Strategies to Supercharge Your Brain Power
As people get older, changes occur in the brain that may result in:
- Parts of the brain shrinking, and it's often in the important areas of learning and other complex mental activities.
- Blood flow in the brain decreasing.
- Inflammation in the body increasing.
To support your mental function as you age, it's a good idea to have several strategies to supercharge your brain power. Let's explore three strategies below:
Omega-3s: Research has found that omega-3s found in red blood cells were associated with better brain structure and cognitive function among healthy study volunteers in their 40s and 50s (published in Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology).
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Exercise: You know exercise is good for your physical health, but did you know it’s also good for your brain? The latest neurological research has shown that there is a so-called ‘magic protein’ called Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) that has the power to supercharge your brain and improve your memory. And it is stimulated by cardiovascular exercise!
BDNF can rewire and build new neural pathways in the brain, especially in the crucial areas that control memory (the hippocampus) and analysis, thinking, and decision-making (the frontal lobes). Your frontal lobes are where most of the intellectual activity of the brain takes place, from processing the data that’s coming in all the time to problem-solving and making ethical decisions. You can keep these critical parts of your brain bathed in BDNF by merely increasing the amount of exercise in your daily routine.
If you find it hard to commit to regular exercise, here are three ways you can make it easier and supercharge your brain at the same time.
Make it Fun
The key to maintaining an exercise regime is to choose an activity or activities that you enjoy. Not everyone likes going to the gym, but there are many other ways to increase your heart rate and get the BDNF pumping.
Dancing, swimming, hiking out in nature, and bike riding will all get your heart rate up, and you’ll enjoy doing it. Even brisk walking will help. As a bonus, exercise will boost your endorphins, too, making you happier and more relaxed.
Schedule Your Exercise
It’s easier to stick to a regular exercise plan if you schedule time in your diary. Set aside time and increase your sessions until you’re exercising for thirty minutes, four or five times a week. Like any other habit, once you make it a priority, it will become just another part of your regular routine like brushing your teeth.
Make it Musical
Research has shown that music can increase motivation and happiness. Exercise will be much more fun if you’re bopping away to your favourite tunes. Even housework can become a brain-boosting dance routine when you’re vacuuming along to music that makes you smile. Turn up the volume and start cleaning to the beat!
Create a playlist of your favourite songs, and you will find that exercise is pleasurable and much easier to stick to when there’s upbeat music to encourage you!
Meditation: A research study of a Tibetan Buddhist monk that measured his brain wave activity whilst meditating on compassion found significantly elevated gamma brain waves. This was then replicated by 21 other monks in the study. The results were astounding because most people only experience gamma brain waves for a fraction of a second but for the monks in this study, they experienced these brain waves for the whole time they meditated.
Another study from UCLA showed that meditation preserves the aging brain so adding meditation as a healthy habit will be a game changer for your brain.
Your wellness is important to me and if you want to learn more strategies to align your mind, soul and body to live in full expression, sign up for my free guide "5 Strategies to Bust Stress Fast" by clicking here. These strategies can help you in all areas of your life.
Here's to living your best life!
Melissa Taylor
Future Transcendence Leadership Mentor
