When you think about fitness, you probably think about your body shape and muscles, but do you ever consider brain fitness? Your brain plays a critical role in every area of your life, from learning, working and playing, to personality, aptitude and memory. While the brain is one of the body’s most important organs, it is also one of the most mysterious.
What’s good for your body is good for your brain. That means eating a balanced diet with lots of fruits and veggies and not much sugar, saturated fat, or alcohol, as well as getting enough exercise and sleeping about eight hours a night. Every brain changes with age, and mental function changes along with it. Everyone want to stay sharp as they get older. Although aging is inevitable, there is a lot you can do to keep your brain as young as possible.
Feed your brain: A healthy diet will help keep your brain healthy, and help your heart, too. Eat lots of colourful fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and cold-water fish like wild salmon. Choose healthy fats that come from polyunsaturated fats like olive oil instead of saturated fats like butter. And consider adding these brain healthy foods to your menu like Blueberries, salmon, nuts and seeds, whole grains, avocados, beans, citrus fruits, vegetables, dark chocolate etc.
Improve your blood pressure: High blood pressure in midlife increases the risk of cognitive decline in old age. Use lifestyle modification to keep your pressure as low as possible. Stay lean, exercise regularly, limit your alcohol to two drinks a day, reduce stress, and eat right.
Don’t abuse alcohol: Excessive drinking is a major risk factor for dementia. If you choose to drink, limit yourself to two drinks a day. But if you use alcohol responsibly, you may actually reduce your risk of dementia. At least five studies have linked low-dose alcohol with a reduced risk of dementia in older adults.
Protect your head: You may be surprised to learn that moderate to severe head injuries early in life increase the risk of cognitive impairment in old age. Concussions increase risk by a factor of 10.
Stay Physically Active and Healthy: Overall physical health is closely linked to brain health, making a healthy body key to a healthy brain. Exercise significantly improves health in many ways, from helping to maintain a healthy weight and keeping cholesterol levels in check, to maintaining good blood flow to the body and brain and encouraging the growth of new brain cells and connections.
Exercise your brain: If you want to stay sharp, use your brain now, and don’t stop. The latest research shows that exercising your brain throughout your life slows mental decline in old age. Keeping your brain active appears to protect the connections among brain cells, and may even help you grow new cells.
Improve your blood sugar: Diabetes is an important risk factor for dementia. You can fight diabetes by eating right, exercising regularly, and staying lean. But if your blood sugar stays high, you’ll need medication to achieve good control.
Improve your cholesterol: High levels of LDL (“bad”) cholesterol increase the risk of dementia, as do low levels of HDL (“good”) cholesterol. Diet, exercise, weight control, and avoiding tobacco will go a long way toward improving your cholesterol levels. But if you need more help, ask your doctor about medication.
Smile to boost brain health: Smiling is free and boosts brain health, it gives birth to new brain cells and encourages changes in areas of the brain associated with learning and memory. It makes your brain more flexible, more resilient and better able to cope when challenged by injury or neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s. Smiling releases hormones that make you feel good, lowers blood pressure, boosts immune function and protects against stress, depression and anxiety.
Socialize: Humans are wired to be social even introverts, learning new experiences and new friends and old friends do more than enrich your life. Research shows that an active social life helps reduce your risk of developing dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease. The theory is that social connections help keep the connections between your brain cells (neurons) strong.
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