7 Tips To Keep Your Brain Sharp

To keep your brain sharp, there are a few tricks you can apply to your everyday, behavioral and dietary habits. After all, they ensure that your gray matter will be able to prevent or postpone certain diseases.

Your way of life can sometimes cause ailments that could have been prevented. However, stress, high blood pressure, cholesterol, obesity, etc. do not always have to lead to brain damage.

But sometimes even a simple headache is the result of a day full of stress and worry. The brain plays a role in a whole range of diseases. It is therefore important that we keep them healthy.

Pay attention to the signs your brain is giving you. After all, ‘little things’, such as slight forgetfulness or that feeling that ‘something is on the tip of your tongue’ but you just can’t figure it out, could indicate more serious conditions.

Fortunately, there are things you can do yourself to improve your cognitive and mental reserves. Read below what these are!

Tips to keep your brain sharp

1. Take care of your cognitive reserve

All your experience, all your knowledge and even all your suffering is part of your memory in the form of memories. These memories also lay the foundation on which your information vault can grow. If you are looking for memories and emotions, it is this safe that you open.

It is also here in the brain that you learn and make decisions every day based on everything you have experienced so far. This is called the cognitive reserve.

The greater your reserve, the better protected you are against premature aging. Your cognitive reserve consists of cerebral connections, which play a role in speeding up the signals sent by the brain cells.

The more connections there are in your brain, the more brain tissue you will have, which in turn ensures that you will be better protected against possible disorders. This is why it is so important to experiment and learn new things every day.

2. Watch what you eat

Your brain is an organ that needs a lot of energy. In fact, the brain uses as much as 20 to 30% of the calories you take in in a day.

But your brain only benefits from the right calories in the long run. Eating too much fat and, more importantly, industrialized foods, should therefore be avoided to keep your brain sharp in the long run.

Nutritionists recommend adequate intake of the following chemical elements, which can be found in the following foods:

• Tryptophan: A basic need for learning. You can find it in foods such as fish, egg, nuts, bananas, pineapple and avocados.
• Choline: Soy and eggs are rich in this element, which is essential in the transmission of nerve impulses to the muscles.
• L-glutamine: Used in building gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in the brain. It contributes to a good mood and a general sense of well-being. It is present in sesame seeds and sunflower seeds.
• Flavanoids: Fundamental to the connections between neurons. They slow down the aging of neurons and improve memory. They can be found in beans, chocolate and red wine.
• Alpha Lipoic Acid: Also essential for neurons, as it counteracts stress and neutralizes free radicals. It is found in green vegetables such as spinach, lettuce, cabbage, broccoli etc.

• Vitamin E: Essential for a healthy brain. It activates neurons and prevents oxidation of the membrane of neurons. It can be found in curry, asparagus, avocados, walnuts, peanuts, olives and olive oil.

3. Stay active

Exercise is good for the brain! Studies show that exercise can prevent or delay diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Half an hour of exercise a day, for example by walking, cycling, swimming or any other form of exercise, stimulates and improves the cognitive function of the brain.

4. Learn to deal with emotions

Stress is a real culprit and certainly not a friend of a healthy brain. So learn to let go of things. The toxic effect of the pressure exerted on you by your lifestyle and the accompanying daily obligations builds up in your body and accelerates your cell aging.

That is why it is important to keep calm, keep positive thoughts and look at things from a serene perspective, in which you respect your physical and mental health.

5. Get out and be social

A full social life enriches your mind. Experiences with friends and family provide conversation, support, encouragement and stimulation. Socialization gives meaning to life and stimulates ideas, projects and dreams. The human brain is fed by these stimuli and experiences, which strengthen the cognitive reserve and keep your brain young and healthy.

6. Get your rest

Adequate sleep is fundamental for body and mind. If you don’t get enough sleep, your brain will have trouble doing its job properly.

Organizing memories or categorizing experiences may seem natural, but in fact it is not easy for our brains to give all that data a place.

Even at night, the brain is active, so it’s doubly important to give yourself enough time under the wool, so that your brain can quietly process what it’s throwing at you.

7. Brain Gymnastics

In addition to physical exercise , your brain needs mental exercise to continue to function properly. Challenge your brain regularly and go play a game of chess with a friend or family member, for example.

Or why not solve a crossword puzzle or sudoku every now and then? Even reading a book or keeping a journal, where you reflect on your daily experiences, will benefit your brain. So never stop challenging yourself to keep your brain sharp!