7 Natural Ways to Sharpen Your Mind

Mental decline is an inevitable part of growing older. While you can’t control time and aging, you can take a proactive approach to your brain health by making natural lifestyle choices that keep your mind sharp. Sometimes, your gray matter needs some nurturing, so making a few adjustments and increasing your awareness can motivate you to adapt some new habits.

Here are some simple and natural ways to keep your brain young. And check out our article about brain health myths.

1. Practice Cognitive Training Exercises

A sharp mind requires well-maintained brain plasticity. While that might be a strange way to describe your brain, plasticity plays a critical role in cognitive ability. It’s your brain’s ability to consistently adapt and change throughout your lifetime. You can maintain plasticity when you challenge your mind or stretch its intellectual capacity. In other words, the more you exercise your brain the healthier it will be. You can do this through cognitive training exercises, which are activities that challenge your mind like:

• Learning a new language
• Playing chess or board games
• Taking a new route to work
• Using your opposite hand
• Beginning a new hobby

There are countless ways to challenge your mind, so find ways that interest you most.

2. Meditate to Tame Stress

Chronic stress kills brain cells, shrinks your brain, restructures it, and even impairs your memory. The only way to prevent this is to make necessary changes that minimize your stress response. In addition to adjusting your daily life to decrease stress triggers, you can also incorporate a mediation practice into your day. Just 10-20 minutes each day can help to alleviate stress. And there are many methods for meditation, including breathing exercises, tai chi, yoga, or spiritual exercise like prayer.

Here is on of our article about other reasons your memory may be getting worse.

3. Commit to Daily Exercise

Physical exercise promotes production of a protein that boosts learning, memory, and elevated thinking. This protein stimulates the grown of new neurons and maintains existing ones. Exercise literally revs up your brain and helps create new neural pathways.

For overall health, it’s generally recommend that you engage in a variety of exercises, including aerobic, strength training, and stretching (yoga or tai chi).

4. Avoid Sugar

High-sugar diets harm your brain, causing oxidative stress (imbalance between antioxidants and free radicals), inflammation, and inadequate insulin regulation.

But how do you know if your diet is high in sugar? What is the limit?

The American Heart Association recommends adult women consume no more than six teaspoons or 24 grams of added sugar per day and no more than nine teaspoons or 36 grams per day for men. To keep things in perspective, one 12-ounce can of soda contains about 39 grams of added sugar–more than anyone should have in an entire day.

If you want to naturally sharpen your mind, hold the sugar and adopt an anti-inflammatory diet that is high in fish, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, and seeds.

5. Up Your Antioxidants

Increasing the volume of antioxidants in your diet can improve learning, memory, and overall cognitive ability. This prevents harmful chemical reactions in within your brain. So how do you accomplish? Include antioxidant-rich foods in your diet, like:

• Berries
• Carrots
• Spinach
• Red grapes
• Green tea
• Coffee
• Dark chocolate (in moderation)

Many fruits and vegetable are rich in antioxidants so be sure to eat a wide variety of produce.

6. Get Adequate, Quality Sleep

Sleep deprivation seriously affects your brain power, making it difficult to remember simple things, communicate clearly, or process your thoughts. Your brain is operating at a noticeably lower capacity when you’re lacking in sleep.

Consider if you need more hours of sleep or better quality sleep. Most adults need 7-8 hours to function at optimal brain levels. You can use smart watches or Fitbit device to monitor your sleeping habits, including how well you’re sleeping.

To improve quality of sleep, read our article, Feel Like the Walking Dead? Get Better Sleep with These 7 Tips.

7. Be Social

Socializing not only helps sharpen your mind, it also lowers your risk for developing dementia and Alzheimer’s. This is because social activity engages multiple areas of your brain and especially if physical activity is involved.

While it may be hard to take this step as an introvert, a healthier mind will be worth sacrifice some of your alone for. If you’re not sure where to start, try volunteering in your community, taking a class, joining a club, and keeping in close contact with your family and friends.

Aging Brain, Aging Bladder

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