Give Your Brain Power a Strategic Boost
Many people focus on their physical and mental health, but usually only when it comes to ailments involving pain or stress to some degree. Very rarely do they actively seek ways to improve the function of their brain.
Yet brain power is what carries you throughout your day. It determines your mood, your ability to focus and be productive – and much more. To allow this part of your health to grow stagnant is a mistake.
It’s fully within your power to strengthen the health of your mind and brain, and it doesn’t require supplements or medical intervention in order to improve in certain areas. By knowing how to give your brain a boost naturally, you’ll have better memory recall, be more productive – and find that you’re overall more satisfied than you were before.
Below, you’ll find an easy plan to improve your mental function by supporting your brain health and allowing it to perform to the best of its ability. Just doing these simple exercises will free you from the frustration and feelings of mental exhaustion or confusion.
Of course, there are some brain diseases that require more care, such as Alzheimer’s. But some tips actually help those with memory disorders, too – to some degree. However, the tips below are primarily for those needing more focus and fewer distractions that will lead to their success.
3 Things That Can Wear Your Brain Power Down
When you begin thinking about boosting your brain power, you have to think of the things that will diminish the functionality of your brain over time. first and foremost, we know that as we age, our mind may function a little slower or a little less perfectly than it did before.
Even if you are not suffering from any form of dementia, you may not be as quick to remember things or focus on things as you want to be. Another thing that can damage the power of your brain is if you are frequently engaged in substance abuse.
This can be anything from legal cigarettes and alcohol to drugs of any kind. Many people use these products to numb their mind from the stress and pain that they are experiencing, so it makes sense that it would make your brain less likely to perform correctly for you when you need it to.
Another thing that can wear down our brainpower is simply living in a mindless state. If you are constantly scrolling through social media or staring at a screen watching TV shows, you’re not challenging your mind and keeping it sharp.
Many Ways You Rely on Your Brain for Success and Satisfaction
The reasons that many people want their brain to get a boost of power and functionality are varied. For some, it’s a simple matter of staving off more serious problems in the future.
But for others, it’s a more immediate need. Many people want to improve their focus. If you are struggling to complete a task at hand because your mind is always wandering or you are getting distracted, you may need help in this area.
Another reason why people want to pursue this type of strategy is because it helps them with problem solving tasks. If you are the one responsible for finding solutions in your professional career or even your personal life, you want your mind to function clearly so that you know what to do and when to do it.
Another area that people like to enhance their brain functionality is with creativity. If you are in a career where you are writing, drawing, or recording audio or video media, you may want the freedom to explore your mind without feeling as if it’s sluggish or not performing properly for you.
4 Foundations Your Brain Needs to Function
Let’s start with the most basic things you can do to support your brain health. If you are not doing these four things, you want to rectify that initially before moving on to more challenging strategies.
The first is to make sure you are getting enough sleep period studies have shown that people who are sleep deprived are less likely to be able to focus on a task at hand. In fact, extreme sleep deprivation can mimic drunk driving in some cases.
The next thing you want to do is make sure that you are fueling your brain with the right nutrition. A Mediterranean diet is often seen as one of the top meal plans that you can use to improve brain health.
You want to steer clear of junk food, which is processed food filled with sugar, salt, and unhealthy ingredients. Try to stick to natural foods such as fruits and vegetables, as well as grains and meats.
Another thing you can do to give your brain a healthy chance at performance is to fit some exercise into each day. The boost of endorphins that you will get and the increase in oxygen power can help your brain tremendously hours after you have engaged in exercise.
And lastly, you want to make sure that you are eliminating the stress that you are carrying throughout your day. If your mind is burdened with stress, it will be unable to give its full attention to the other areas you need it to address.
Challenging Your Brain Helps It Perform Better
Once you have those four areas working well for you, you can move on to increased strategies that will help your brain perform better period the first one is to challenge it mentally.
Start by turning off the TV and all digital products and begin reading books that you enjoy. These can be a mixture of nonfiction and fiction reads that will improve your vocabulary and allow your brain to paint a mental picture of what it is absorbing.
The next thing you want to do is start doing puzzles. These can be number puzzles, image puzzles, word puzzles or something else. You want your brain to be challenged each and every day, even if it’s only for a few minutes at a time.
You can also find brain teasers that will have your mind working to figure out the answer to a riddle. It not only improves your cognitive abilities to problem solve, but it also keeps your mind focused instead of being distracted.
Tapping Into Classical Music for Better Brain Power
For years now, new parents have latched on to the idea that they can play classical music for their infants in the womb and in childhood to help them perform better as young students.
But even as an adult, classical music can help your brain think clearer. Even if you are not necessarily a fan of this type of music genre, listening to it on a regular basis can naturally ease your stress and improve your mood.
This is often known as the Mozart Effect. Whether or not it is scientifically proven that it can improve your IQ is something people argue about regularly. But at the very least, we know that classical music helps with the secretion of dopamine, which can lessen your stress, lower your blood pressure, and help you operate in a more relaxed manner.
Clear the Clutter from Your Mind Regularly
When you are wanting to improve the function of your brain, you have to be willing to clear out all of the clutter that is weighing it down. If you are considered a digital addict, which is someone who is constantly on their gadgets that get them online on sites like YouTube, Facebook, and elsewhere, you may want to do a digital detox to cleanse your mental palate.
Once you have abstained from technology devices, or at least minimize them to the bare necessity, you will be able to feel your brain with information that helps it. Initially, you may feel jittery or uneasy about not being on social media platforms or being able to access your electronic devices.
However, as the days go on, you will find your mind calming down and being free to focus, explore more creative measures, and perform in a productive manner. The longer you can let go of your devices, the better your brain may perform.
Once you have cleared your mind of digital clutter, you want to implement a regimen of mindful meditation. Many experts say that meditation is more than just a simple focus exercise for the brain.
Instead, studies have shown that meditation can drastically reduce your stress levels and allow you to perform better in terms of cognitive functions. Your immune system and cardiovascular systems will benefit from these activities, too.
End Distractions So Your Brain Isn’t Being Pulled in all Directions
Being surrounded by endless distractions and expecting your brain to perform perfectly is asking too much of it. While some people are able to naturally drown out the sounds of distracting noises around them, most people cannot do this.
Sometimes, we even burden our own brains by intentionally giving it multiple things to focus on at once. If you are the kind of person who has two to three computer monitors, with multiple tabs open in each one so that you can multitask, consider changing that habit.
Instead, give your brain one sole function that it can dedicate all of its energy to so that you can see the full potential you have for carrying out the tasks on your to do list. Also shut out as many outside distractions as possible, such as noise from your children, the TV, etc.
Develop Systems to Require Less Brain Power
Lastly, you can help your brain perform better by simply giving it systems that require less of it. There’s no need to make it work harder than it needs to. The first thing you can do is create systems for tasks that you do again and again.
You want the mind to be able to operate on autopilot, fully functioning and knowing how to get certain things done without having to go back and refer to instructions or figure it out on its own.
The next thing you want to do is make sure major tasks are broken down into bite sized ones. The feeling of overwhelmed can often cause people to freeze up and feel as if they are paralyzed and unable to move forward because the task seems so insurmountable.
Improving your brain power is not something that you can guarantee in any way, but it does help to implement steps to protect your mental health, promote smart brain health decisions, and actively engage in things that will give you the mental boost that you need.