Brain Exercises To Strengthen Your Mind:
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The brain is a ‘control room’ that helps the rest of the organs and limbs to coordinate seamlessly. Therefore, it is the most important part of the body. However, with time, it loses its strength due to overuse and lack of stimulation which may, in turn, cause dementia or memory loss, lack of motor control, seizures or difficulty with speech and comprehension.
The brain’s cognitive reserve, i.e. its ability to withstand neurological damage due to aging and other factors without showing visible signs of slowing or memory loss, diminishes over the years, making it difficult to perform mental tasks. Nevertheless, with some simple activities, this issue can be addressed. Regular, targeted brain exercises can also increase the brain’s cognitive reserve.
1. Brain Nourishing Diet:
We all know eating healthy is vital for our mental and physical wellbeing. Know more about gut brain connection. One sure-shot way of increasing your brain’s cognitive ability is through healthy lifestyle choices like not smoking, optimal weight and height ratio of the body (BMI), high fruit and vegetable intake, regular physical activity and low-to-moderate alcohol intake. Additionally, a well-balanced diet low in fat, low in cholesterol and high in antioxidants helps the brain to remain active.
But there’s more to this process, learn the benefits of probiotics and there is a strong gut brain connection. Not only probiotics there are other foods too, some foods that reduce stress and some brain foods to have at the moment of stress to calm down.
2. Exercises That Stimulate The Brain:
Only good nutrition is not enough – the regular exercise of the brain promotes vascular health to help protect the tissues in the brain.
Besides, the brain wants to learn new things so avoiding boredom is also critical: A brain that is passive is more likely to degenerate. Therefore, prolonged sedentary and relatively passive activities, such as sitting in front of the TV for hours a day, can be detrimental to brain health.
Real-life activities that need your brain to strain a bit are a good tool to start with – for instance driving home via a different route.
3. Sudoku And Mental Maths:
The morning newspaper can be a good place to start this practice. Try to complete a sudoku table or word puzzle, as solving a puzzle keeps you practicing logical thinking processes and eventually improves your number skills and reduces the chances of you developing neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s by keeping your brain active.
Doing simple maths in your head also helps — without the aid of a pencil, paper, or computer, your brain will work harder to solve a problem. You can also make this more difficult and athletic by walking at the same time.
4. Learn Something New:
Music, martial arts, cooking, painting, and foreign languages the list can be exhaustive when it comes to what interests you. Whatever it is, go for it, as learning a new skill or language stimulates the brain. Cooking uses a number of senses like smell, touch, sight, and taste, all of which involve different parts of the brain. While learning a foreign language, listening and hearing involved stimulating the brain, while a rich vocabulary has been linked to a reduced risk for cognitive decline.
5. Practice Recall Exercises:
Make a list of grocery items, things to do, or anything else that comes to your mind, and memorize it. An hour later, try to recall it and see how many items you can remember. A more challenging list will promote greater mental stimulation. Similarly, visualize the spelling of a word in your head, then try and think of any other words that begin (or end) with the same two letters. Or, draw a map from memory after returning home from visiting a new place and repeat this exercise each time you visit a new location.
6. Positive Thinking And Continuous Practise Of Brain Gymnastics:
Your mind is at times as good as you are. So, remain positive and push your brain to think positively. By doing this, you will boost your confidence level, improve self-esteem, revitalize natural healing mechanisms and thus, restore health and harmony.
Some of the common ways of practicing brain gymnastics are by doing neck rolls, belly breathing, brain buttons, and cross crawl to name a few. Brain gymnastics also improve eyesight and increase creativity and communication skills. However, make sure you regularly practice brain gymnastics to reap the maximum benefit.
In conclusion, don’t forget that adequate sleep is a prerequisite of a healthy brain. So, make sure you get seven-eight hours of sleep every night.
