also reduce the risk of some disorders that lead to memory loss, like heart disease and diabetes. Exercise can help the brain release chemicals for overall well being and protect brain cells.
Relate and Network:
Making time for friends and loved ones is critical to brain health. We thrive on being social and our brains get stimulated by social activity.
Meaningful relationships and a strong support network contribute to your emotional, physical and brain health.
Brain Power Foods:
Okay so when your mother encouraged you to eat spinach and cabbage when you were a kid, maybe she knew something you didn’t know. She may not have known that they were high in magnesium which helps strengthen memory, but she did know they were good for you.
Fish or Beef Liver contains Omega-3 which helps to strengthen your immune system and removes different kinds of ‘bad’ proteins from your brain. These bad proteins cause bad memory.
Protein is an amazing brain food that can help you with memory storage and information processing – two important functions your brain performs constantly.
Sleep On It:
Sleep deprivation doesn’t keep your brain alert; it has the opposite effect. You walk around in a daze, with slower reaction time and poor performance. The result is that your brain isn’t operating at full capacity.
Sleep is needed for memory consolidation and critical to learning new skills. Make time for sleep and get into a routine to keep earlier hours rather than burning the midnight candle. You’ll be sharper the next day and ready to do what needs to be done.
Fun, Fun, Fun:
If you’re ever criticized for having too much off-task time, your answer is that you’re intentionally boosting your brain power.
There are cognitive benefits to having fun. While you’re enjoying yourself, your creativity is also being stimulated. You may even surprise yourself with birthing a multimillion dollar idea.
Remember to value all those brain cells and do what you can to keep your brain active and engaged. Your brain will function better, your memory will be keen and you’ll feel more alive! |
