brain health

3 Tips for a Healthier Brain

Hit the books

Formal education in any stage of life will help reduce your risk of cognitive decline and dementia. For example, take a class at a local college, community center or online.

Butt out

Evidence shows that smoking increases risk of cognitive decline. Quitting smoking can reduce that risk to levels comparable to those who have not smoked.

Heads up!

Brain injury can raise your risk of cognitive decline and dementia. Wear a seat belt, use a helmet when playing contact sports or riding a bike, and take steps to prevent falls.

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A Happy Brain Doesn’t Need Happy Hour

Excessive drinking is a major risk factor for dementia. If you choose to drink, limit yourself to two drinks a day.

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Brain Fuel and Food

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

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Tips to Keep Your Brain in Tip Top Form

Through research with mice and humans, scientists have found that brainy activities stimulate new connections between nerve cells and may even help the brain generate new cells, developing neurological “plasticity” and building up a functional reserve that provides a hedge against future cell loss.

Any mentally stimulating activity should help to build up your brain. Read, take courses, try “mental gymnastics,” such as word puzzles or math problems Experiment with things that require manual dexterity as well as mental effort, such as drawing, painting, and other crafts.

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Raise Your Eyebrows

While you may want to practice this tip privately rather than on the subway, you’ll be pleased. You may feel silly, but as soon as you try this tip, you’ll understand exactly what I mean. Raising your eyebrows opens your eyes wider, resulting in a slight adrenaline boost. You’ll instantly feel brighter and more alert.

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Yes, You Can Improve Brain Function by Learning Something New 

Despite the hype, crossword puzzles and online games by themselves will not boost your brain. But learning something new will. Researchers had older people try different activities, but only those who learned a new skill, such as quilting, showed significant improvement in brain function. The brain is like a muscle. The more you use it the stronger it gets. So find a new hobby that excites and challenges you. Pick up a musical instrument, try a new language, or play chess on the computer.

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Take Timeout for a Nap

Sleep has proven to be one of the most important elements in having a good memory.  . . . Even a short nap can improve your memory recall. . . . Research indicates that when memory is first recorded in the brain–in the hippocampus, to be specific–it’s still “fragile” and easily forgotten, especially if the brain is asked to memorize more things. Napping, it seems, pushes memories to the neocortex, the brain’s “more permanent storage,” preventing them from being “overwritten.”

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Improving Your Memory: Did You Know Chewing Gum May Help?

Another easy method to try that could improve your memory is chewing gum while you learn new things. There’s been some contradictory research around this topic, so it’s not a solid bet, but a study published last year showed that participants who completed a memory recall task were more accurate and had higher reaction times if they chewed gum during the study. One reason that chewing gum might affect our memory recall is that it increases activity in the hippocampus, an important area of the brain for memory. It’s still unclear why this happens, though.

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Your Mind: Use It or Lose It

Mental exercise is just as critical as physical exercise in keeping your brain fit and healthy. Mental exercises may improve your brain’s functioning and promote new brain cell growth, decreasing your likelihood of developing dementia. Like your muscles, you have to use your brain or you lose it.

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