5 Useful Nutrition and Activity Tips to Improve Your Brain Health
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there has been a 13% increase in mental health issues around the globe. There are variety of factors that are causing this problem ranging from our diets to the pace of life – and even widespread social media addiction.
By looking after your brain’s health, you’ll be able to keep mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, brain fog, etc. at bay. Besides nutrition and physical activity, you’ll also need to de-stress and avoid watching the news. Reducing your usage of digital devices, especially your mobile phone will help to bring about more serenity in your life too.
In this article, we’ll look at how leading a healthy lifestyle will promote good brain health – and what you need to do to achieve this.
- Clean up your diet
This is the first and most important step. Cleaning up your diet will mean consuming wholesome foods instead of processed foods. You’ll also want to minimize your intake of alcohol.
Reduce your carb and sugar intake so that your blood sugar levels stabilize. Ideally, you’ll want to be on an intermittent fasting plan where you have a 6-hour eating window and an 18-hour fasting window.
Studies have shown that intermittent fasting reduces brain fog, inflammation and increases the neuroplasticity of your brain. Furthermore, when you’re fasting, there will be minimal spikes in your blood sugar levels. That’s fantastic.
Some foods have been shown to boost your brain health. Here’s a list of foods you should consume:
- Apples
- Avocados
- Bananas
- Blueberries
- Broccoli
- Carrots
- Coconut oil
- Coffee
- Dark chocolate
- Eggs
- Kale
- Oily fish (salmon, sardines, etc.
- Oysters
- Raspberries
- Spinach
- Tomatoes
- Walnuts
Each of these foods is chockful of health benefits and we could spend all day analyzing the vitamins and micro nutrients in them – but that’s unnecessary.
Let’s keep things simple and just focus on making these foods a part of our daily diet. This is the best way to achieve good brain health and maintain it, without over complicating things.
It goes without saying that what you don’t eat is just as important as what you do eat.
You’ll want to steer clear of artificial sweeteners, foods containing high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), hydrogenated vegetable oils, sugary sodas and any processed foods that has tons of ingredients you’ve never heard of and can barely pronounce.
Stick to healthy foods and your body will be healthy.
- Supplementation
While you should focus on consuming nutritious foods, sometimes, it might be difficult to get all the required nutrients from food alone.
For example, consuming a vitamin C supplement will be easier than eating several oranges throughout the day.
Or let’s assume you dislike the taste of fish. Now, eating fish such as salmon or sardines will be a chore. The easiest way to get around this issue will be to swallow two fish oil pills that are rich in omega-3 fatty acids.
There are several supplements that will complement your diet and provide you a multitude of health benefits. Here’s a list of supplements you may wish to consume:
- Fish oil
- B-Complex (Vitamins B6, B9 & B12)
- Magnesium
- Ashwagandha
- Gingko Biloba
- Garlic oil
- Bacopa
- Curcumin
Get a few of these and take them at intervals (cycle) to accrue the benefits of these potent supplements.
- Cardio training
There is a plethora of health benefits that can be accrued from cardio training. Not only will your stamina increase, but your blood circulation will improve and you’ll burn off excess fat. This will help to clear your arteries too.
There must be good blood circulation in your body so that your brain receives oxygen-rich blood which has nutrients. This will promote optimal brain function.
Cardiovascular activity is great for getting your heart pumping and your blood flowing. However, cardio can be a tiring activity – and it’s the main reason why so many people avoid it.
That said, cardio doesn’t have to be torturous. Even a brisk walk for 30 to 45 minutes counts as cardio and it’ll benefit you immensely when done daily.
You don’t need to sprint or cycle hard just to achieve cardio benefits. As long as your heart rate is slightly elevated for a prolonged period of time, you’re effectively doing cardio.
Choose a cardio activity that you enjoy and do it 3-4 times a week.
- Resistance training
Depending on your training regimen, you may do resistance training 2-3 times a week. As you age, resistance training becomes even more important. It not only improves brain function, but also prevents sarcopenia and osteoporosis.
Resistance training has been shown to be a good form of stress relief too. There’s something almost cathartic about lifting weights and working your muscles.
Many people are intimidated by weight training because they believe it’s ‘bodybuilding territory’ that’s best reserved for muscular people.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Almost all of us will benefit from resistance training.
Studies are showing that resistance training has a positive effect on cognition and it protects the brain from degeneration. (Source: https://www.sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2020/02/11/strength-training-can-help-protect-the-brain-from-degeneration.html)
So you definitely want to incorporate it into your exercise program.
- Learning a new physical skill
There are several skills such as juggling, dancing, martial arts, yoga, etc. that will help your body and mind work synergistically.
Unlike cardio and resistance training which will tend to become ‘automatic’ once you’re familiar with the movements, activities such as dancing will require you to learn new moves. This forces your brain to work while the body is active.
Similarly, juggling is another fantastic activity because your brain will need to learn and understand the patterns first – and it’ll have to develop the motor skills to execute the throws and catches effectively.
Physical activities that require you to master new techniques will accelerate growth of neural connections in your brain. Your focus and memory will improve too.
In conclusion, the 5 tips mentioned above may seem like common sense… but implementing them is not easy. Since, most of us prefer to do what’s easy rather than what is right, it’ll take time to inculcate these habits in your daily life.
To improve your brain health, you’ll need to gradually change your diet until it’s clean and beneficial to your body. This is non-negotiable. You know what they say, “Healthy body, healthy mind.”
You’ll also want to engage in both cardio and resistance training regularly. An hour of exercise is just 4% of your day. These days, people spend up to 3-4 hours a day just scrolling on their phones (Source: https://www.comparitech.com/tv-streaming/screen-time-statistics/)
Now imagine exercising an hour a day for 90 days. The compounded effect of your training will make you feel like a brand-new person. If your diet is on point, you’d have lost weight, built muscle and look totally different.
Very often, people who have lost weight and transformed their bodies mention that it has been a life-changing experience – and it is. Not only do they look and feel better, but they have increased clarity, more mental energy, and a positive outlook on life.
Do you know what that means?
It means their brains became healthier too. Your body works synergistically. One positive change affects the rest… and if your body is healthy, inevitably your brain and mind will become healthy too.
Start focusing on your brain health and your future self will thank you for it.
“To keep the body in good health is a duty… otherwise, we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear.” – Buddha