How To Keep Your Brain Strong and Healthy

Without your brain, it would be difficult to have a good hand over your everyday life — to say the least.

It is one of the most important organs in your body because with it, you can think, move, and sustain various biological processes. Moreover, aside from being able to fulfill those functions, a healthy brain can delay any signs of cognitive decline.

To draw out those benefits for yourself, here’s how to keep your brain strong and healthy:

Eat a healthier diet

Diet is an influential factor in determining your risk for certain brain diseases. For instance, eating a lot of sugar can spur cognitive decline along. Excess sugar in your body gets converted into fat. In turn, this can inflame the brain and cause poor memory. To help you sit out on sugary snacks, replace your favorite treats with low-sugar or non-sweet foods like trail mixes, hummus, popcorn, and even fruit smoothies (as long as you avoid artificial sweeteners). Even better, you can opt for the ace of all health plans, the MIND diet. This nutritional program requires you to eat mainly vegetables, berries, and healthily-cooked fish and poultry. To attest to its effectiveness as a brain-boosting diet, researchers found that those who ate MIND-friendly meals were at less risk of cognitive decline.

Adopt a more physical lifestyle

Exercising is great for you because it not only keeps your body fit but helps it regulate insulin. Less insulin resistance reduces inflammation. Exercise can even stimulate the brain to produce and preserve new brain cells. Fortunately, if you can’t go to the gym, you can still go all-in on working out, even from the comfort of your home. There are tons of guided workout videos online that will make you sweat and will healthily stimulate processes in your brain.

Play games with a strong social element

Games serve as a workout for your mind. You should engage in activities that promote the use of mirror neurons, which we describe as information messengers involved with learning new skills by imitation. In turn, this sharpens your cognitive abilities. One game that allows you to do this is poker. Reading other people is a huge aspect of winning at poker because it allows you to not just respond to other people’s actions but learn new strategies. Another mentally-stimulating game that you can pick up by copying how others play is chess. This is because to win a game of chess you must first learn from how pros like Garry Kasparov ensure a winning hand with classic openings like the Sicilian Defense.

Have adequate sleep

Sleep is crucial for brain health. During this period, your body flushes out the toxins that accumulate in your brain. Additionally, not having enough sleep causes your brain to be too tired to store information. To get more sleep, set a consistent sleep-wake schedule so that your body will learn to fall asleep and stay asleep at consistent hours. It’s thus advised that you sleep for 8 hours at the very least. This is the optimal number of hours to help your brain function at its best.

Poor brain health can lead to irreversible and untreatable diseases. Taking the time and effort to incorporate these tips in your daily life can minimize your risk for such with an overall healthier brain.