The brain is the most important organ of the body, it is the control system for all the activities that occur in the body. The brain interprets the information we receive from the outside world.
The most common brain problem remains memory loss. Memory loss occurs with advancement in age, although age itself is not a cause of significant memory loss unless there is a disease accompanying it.
It is essential that we take care of the brain, and this implies we should be mindful of our daily habits that tend to harm our brain with time.
Habits That Affects The Brain:
1. Exposure to loud sounds
loud sound can cause temporary deafness or in some cases permanent hearing loss which may not be remedied. People that stay in cities, working sites, concerts areas etc are at risk of having this problems.
Audiologists warn that repeated exposure to sounds over 80 to 85 decibels can cause damage to our hearing organs, but this is not always obeyed when we use ear plugs. Always make sure your phone volume is not above 50% when using ear plugs and also not plug them in always.
2. Poor Diet
It is no doubt that some of the food we eat, help improve our brain functionality while some on the other hand do the opposite. For instance, junk food have less nutrients and when consumed frequently can affect our mental health.
Diet patterns high in sugar, unhealthy fats and refined carbohydrates can increase the risk of diseases like obesity, Cancer, diabetes. These hinders absorption in the food we eat there by reducing energy availability for the brain.
Cigarette smoking reduces oxygen supply to the brain, there by reducing its functioning capacity.
Researchers have found out that smoking affects the integrity of the subcortical region of the brain and also increases the risk of diseases like Cancer, stroke, dementia and loss of brain volume
Nicotine in cigarettes can also make the brain associate it with pleasure, by mimicking dopamine in stimulating the pleasure centres in the brain. This is bad because the nicotine in cigarettes, changes your brain, which leads to withdrawal symptoms if you try to quit.
People addicted to alcohol are always deficient in vitamin B1 and magnesium.
Vitamin B1 deficiency results in memory loss, confusion, decrease mental alertness and emotional instability while deficiency in magnesium results to depression, irritability( quick excitement) and destroyed attention.
Researchers have proven that people that regularly multitask their brain, are at risk of harming their brain by hindering brain development.
The brain gray matter which is responsible for emotional control and Decision making tend to shrink during multitasking. So to avoid that, it is best to focus on one thing at a time, as it increases productivity and as well protects the brain.
6. Sleep Deprivation
Sleep is an important part of the body’s physical and mental health, after a long day, it gives the brain chance to rest and recover.
But when you don’t get adequate sleep, the brain doesn’t have enough time to recover which could lead to memory loss, loss of brain cells or alzheimer’s disease.
It is believed that when we sleep, the brain stores information and gets rid of toxic waste. About 8hours sleep is recommended every night.
7. Not engaging in a stimulating activities
Just like muscles, it is important we keep the brain cells active always by engaging in any mental exercise. This prevents it from shrinking.
Reading, playing games, intellectual talks can help the brain. It has been proven that people that don’t talk or interact with people suffer from negative impacts on the brain.