The 7 Secret of Keeping Your Brain Healthy

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Our brains changes with age, and mental function changes too.

When anything you do becomes second nature, you need to make a change and move on to a new challenge in order to get the best workout for your brain.

However, cognitive impairment is not inevitable.

Here are 7 secrets that can help you maintain a healthy brain function;

1. Get plenty of sleep.

This  plays an important role in your brain health. There are some theories that sleep helps clear abnormal proteins in your brain and consolidates memories, which boosts your overall memory and brain health.

It is important that you try to get seven to eight consecutive hours of sleep per night, not fragmented sleep of two- or three-hour increments.

Consecutive sleep gives your brain the time to consolidate and store your memories effectively. Sleep apnea is harmful to your brain’s health and may be the reason why you may struggle to get consecutive hours of sleep.

Talk with your health care provider if you or a family member suspects you have sleep apnea.

2. Exercise

Take a hike, go for a quick jog, or visit the weight room or the gym if time allows. Brief, strategically placed spurts of exercise increase energy and blood flow to the brain—think a (literal) mini “rush”—allowing you to return to your desk refreshed, and allowing your brain to work at peak performance.

In the long-term, getting regular physical activity—both cardio and strength training—is one of the best ways to keep your brain healthy.

The more you keep the body, as well as the mind, engaged and active, the better both will work together, research study suggest regular exercise can improve cognition and improve risk factors for dementia.

Current guidelines recommend at least 150 minutes of moderate-to-intense aerobic activity each week, including muscle-building activity two days a week.

3. Improve your diet

Good nutrition can help your mind as well as your body. For example, people that eat a diet that emphasizes fruits, vegetables, fish, nuts, unsaturated oils and plant sources of proteins are less likely to develop cognitive impairment and dementia.

Note that you are to avoid;

Avoid tobacco in all its forms.
Alcohol- Excessive drinking is a major risk factor for dementia. If you choose to drink, limit yourself to two drinks a day.

4.Protect your head

Moderate to severe head injuries, even without diagnosed concussions, increase the risk of cognitive impairment.make sure to be mindful of objects around your head side and whatsoever you’d be placing your head on.

5. Stay mentally active.

Your brain is similar to a muscle — you need to use it or you lose it. There are many things that you can do to keep your brain in shape, such as doing crossword puzzles or Sudoku, reading, playing cards or putting together a jigsaw puzzle.

Consider it cross-training your brain. So incorporate different activities to increase the effectiveness.

I don’t recommend any of the paid brain-training programs available today. These programs often make promises that they can’t keep or focus on memorization skills that aren’t useful in everyday life.

Your brain can get just as good of a workout through reading or challenging yourself with puzzles. Finally, don’t watch too much television, as that is a passive activity and does little to stimulate your brain.

6.Make Simple Changes

We love our routines. We have hobbies and pastimes that we could do for hours on end. But the more something is ‘second nature,’ the less our brains have to work to do it. To really help your brain stay young, challenge it.

Change routes to the grocery store, use your opposite hand to open doors and eat dessert first. All this will force your brain to wake up from habits and pay attention again.

7. Don’t: Stress Out

We know—easier said than done. While some stress and anxiety may help motivate you to meet an approaching deadline, taking on too much backfires. And also, it prevents the brain from absorbing information as efficiently as it should. Check out https://www.nairavoice.com.ng/ways-to-become-more-smarter/

In the short-term, you’ll feel overwhelmed when these triggers build up. And over time, the long-term effects of stress hormones like cortisol can actually damage and destroy brain cells.