I don’t stop learning about our brain by reading the profound studies made by the experts. I came across an article which I think is worth sharing here. It is my wish that all the people will know the importance of our brain since this is considered responsible in all the activity in our body. Therefore, we need to learn how to take care and maintain our brain.
Keeping our brain in great shape turns out not to be too different from what we need to do to keep the rest of our body in great shape. Great brain fitness requires the right amount of sleep, aerobic exercise, a good diet and sustained mental activity.
A large amount of research have proven that sleep affects neuroplasticity. Sleep allows us to consolidate learning and memory. When we learn a skill during the day, we will be better at it the next day if we have good night’s sleep. This has been proven in one of experiments done by the experts.
On the other hand, sleep deprivation severely impacts our brain. Research has shown that people who consistently get less sleep than others have overall decreased brain function. People who get less than seven hours of sleep a night have lower activity in the temporal lobes, the part of the brain involved in learning and memory. Sleep deprivation is also associated with depression and attention deficit disorders. It has been suggested that we have to try to sleep at least seven to eight hours each night, that we avoid as much caffeine and nicotine as possible, and avoid exercise before going to sleep.
There a relationship between exercise and mental alertness. Though this is intuitively obvious, it is important to understand the brain’s need for oxygen. According to study, “moderate exercise improves the heart’s ability to pump blood throughout the body and helps maintain healthy blood flow to the brain which increases oxygen and glucose delivery. It has also been noted that the regular habit of physical exercise is very important to prevent age-related memory problems. Numerous studies show the benefits of exercise on cognition. A lifetime of exercise can result in a sometimes astonishing elevation in cognitive performance, compared to those who are sedentary. The good news is that our brains can reap the benefits of exercise even though we may have led sedentary lives. Again, numerous studies show that “when couch potatoes are enrolled in an aerobic exercise program, all kinds of mental abilities begin to come back online.”
The right kind of diet affects our brains, and conversely a bad diet will damage our brains. We know that we feel better when we eat better, but we also think better when we eat better. Experts suggests a number of brain-promoting nutritional tips as follows:.
1. Increase water intake;
2. Eat fewer calories;
3. Eat more fish and fish oil and other types of unsaturated fats;
4. Eat lots of dietary antioxidants; and
5. Make sure you get a good balance of protein, good fats and carbohydrates.
Finally, mental exercise is an important element in maintaining and increasing our brain’s plasticity. It is often said, and it is true, that our brain is a muscle and can be improved by exercise. So how does this work? It has been suggested that the best mental exercise is learning new things, gaining new knowledge, and doing activities you have not done before. “Whenever the brain does something over and over, even a complicated task, it learns how to do it using less and less energy. Learning new things or learning a new hobby or even a new game “helps establish new connections, thus maintaining and improving the function of other less-often-used brain areas.” A large number of studies show that engaging in these types of mental activities in older age can significantly decrease our chances of developing Alzheimer’s disease.
I hope that this article I have shared to you will make you decide to start taking care of your brain. It doesn’t need a lot of complicated procedure to take care of your brain. It is just a matter of attitude and understanding the right kind of foods to feed your brain.
