These days, people are generally pretty conscious about their health. We try to eat well, work out, and look after our bodies. However, in this context, we often overlook one very vital part of our bodies: our brains. Our brain is one of the most important organs in our bodies, but how much do we pay attention to looking after it and making sure it serves us in the long term?
Here are some top tips for promoting better brain health.
1. Exercise
Regular physical activity is not only important for your general fitness, your heart, and so on, it is also critical for a healthy brain. This is because regular exercise keeps our bodies healthy, from ensuring proper circulation to keeping cholesterol low, and all of this is important for good brain health. Exercise also promotes the growth of new brain cells, as well as building the connections between the brain cells.
2. Exercise Your Brain
It is also important to give your brain itself a workout in order to keep it in peak condition. Studies show that continuing to learn and give your brain a daily workout sets off neuron receptors in the brain. This neuron activity keeps your brain in peak condition and allows your brain cells to continue to perform at their best. Every time we learn something new we also create new brain rhythms in order to encode those memories. Repeating this process regularly, for example by learning something new every day, helps to keep your brain focused, sharp and healthy.
3. Give Your Brain the Right Diet
You probably already know that a healthy, balanced diet is vital for your general health, as well as your heart. But did you know that what you eat is also important for your brain? Specifically, good brain health requires a diet that is low in saturated fats and cholesterol and high in good fats such as omega-3 fatty acids. Your brain also needs nutrients such as vitamin E and lutein, so be sure to supply it with plenty of those by eating the right things.
4. Maintain Good Personal Relationships
The relationships we have with those around us also help to keep us not only happy, but to keep our brain healthy as well. Regular social interactions can actually create new brain cells, as well as repairing any damage to old cells in the brain. This has been found to be particularly important as we age, and are at risk of deteriorating brain function and the development of conditions such as Alzheimer’s Disease. Studies have found that older people with higher levels of social interaction have a significantly lower level of memory loss compared to those who are less socially active. This is partly because as we interact with others we exercise certain parts of the brain, including our “transactive” memory, which remembers details about other people.
5. Be Positive
You may find it hard to believe, but positive thinking also plays an important role in keeping our brain healthy. Thinking positively sets down certain neuro-pathways, and then as we continue to think positive thoughts we reinforce those pathways, causing us to have a positive outlook. Positive thinking also causes us to grow into that positivity: essentially, as we expect good things of ourselves and the world around us, this becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy as we unconsciously make that happen.
6. CBD Oil
Organic CBD oil has many benefits for brain health. Research is still in its early stages, but some studies have found that CBD oil could improve function and ease symptoms in neurodegenerative conditions. This is because CBD interacts with receptors in the brain, blocking some of the effects of these kinds of conditions. It is believed that CBD, or cannabidiol, will be able to help in treating Huntington’s Disease, Alzheimer’s Disease, MS, Parkinson’s Disease, and stroke.
7. Sleep Well
Having quality sleep, and enough of it, is also vital for good brain health. While you sleep, your body is able to perform critical routine processes such as hormone production, as well as repair cells and tissues, including in the brain. Furthermore, our dreams allow our brains to process the information they have received throughout the day and make sense of it. While we sleep, our brain also solidifies whatever we have learned the day before, and frees up more space to learn new things the next day. On the other hand, failing to get a solid seven or eight hours of sleep a night means that these critical processes don’t occur and your brain is not able to function as well.
