How can you feel more alert, enthusiastic, motivated, and joyful? In this article, we share tips on how you can support your brain in the best possible way.
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 stay healthy, everything works better: our health, relationships, work, and learning.
7 Ways to Train Your Brain
Dance
Dancing helps integrate the parts of the brain that allow you to maintain balance, develop strategies, and keep rhythm.
2. Physical Activity
Physical activity has a significant impact on brain health, supporting the prefrontal cortex and 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 periods of moderate-intensity exercise improve your ability to process information and remember it later.
3. Do Puzzles
Puzzles are a fun way to stimulate the left hemisphere of the brain while fulfilling the needs of the creative right hemisphere.
4. Try Crosswords
Crosswords are not only fun but also expand vocabulary, prevent memory loss, and increase mental clarity. Participating 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 providing a closer connection with another country, which opens the mind. Because the left and right hemispheres of the brain exchange information when speaking two languages, it increases gray matter.
6. Do Crafts, Knitting, or Crocheting
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 further develop creativity, problem-solving ability, and visuospatial processing.
7. Shake Up Your Routines
Not too long ago, researchers believed that the brain was incapable of change and that its decline was inevitable after reaching its peak during adolescence. Today we know this isn't true. Our brains actually have a property called "neuroplasticity" – the ability to adapt to new environments. To stimulate neuroplasticity, it's important to change your routine. This means both trying new activities and finding new ways to do the same things you've grown accustomed to. This helps you break away from autopilot, so your brain works actively. These changes also improve concentration and memory. You can, for example, try new food, 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 includes attention, learning, memory, and problem-solving. The executive functions also encompass mental states, such as alertness and motivation, as well as counteracting stress. People use nootropic substances for different reasons, from passing an exam to gaining confidence in social settings. Others use them to improve athletic training, to support extended work on creative projects, to enhance memory, or to aid in relaxation as well as to improve cognitive function. Cognitive function is our ability to take in, store, process, and retrieve information.
How do nootropic substances work?
Nootropic substances work in different ways. Some increase the flow of blood, oxygen, and nutrients to the brain. Others alter 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
Turmeric
Lions 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 for functioning as well as possible. Obviously, 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:
Omega 3 – Probably the most important fatty acid for nerve cell health.
Antioxidants – Especially astaxanthin (found in products like BioSuperFood) helps protect nerve cells from oxidative stress.
B-complex – 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 the age of 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 treatments in our time is good sleep. Getting deep sleep and waking up rested has become somewhat of a luxury product, instead of a human right. There's also a lot of misleading information in the health industry suggesting we can (or should) sleep less and still feel good. This is not the case. We live longer, feel better, and function better when we're well-rested. It's as simple as that.
Herbs that Support Relaxation
To counteract stress and help the nervous system recover, it might be a good idea to take supplements that support these processes in the body. Here are some of our favorites:
Tao in a bottle – A very effective product that contains L-theanine together with adaptogenic herbs.
Adrenal Pro – A fine blend of adaptogenic herbs that support our ability to recover and handle challenges.
Lemon balm – Supports both relaxation and mood naturally.
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 "calm and relaxation system" in the body, the brain functions in a completely different way than when we have the "tunnel vision" that stress often leads to. It is extremely important for both our general wellbeing and our brain health to regularly disconnect from all impressions and to-do lists to simply enjoy life in the present moment.One of the simplest ways is to just sit in a beautiful spot in nature 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 contact us if you have any questions.
