Simple Habits That Improve Brain Function
From childhood through your aging years, keeping your brain function in tip-top shape and supporting sharp thinking are important aspects of your whole-body wellness. The things you do daily can help you feel sharp, capable, and confident—or confused and frustrated.
For kids, these are habits that are important to instill early so they can develop a life-long love of learning and greater confidence in their ability to succeed. But for adults also: it’s not too late! You can begin prioritizing protecting your brain function now, with amazing results.
The Foundation of Optimized Brain Function
There is a ton of research circulating right now about how to keep your brain sharp at any age. But ultimately, it boils down to these 5 foundational categories:
- Regular exercise (type of exercise doesn’t matter as much as simply doing something)
- Healthy foods (especially protein and quality fats)
- Mental activity (things that keep your brain sharp and learning new things)
- Quality sleep (which also plays into reducing stress)
- And social connection (because if you feel lonely, your brain function plummets much faster)
These are some big-picture lifestyle factors to bear in mind, but sometimes it’s the smaller, daily habits that make the biggest difference!
Here are 6 More Simple Habits That May Also Help Your Brain Function Stay at its Best:
Sleep on your side
This may seem like a strange tip, but according to research, sleeping on your side activates a brain-cleansing system that helps your brain function better for longer! Your glymphatic system is a newly-researched phenomenon. It’s the system that is responsible for clearing build-up from your brain cells that contributes to neurological issues and cognitive decline, and this strange simple habit seems to be a major contributor to its effectiveness!
Learn a language or musical instrument
The mechanisms your brain uses to learn new languages or musical instruments can help keep it sharp! Whether you’re 5 or 95, exercising these “brain muscles” keeps you sharper and contributes to more well-rounded brain function for life.
Get creative!
Drawing, painting, and other art forms have been found to support brain function. These practices also reduce stress and develop thinking and planning skills that are essential in all areas of life!
Play games
Games are a great way to exercise your brain skills in a low-pressure environment. Especially for kids who struggle in school, family game night can be a great tool to sharpen up some skills without it feeling like work!
Card games, jigsaw puzzles, and games that focus on processing speed, focus, memory, or logic are great places to start. But if you want to go a little deeper and really target some weak cognitive skills, check out this handy roundup of popular games and the skills they can target!
Have a Dance Party
According to research, dancing not only reduces stress and improves your mood, but it also “helps develop new neural connections, especially in regions involved in executive function, long-term memory, and spatial recognition.”
Whether you take classes or jam out to your favorite song while you’re cooking dinner, dancing may be a fun and easy way to protect your brain function.
Read for fun
As adults, many of us feel that we don’t have the time to read—and our kids see this. Making reading for fun a priority for EVERYONE in your household is a great way to protect brain function and learn new things!
Reading for fun is one of the biggest hallmarks of academic success in kids, and as adults it can help exercise your brain in some unique ways that nothing else can do. Whether it’s summer reading or over the school year, set some goals as a family to get everyone reading more!
A Personalized Plan for Making Your Brain Sharper
Brain training takes a unique approach to the way you think, learn, and remember. All of these tasks require a network of cognitive skills to be communicating with each other and functioning smoothly. But for many of us, one or more weak skills may be holding us back.
Whether it’s a kid struggling to learn to read or an adult who constantly forgets where they put their keys, brain training can help make these connections stronger so you feel more confident in all areas of life!
Check out our wide range of completely customizable program options here, or give us a call today to learn more!
