The Brain in our body is undoubtedly the most important thing in our perception. The Formation and function of the bigger brain in humans allowed them to survive in a much chaotic environment, where other bigger, stronger animals live and thrive. If we imagine our brain as our most efficient tool for our survival, then shouldn’t we sharpen it more often and keep it in a very optimizing way, so that our chance of survival is always high. This post explores certain ways to keep our brain hale and healthy. These are few tricks, which some of us may be doing currently, but shedding the light on them and making a conscious decision to continue it, has its own paybacks. So without much do, here is what we can do to optimize our most potent weapon, the BRAIN.
Sleep is the number one thing that keeps your brain active, healthy and young. There is a famous joke where one person asks the doctor “Can I start cardio-vascular exercises so that I can live longer?” The doctor said “Would driving fast in your car can save you gas? If you want to live long take a nap”. Sleep gives both food and rest to your brain and hence a good night sleep will do a world of good for you. Here are some tips to sleep better.
- Make sure the room is completely dark when you go to sleep.
- Make sure you take some high quality protein diet before bed.
- Avoid drinking coffee after 1 PM, as it will have effect for 6 hours in our brain.
Avoid Multi tasking:
Multi tasking is not a human thing. But we should understand one thing. You can multi task, trivial things. For example, you can comb your hair while checking your messages in phone. But you cannot multi task, highly cognitive things. In fact, you should not. The brain has certain structures called Glial cells which are responsible for the folds in our brain. This enhances a very important function. The synapses and the neurons are called the grey area of brain. The connected neurons via synapses are called white area. If you have more white area, then you are considered smart. These Glial cells help you to convert the grey area to white area. When multi-tasked this Glial cell gets damaged and brain ageing starts very early, than it supposed to be. So please avoid multi-tasking.
Reading is a fantastic cognitive exercise one can practice to get the brain to optimal position. It is scientifically proven that reading increases the white area, I,e, the connection of neurons via synapses. Our brains are plastic in nature, meaning it shapes itself as per the environment. The brain development will be optimal if various environments is introduced via books. The brain then gets more information and more familiar with lot of things. That is why Elon Musk is damn good, he not only reads, he reads cross-discipline. Check this video to find out more. This takes a lot of stress from the limbic part of brain, from where we experience stress and anxiety. Reading can be a great therapy for even a damaged brain. So choose a book and a corner and start reading.
Learn another language:
It is scientifically proven that Bi-lingual or multi lingual people use considerably less brain energy to accomplish task which helps in brain ageing better. Here is an expert from the research, which was done by a Canadian researchers led by Ana Ines Ansaldo.
“After years of daily practice managing interference between two languages, bilinguals become experts at selecting relevant information and ignoring information that can distract from a task. In this case, bilinguals showed higher connectivity between visual processing areas located at the back of the brain. This area is specialized in detecting the visual characteristics of objects and therefore is specialized in the task used in this study. These data indicate that the bilingual brain is more efficient and economical, as it recruits fewer regions and only specialized regions,”
So it is imperative that we put together all these and design a life style that will help to boost our brain power. Learning new things like another language, brushing it up by reading, and not getting distracted and do lot of things at a time and then to have a good night sleep, these activities as life style will make you a super smart person.
Reach me for further discussions
Phone and WhatsApp +91-9840591018
FB page: https://www.facebook.com/CoachSureshBalachandar/