The brain is one of the essential organs of our body, if not the most crucial organ. It controls our body and instructs other organs on their function. It is vital to keep our brain active always. So, here we are today to give you 10 proven ways to increase your brain power and to keep it young. Let’s begin.
#1 Meditate
Meditation may look boring and dull, but it does wonders for your body and your brain. It reduces pain and stress, lowers blood pressure, and improves memory.
According to a few studies, meditation is seen to increase gray matter in our brains. Gray matter contains neuron’s cell bodies. It starts shrinking as we age.
A study on Taiwanese students proved that meditation practices helped them to have a better spatial working memory than the ones who didn’t practice meditation.
#2 Eat the Right Food
Food plays a crucial role in the development of our bodies. For starters, reduce intake of added sugars, reduce refined carbs, completely shun smoking. Increase fish or fish oil intake, and eat lots and lots of fresh fruits and vegetables.
A study concluded that people who took more sugar had lower brain volumes than the ones who took less sugar. In the same way, refined carbs and alcohol impairs our memory and lessens our cognitive function.
On the other hand, fish oil is rich in omega 3 fatty acids, and it reduces mental decline. According to a study, people with mild cognitive impairment showed improvement after consuming fish regularly. Fresh fruits and vegetables like blueberries have antioxidants. It reduces the free radicals that harm the brain.
#3 Work Your Brain
One of the sure-shot ways to increase your brain power is by stimulating your brain. Scientists conducted several studies on humans and mice. They found a similar result in all the studies – your brain stays younger if you stimulate it often.
How do you do that? Simple. Play games that improve your brain activity, else take a crossword puzzle, solve riddles and puzzles. You can even read a lot of books and a variety of them (don’t stick to one genre).
If you have an artistic side, then there’s good news for you. Drawing, painting, singing, cooking, etc. also help in stimulating our brain.
#4 Work Your Body
Yes, you read it right. Exercise or yoga not only helps to keep your body fit but also helps your brain. The brain receives more oxygenated blood through tiny blood vessels in the animals (and humans) who regularly exercise. The number of blood vessels also increases.
Exercising in any form also helps in producing more neurons, and cell connections called the synapse. The brain becomes more adaptive, flexible, and creative due to this.
Exercising keeps blood pressure, and blood sugar levels at reasonable rates reduce stress and improve cholesterol levels.
#5 Protect Your Head
Protect your head and take good care of your head in a literal sense. Several head injuries may result in concussions, and this impairs the cognitive functions of our brain.
Some worms like maggots can penetrate through skulls and munch on our brains. There are cases of such gruesome incidents. So, take care of your head and be hygienic.
#6 Be Social
Adopting social skills is one of the main proven ways if you want to improve your brainpower. It lowers blood pressure, and it increases life expectancy as well.
Go out (if possible abroad) and experience new things. As you experience new things, the perception of your brain widens. Being out in nature gives a much-needed break for your brain.
#7 Go for Intermittent Fasting
Fasting is hard. But it is right for your brain. Staying hungry (for a limited time) makes your brain super productive.
As per studies, intermittent fasting increases HGH or human growth hormone. What does this hormone do? It restores the normal bodily functions and promotes the development of neuronal connections present in the brain.
Fasting also flushes toxic radicals out of your body. This protects your brain from the radicals that may harm it.
#8 Learn New Things
Learning keeps on stimulating and improving the brain. Learn a new language or learn at least new words (at least one) every day. Learn to cook new foods.
Learn to eat with a chopstick, learn origami, learn any musical instrument, and learn anything and everything that interests you or that you can lay your hands on (learn only good things, though).
In the same way, make a new hobby like writing a journal every day, or try to solve problems differently. Learning is a sure shot way to improve your brainpower.
#9 Sleep Well
You need to sleep to make your brain work properly. According to researches, lack of sleep is related to reduced memory.
Another study on nurses concluded that nurses who worked in nightshifts made more errors in mathematics and scored lower in memory tests than the nurses who worked in the day shift.
Adults require anywhere from 7 to 9 hours of sleep. Taking a nap also helps. A 20-minute nap improves motor skills, and a nap between 60 to 90 minutes helps in solving creative problems.
#10 Maintain Your Weight
Maintaining your body weight is not only good for your body but also your brain. Obesity changes or modifies the genes that are related to memory, and it affects memory negatively.
Obesity increases inflammation and insulin resistance, which in turn is bad for the brain. According to a study, people (of age 18 to 35) with higher BMI (Body Mass Index) performed worse on memory tests than the people with normal BMIs.
People who are obese have higher chances of getting Alzheimer’s disease, which is a progressive brain disease that destroys cognitive function and even memory.
Hope you enjoyed reading and we expect you will pick at least one of the 10 proven ways to increase your brain power and to keep it young. Tell us your experiences while following these simple tips and share your thoughts in the comments section below
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