Brain Self-Assessment Results
Pioneer Level You are challenged by the effects that aging is having on you. This will affect your brain health. There are many things you can do to improve your daily quality of life. One of the easiest ways to begin your journey to sound brain health is to increase your water intake.
Each thought that travels through our brain is an electrical signal carrying our thoughts to the parts of the brain and body where they need to go. Water is a great conductor of electricity. When we are dehydrated our thoughts become slower and sluggish. So, keeping hydrated is an easy, inexpensive first step to making sure that our brains are sharp.
How much water do we need to drink? About eight glasses a day. If you are currently drinking significantly less than that amount, increase your daily consumption slowly over several weeks until you build up to the eight glasses.
Tea and coffee cannot be substituted for water. They act as diuretics and actually deplete your body’s water content.
Soft drinks and juice are also not good substitutes for water. They are very high in sugar which has other hazardous effects on the brain.
Traveler Level Although you face some difficulties you are doing ok. Start by making small changes in your lifestyle and your long-term brain health will gradually improve. For example, you might consider adding more physical movements to your day.
Our brain’s primary purpose is not to do challenging brain puzzles but to keep us safe. Evolution has created our brain to protect us from harm. As a result, our brain directs every movement of our bodies, from reacting to touching a hot pot to putting on extra clothes when it is cold. Without our brain we do not move. Therefore, the more we move, the more often our brain is engaged in transmitting signals to our body. Hence, movement is one of the very best ways to keep our brains active and sharp.
If you are not already active begin by walking regularly. Avoid sitting still for long periods of time. Take regular stretch breaks. If you need to, set a timer for yourself to get up and move around.
Explorer Level You are already on track with doing many things to support a fit brain. Look for changes you can make in your lifestyle that will further improve your brain health.
One of the things that stimulates our brain is novelty. Our brains like to be aroused by new things. Whether we buy new shoes, try a new food or visit a new location, our brains come alive. In the process new connections are created in our brain. So, we can fuel our brain’s development by intentionally seeking out these new stimulations.
One readily available and modestly priced option for providing something new for your brain is to take a course. Any course on a topic that you don’t know much about will stimulate your brain. The expression ‘you can’t teach an old dog new tricks’ is scientifically proven to be false, at least as it applies to humans. Our brains are capable of continuing to learn new things right up until our death. By taking the initiative to learn new things we are giving our brains the gift of improved fitness.
Tourist Level You have this mastered. Keep doing what you are doing and continue to add variety, mental stimulation and physical activity to your life.
Brain health, as with many things, does not have a single solution. Doing the crossword puzzle in the paper every day will not guarantee us a future free of dementia. Removing all gluten from our diet will also not provide any guarantees. Although doing each of those things provides some brain health benefits, doing both of them will provide even more benefits. The path to a fit brain is found through finding balance.
Having regular routines provides our brain with stability, and also helps us find our keys. But breaking away from our routines and exploring new things provides our brain with mental stimulation.
A hard, physical workout not only tones our body but tones up our brains as well. But complete relaxation whether a massage or a nap is just as important as the physical workout.
The choices we make around our diet are equally important in creating a fit brain.
Striving for balance in your lifestyle, which include variety, physical activity, mental stimulation and a wholesome diet will provide you with the best chances of keeping your brain fit for life.