Feed your Brain
Your brain is the control centre of your body. It is responsible for conscious thought - walking, talking, texting - and unconscious acts - release of hormones when in danger, breathing, and consolidation of memories to name a few. While your brain represents 2-4% of your body weight, it consumes about 20% of all the energy from your food. Like the rest of your body, your brain benefits from a healthy diet rich in cruciferous green vegetables (kale, spinach, Brussels sprouts, artichokes, bok choy and broccoli), nuts (especially walnuts), omega-3 fatty acids (found in fatty fish like mackerel, trout, salmon and sardines as well as oysters, cod liver oil, caviar, flax seeds, chia seeds) and healthy carbohydrates such as brown rice, oats and air-popped popcorn. Apart from literally feeding your brain, you can figuratively feed your brain and encourage optimal activity through the things you do.
There are a number of things that are good for your brain and encourage the activation of neurons (electrically excitable cells that transmit nerve impulses acting to receive, process and transmit information through the use of chemical and electrical signals). The more you activate the neural pathways of your brain (special connections between neurons called synapses), the better they will work. It's like using a snow plough regularly on snow-covered roads. Activities that stimulate the brain to clear the way for the usual traffic to flow freely.
Art therapy is the creative expression of conscious, subconscious and even unconscious thoughts. Art therapy involves the use of paint, pencils, clay or other modelling mediums to demonstrate what you are feeling. By concentrating on the emotion being experienced while painting, drawing, colouring in or sculpting, the artist experiences relief and oftentimes a much deeper understanding of their feelings. Art therapy stimulates the senses, triggers memories and, when used in a therapeutic environment, encourages conversation. Art therapy has been shown to help people with Alzheimer's and has been demonstrated to improve mental health and feelings of well-being.
Challenge yourself. Anything from juggling to crossword puzzles, sudoku and jigsaw puzzles as well as games of strategy like chess will act to stimulate the brain in ways that are different from usual daily activities. Incorporating these challenges into your life increases your ability to solve problems, strategise and improve memory and recall. Jigsaw puzzles and juggling also increase spatial awareness.
Learn something new. Whether it be a language, skill (anything from cooking to skateboarding), musical instrument or culture (travel is especially good for an immersive experience that stimulates the senses); learning something new triggers neural plasticity. The brain's ability to learn new things is not limited to childhood as was once the common theory. Neural pathways can be mapped out throughout life. While the task is easier for children, potentially due to the fact that their pathways are not yet set by habits and repeated thought patterns, it is definitely possible for an old dog to learn new tricks. So get out there and find something new! The more you expose yourself to new experiences and new learnings the easier the task will be - your brain actually gets better at learning with practice. So once you have mastered something, move on to the next.
Practice mindfulness and presence. Mindful meditation is the intentional act of focusing on the present. It is a powerful tool for handling stress and anxiety as you are focused on what is happening now rather than the past or the future. Mindfulness meditation is simple, cheap and effective and involves sitting (or lying) still for ten to thirty minutes. During this time your focus is on staying calm and in the moment, with a concentration on breathing. Mindfulness meditation actually changes the physical structure of the brain
Increasing cortical thickness (the depth of the cerebral cortex) in the hippocampus (the primitive part of the brain responsible for learning, memory, regulation of emotion and spatial navigation)
Maintaining brain volume with age
Decreasing the volume of brain cells in the amygdala (the part of the brain responsible for fear, anxiety and stress)
In addition, mindfulness meditation trains the brain and increases the ability to concentrate and pay attention for longer periods. Given the focus required for mindfulness meditation, it has also been shown to assist with addiction recovery.
Reading is the single, cheapest, easiest way to stimulate your brain. By reading you expose yourself to new ideas and information. While the benefits of reading are best if you thumb through a printed tome, you can get benefits from reading online or listening to audiobooks. And the benefits are not limited to the reading of non-fiction. The fantasy land of fiction also stimulates the brain into thinking about experiences from different perspectives.
Ask why. Constant questioning will force you to think differently. You can do this verbally with others or internally. The five whys is an iterative interrogation technique that can be used to identify an underlying problem.
Have sex. This fires up the neural pathways of the brain and releases dopamine, a neurotransmitter that activates the reward centre of the brain. Regular sex reduces depression and may boost your memory by stimulating the hippocampus. Good news - solo sex is just as effective as having sex with a partner in terms of mental benefits.
Practice memorising things. A common brain training technique is to, at any point in the day, name five things you can see, four you can hear, three you can touch and two you can smell. This simple act will improve your ability to remember by forcing you to focus on what is around you. Repetition is also good for memory. Actively recalling a memory will help to gel it in your mind.
Work on becoming ambidextrous. Move your mouse to the other side of the computer or brush your teeth (carefully) with your non-dominant hand.
Stop multitasking or reduce it as much as possible. Concentrate on one task at a time. There is a wealth of evidence suggesting that multitasking is counterproductive and we actually get more done if we concentrate on successive tasks - one task after another rather than more than one thing at a time. Juggling tasks divides your attention and negatively affects your decision-making abilities. Multitasking acts as a brain drain, exhausting the mind and decreasing sharpness. Your time is valuable - make use of it! By focusing on one thing at a time, and consciously planning your day to ensure you can, you will likely be able to achieve much more than if you are trying to do a million things at once.
