When you’re trying to live as healthy a life as possible, to maintain your independence, strength, and capability for as long as possible, working on the body is obviously a vital part of that. But are you neglecting the organ that has to stay in control of that body, as well? No matter how well you age, if you’re not caring for your brain, then it might start to let you down. Here, we’re going to look at the various ways you can make sure that you’re taking care of your brain, keeping it fit, young, and strong for longer.
Exercise is important for your brain, as well
While you might think that exercise primarily benefits your body, every study indicates that it’s just as important for your mind, too. For instance, people who do not exercise have been found to be at a much higher risk of decline in their mental functions as they older. When you exercise, you’re increasing the blood flow to the entire body, the brain included, which can help to prevent the reduction in neural connections that become more common as time goes on. Certain exercises, such as yoga, focus on mental and emotional exercise just as much as they do the physical side, as well, so do what you can to stay active.
Mind your diet
Where you will find a tip for exercise for the good of some element of your health, then it is only natural that tips to improve your diet will soon follow. A good diet, focusing on improving your blood pressure, managing your blood sugar levels, and lowering your levels of LDL (or ‘bad’) cholesterol is good for your health across the board, but doubly so for your mental health. A diet that has fast been becoming a lot more popular is the Mediterranean style diet, which makes good use of fruits, vegetables, nuts, unsaturated oils, and oily fish, especially those that are higher in Omega-3 fatty acids. Talk to your doctor about the changes you should be making to your diet.
Quit smoking as soon as you can
Those who smoke already know that there are plenty of good reasons for them to quit. Not only does smoking play a causal role in various kinds of cancer, including mouth, throat, and lung, but it also drastically decreases respiratory health, increases the risk of heart attacks and strokes, and has a plethora of other negative effects. These effects extend to the brain as well. The risk of cognitive decline increases in smokers, making them more prone to dementia, as well as strokes, which can have permanent negative consequences for the brain. Many different smoking aids can help a person try to quit, from patches to gum to vapes, so finding the right strategy is certainly possible.
Get the sleep that you need
Of course, while we’re rolling out all of the basic health tips that pretty much affect every aspect of your health already, it’s important to be aware of the role that sleep has to play when it comes to your brain health, as well. We don’t know the exact purpose of sleep, even today, but we do know that it plays a helping role in resting your brain and allowing it to repair itself from the stresses throughout the day. We also know that a lack of sleep leads to an increased risk of dementia and other cognitive problems throughout the day. Consecutive hours of sleep is also always recommended over fragmented sleep to improve the benefits you get from it.
Work it out with some games
Gaming, in general, is known to be good for the brain. However, there are certain games that have been shown to be particularly good. These are typically the games of logic, memory, and strategy. This includes things like chess and playing card games, but one of the games that are thought to offer the most benefit for brain health is mahjong, the competitive tile-based table game. Mahjong requires the individual to be able to remember the tiles that they are looking for to complete their hand and to track the same thing for their opponents, which improves short-term memory. It also encourages strategic thinking when deciding what hands to take a risk for versus when to play it safe, and it is a social game, that speaks to another aspect of healthy brain activity: keeping company.
Learn something new
Of course, playing games that boost your brain health isn’t the only way to give it a workout. Learning something new can be just as valuable. Whether this means picking up a language learning app, learning how to code or create in your spare time, or even going back to school, by constantly challenging your brain with new concepts and disciplines, you are keeping it much more flexible and malleable, and you’re also increasing your ability to keep absorbing new information in general. It’s never too late to start learning something new, you just need to decide what you want to learn.
Be mindful of your stress levels
Your emotional health has a strong impact on other elements of your mental health, and there are few conditions that can do as much harm as uncontrolled stress. Stress is a natural and healthy response to challenging stimuli, and all of us can expect to deal with it at some point. Long-term anxiety and stress, however, affect our thinking in the short term and long term. It can make it temporarily more difficult to focus and regain attention because of our mental distractions. In the long term, the strain caused by stress can begin to affect our memory and cognition, as well. To that end, make sure that you find a way to destress, whether it’s through meditation, journaling, engagement with a hobby, or otherwise.
Avoid isolation as best as you can
It can be difficult to socialize and to make new friends as we grow older as adults, we all know that, but it is an effort that is definitely worth making. Isolation has come out recently as one of the greatest threats when it comes to the risk of memory disorders, such as Alzheimer’s and dementia. Working out the social parts of the brain is just as important to long-term mental health as keeping it young with puzzles. Indeed, games like mahjong or chess can make it easier to find clubs that you can join for some company, but you can just as easily join other hobby-based clubs with what you already enjoy.
Protect your head from harm
No one wants to get a head injury, that much is pretty much obvious from the moment of the statement. That said, some people are more prone to getting head injuries and could probably be doing more to prevent them. If you engage in any hobby or mode of transport that leaves you at risk of falling, be it skateboarding, cycling, or motorbiking, a helmet is necessary. Similarly, if you engage in sports, then invest in whatever gear might be vital for keeping your head protected from blows. Brain injuries can be very serious, indeed, affecting your memory, speech, and even emotional regulation. Do what you must to prevent them from happening.
We all get a little slower, a little less sharp as time goes on. It’s up to us to do right by our brain now, so it can keep doing right by us in the future, too.
