How can you feel more alert, enthusiastic, motivated, and joyful?
In this article, we share tips on how you can best support your brain.
Use your brain
Our brain and nervous system are the center for information processing in the body. All impressions from our senses and everything happening inside the body are registered and managed by our brain and central nervous system.
If we can find ways to help our brain and nervous system feel good, everything works better: our health, our relationships, our work, and our learning.
7 ways to train your brain
1. Dance
Dancing helps integrate the parts of the brain that allow you to maintain balance, strategize, and keep rhythm.
2. Get physically active
Physical activity has a major impact on brain health; it helps the prefrontal cortex and the medial temporal cortex, areas of the brain that control your ability to plan, organize, and make decisions.
By increasing your heart rate, exercise pumps more oxygen to the brain. As a result, even short bouts of moderate-intensity exercise improve your ability to process and later recall information.
3. Do puzzles
Puzzles are a fun way to stimulate the left hemisphere while also meeting the needs of the creative right hemisphere.
4. Do crosswords
Crosswords are not only fun but also expand vocabulary, prevent memory loss, and increase mental clarity.
Engaging in intellectual activities like crosswords can reduce the risk of cognitive decline later in life.
5. Learn a new language
It stimulates the brain and has been shown to reduce the risk of brain aging while fostering a closer connection to another country, which opens the mind.
Because the left and right hemispheres exchange information when speaking two languages, it increases gray matter.
6. Do a craft, knit, or crochet
Just like crosswords and puzzles, it protects your brain from age-related damage and provides feelings of satisfaction and happiness.
Because these activities involve many different areas of the brain, they develop additional creativity, problem-solving skills, and visuospatial processing.
7. Shake up your routines
Not long ago, scientists believed that the brain was incapable of change and that its decline was inevitable after reaching its peak during youth.
Today we know this is not true.
Our brains actually have a feature called "neuroplasticity" – the ability to adapt to new environments.
To stimulate neuroplasticity, it is important to change your routine. This means both trying new activities and trying new ways to do the same things you are used to.
This helps you get off autopilot so your brain works actively. They also improve concentration and memory.
For example, you can try new foods, brush your teeth in a new way, start new hobbies, meet new people, listen to new music, take new walking routes, or look at art.
Nootropics: Nutrients that support the brain
The term nootropic comes from the Greek words for "mind." We translate it as nootropic.
Nootropic substances improve the brain's executive functions. This means attention, learning, memory, and problem-solving.
Executive functions also include mood states, such as alertness and motivation, as well as counteracting stress.
People use nootropic substances for various reasons, from passing an exam to gaining confidence in social situations.
Others use them to improve athletic training, to support long hours working on creative projects, to enhance memory, or to help relax and improve cognitive function.
Cognitive function is our ability to take in, store, process, and retrieve information.
How do nootropic substances work?
Nootropic agents work in different ways. Some increase the flow of blood, oxygen, and nutrients to the brain.
Others change the levels of neurotransmitters, chemical compounds that send messages between the brain and body.
Popular natural nootropic substances
- Ginseng
- L-theanine
- Bacopa monnieri
- Rhodiola rosea / Golden Root
- Turmeric / extract from Turmeric
- Lion's Mane
- Creatine
- Choline
- BioPQQ
- Q10
- GABA
- Ashwagandha
- Zinc, magnesium, and calcium are also effective nootropic minerals
Basic nutrition
Basic nutrition for the brain is also essential to function as well as possible. Of course, our daily diet is the most important, but supplements can also support the brain.
Here are the major stars that help our brain handle everyday life:
- Probably the most important fatty acid for nerve cell health.
- Especially astaxanthin (found in, for example, BioSuperFood) helps protect nerve cells from oxidative stress.
- The water-soluble B vitamins are involved in energy production and cell metabolism, which is incredibly important for brain cells.
- Vitamin D – The hormone-like vitamin D helps the brain stay in shape throughout life; especially after age 50.
- Magnesium helps regulate nerve impulses in the brain and throughout the nervous system.
- MCT oil – Provides energy to the brain and nervous system.
Good sleep
One of the most underrated health remedies of our time is good sleep.
Sleeping deeply and waking up rested has become somewhat of a luxury product, rather than a human right.
There is also a lot of misleading information in the health industry suggesting that we can (or should) sleep less and still feel good.
That’s not true. We live longer, feel better, and function better if we are well rested. It’s that simple.
Herbs that support relaxation
To counteract stress and help the nervous system recover, it can be a good idea to take supplements that support these processes in the body.
Here are some of our favorites:
- A very effective product containing L-theanine along with adaptogenic herbs.
- Adrenal Pro – A fine blend of adaptogenic herbs that support our ability to recover and handle challenges.
- Lemon balm – Naturally supports both relaxation and mood.
Meditation / Yoga / Mindfulness
Additional ways to create space and openness in the nervous system are yoga, meditation, and spending time in nature. This can be invaluable for brain health.
Studies have shown that when we engage in activities that activate our body’s “rest and digest system,” the brain functions very differently than when we have the “tunnel vision” that stress often causes.
It is extremely important for both our overall well-being and our brain’s health to regularly disconnect from all impressions and to-do lists to simply enjoy life here and now.
One of the simplest ways is to just sit in a beautiful natural spot for a while and do nothing. Another way is to practice Mindfulness or meditate for 15 minutes daily.
Truly doing nothing is almost a forgotten art – but it’s very important for the brain.
We hope this was helpful, don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions for us.
