Feed Your Brain!
It’s so easy for us to write a note or a list to remind us of things that we have to do but what about the things we can’t take note of ? Like the great homily we’d like to share with our friends, or the funny thing that happened at work, or even the irritating waiter at the restaurant you had lunch in.
Wouldn’t you like to recount these stories to your friends as if they were there themselves? But how can we share these stories to our friends if we can’t remember the sequence of events, the characters and the lines?
Imagine saying: “Oh, she said something funny but I just can’t remember what?!” Does that sound like something you’d say? If it does, then you need to start feeding your brain!
Improving memory and the ability to organize your thoughts can be thought of as a force multiplier. Memory is the ability of the brain to store, retain, and retrieve sensation and information. When one learns, it is thanks to memory that we don’t have to relearn it day after day.
When you have a good memory, you spend less time figuring out things and have a system of keeping it all in the head. You become more efficient and effective at any task, thus improving quality of life.
As a person ages, it is believed that the ability to refresh the supply of neurons to the brain is diminished. This has the effect of memory loss. This can be preventive by taking up an actively physical and mental lifestyle.
Activities such as chess, dancing, and martial arts prevent the loss of memory partly due to activities’ requirements of mental and physical coordination.
Accidents, personal lifestyle, upbringing, invasive surgery, trauma, genetics, the environment, society and training all play a part in the memory capacity of the individual. Mental disorders that affect memory loss are known as dementia.
The most common form of dementia among the elderly is Alzheimer’s disease. This mental disorder is currently incurable and is characterized by the progressive onset of memory loss as well as other symptoms like loss of attention, learning, communication and problem-solving functions.
Feeding your brain will improve your memory. And it’s as easy as one, two, three…
One: Feed your brain, literally. Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables sharpens the brain and improves memory. Some good brain boosters are blueberries, strawberries and spinach. They are rich in antioxidants that help protect the brain cells and prevent the formation of blood clots.
Blood clots can slow down the neuron’s response to chemical messengers this equals to slow memory. Start taking foods that have plenty of beta-carotene, vitamin C, folic acid, iron, zinc and B12 to help preserve memory.
Two: Mental gym. Exercise your brain by not using pen and paper, start memorizing your grocery list, learn the lyrics to your favorite song, or try reciting the multiplication table out loud. These little mental exercises help improve memory.
The Mnemonics that we discussed before are recommended as an aid to memory. As much as possible, the brain needs a pattern it can grasp to remember information by association. Try as much as possible to create visual and auditory cues as well to train yourself to remember.
Three: Focus. Concentrate. Stop multi-tasking and start focusing. How can we remember anything if we start to take everything in all at once? You and your brain can only do so much.
Slow down and start paying attention. Focus on the person you are talking to, concentrate on the article your reading, and you’ll start remembering what you’ve heard and read.
Four: Repetition means retention. Learned a new word lately? Try repeating it out loud three to four times. Been introduced to someone? Try using his or her name (as many times as possible) immediately after the introduction, repeating a word or a name helps us commit it to memory.
More On Keeping Your Brain Healthy
Aging with grace should not only be seen in the context of having a great physique or a sexy body, although it has been found that keeping a healthy body is keeping a healthy mind. The human brain should also be stimulated and exercised so as to prevent its deterioration. Listed below are some tips in keeping your brain healthy.
Learn something new
Challenging the brain to learn new things will help it stay sharp and always active. Joining a tai chi club or enrolling on an arts course can really do your brain some good.
Go out of town
Traveling is a good form of stimulation for the human brain. It helps the brain experience new things and removes stress.
Exercise
Exercising gives protection to your brain and your mental processes. It also increases the supply of blood into the brain. A study was done involving 5,000 people who were over 65 years old and the results revealed that those who weren't involved in exercising were more prone to mental deterioration. Inactivity doubles the probability of the occurrence of Alzheimer's disease.
Make more friends
It wouldn't hurt if you meet other people and hang out a little bit, would it? Being with friends or acquaintances can be very beneficial to the brain. The brain is the organ which allows us to interact with the world, and that is precisely the reason why we have to use it to interact with other people.
Get enough sleep
Sleep is very important for the human brain. Sleep is the time when the brain recuperates.
Enjoy life
Stress relieving and engaging in fun activities are needed by the brain. Doing fun activities increases the chemicals that protect the brain from diseases.
The brain allows us to experience the world as humans and we owe it a lot. We have the responsibility of keeping our brain healthy and fit. It is at the top of our bodies for us to use it and to keep it that way. Aging gracefully is never going to be complete without a healthy and sound mind.
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