Brain health is not something to be taken lightly, but many of us are so focused on other elements of our health that we overlook this critical area. By taking care of your mental health, you are taking an important step in caring for your overall health.
What can you do to prevent cognitive decline and keep your brain functioning at its optimal level? Here are four things to consider to help improve the long-term health of your brain through lifestyle changes and risk reduction strategies…
1. Nourish your brain. The first step you should take is to make sure you eat salmon regularly, or some other form of omega-3 fatty acids. These fatty acids have been proven to help fight depression, Alzheimer’s disease, and generally help boost your cognition.
If you can’t eat these foods for whatever reason or don’t eat them often, consider taking an omega-3 supplement to ensure your needs are met.
2. Blueberry snack. Blueberries are another tasty addition to your eating plan as they contain powerful antioxidants that will help fight cognitive decline and also help prevent the onset of dementia.
Blueberries are also high in dietary fiber, so they can help lower cholesterol levels, which in turn can lower blood pressure and may help prevent the risk of stroke.
They’re also a low-calorie sweet, making them ideal for those looking to prevent weight gain, which can also have a negative influence on your brain health over time.
3. Make sleep a top priority. Relax and sleep well. Sleep should be at the top of your list if you’re looking to improve your mental health. Don’t take the need for sleep lightly. Not getting enough sleep means that your short-term memory may not be consolidated into long-term memory, and it also says that your brain won’t be able to flush out the toxic buildup created over the previous day.
Ideally, you should get 7-8 hours of sleep each night. While you may feel like you can survive within 6 hours, for the vast majority of the population, this is not enough.
4. Learn something new. Challenge your brain with new activities and wake up different areas of your brain. As adults, we rarely learn something new on a regular basis. Instead, we get caught up in the day-to-day of life, and unless our career requires us to get more information or strategies regularly, we remain stuck.
Learning something new every day is one way to slow down the natural progression of brain health.
There are some points to think about regarding brain health. Do not discount how important it is that you are taking care of this area of your health.
