We’re hearing more about the decline in our cognitive abilities every single day, and it can certainly cause us to worry more about whether we’re actually doing the right things. We’re all hunting for those almighty solutions to preserve our brain health, but a lot of the best practices are very simple, so here are some key elements for your everyday brain health:
Challenge Your Mind
Keeping your brain active with things that feel difficult to achieve is critical. We all tend to avoid things because something becomes too tough, but learning new skills or hobbies, whether it’s going on a piano course or playing strategy games, whether it’s chess, card games, puzzles like Sudoku and crosswords, or new languages, can help build those new neural connections and could reduce the risk of cognitive decline.
Manage Your Stress
Chronic stress can negatively affect our brain health over time by shrinking our hippocampus, meaning that if you experience memory problems, this could very well be why! Yes, the irony of worrying about your brain health could affect your brain health. So start to think about stress reduction activities that you can put into your daily routine.
You may feel that there’s very little time to do these things. However, it’s not about setting aside 30 minutes a day; do the simple things that can help you and just perform them little and often. If you feel like you don’t have time to do anything, just sit, close your eyes, and focus on your breath for a count of five seconds in and 10 seconds out. This very simple practice stimulates your vagus nerve, which then can help you to relax.
Be Mindful
These are also mindfulness practices, but mindfulness is an overused term these days and is often confused with something like meditation. Mindfulness can be as simple as you closing your eyes and just learning to accept thoughts that come in and out of your mind rather than forcing them away. Acceptance is not just key to mindfulness but can give us a little bit more of an ability to deal with life.
Sleep and Exercise
Many health experts continually bang these two drums, but there’s a reason why! Yes, we know that we should be eating the right things and particularly avoid ultra-processed foods because they can cross the blood-brain barrier, but we also need to remember that good sleep will consolidate our memories, clear toxins from the brain, and improve our overall cognitive functions.
Remember: working out increases blood flow to the brain and promotes the growth of new brain cells. Moderate-intensity exercise is the key, and ensuring you do this approximately five times a week can make all the difference.
Looking after our brain health is very simple, and in the modern world where we’re all feeling way too busy to do anything and overtired to the point that we don’t want to exert ourselves more than necessary, some of these simple tricks could be all we need.
