1. EAT WISELY
Eating healthy, unrefined foods won’t just keep your waistline slim, but will also keep your brain sharp. Avoid stimulants that cause swings in your thoughts and emotions and stay away from processed foods. Eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables.
SNACK ON:
Blueberries: “Phytochemicals give fruits and vegetables their colour,” says Kristin Kirkpatrick, Manager of wellness nutrition services at Cleveland Clinic’s Wellness Institute in Ohio, USA. “Foods high in these chemicals are most effective at improving your health and blueberries have one of the strongest concentrations available.”
Almonds: A handful of almonds not only curbs hunger pangs, but is rich in brain-boosting lean protein, vitamin E, mono-unsaturated (“good”) fats, calcium, magnesium and potassium. They’re also delicious.
Dark chocolate: It contains flavonols and antioxidants, which improve your brain functioning. It also makes your brain produce dopamine, which helps you learn more quickly. You don’t need to devour the whole bar, though! Just a square or two will do.
FAST FACT
The human brain is composed of more than one trillion nerve cells in total and roughly 100 billion of these are neurons. – www.nais.org
2. REPEAT, REPEAT, REPEAT
We all learnt at school that one of the ways to commit something to your long-term memory is through repetition. That’s why, even though you rarely use them these days, you can still remember your multiplication tables (for the most part). But we can’t walk around chanting: “The grey-haired man in the navy suit’s name is Bob.” A simple – and socially acceptable – way to remember is to make repetition a part of conversation seamlessly.
So if you’re introduced to a new colleague at work, the conversation should go like this:
New colleague: “Hi, my name’s Thandi.”
You: “Hi, pleased to meet you, Thandi.”
By repeating the name, you’re more likely to remember it.
FAST FACT
Every heartbeat pumps 20-25% of your blood to your brain, where billions of cells use 20% of the oxygen and nutrients your blood carries. – www.alz.org
3. GET MOVING!
Aerobic exercise isn’t just good for your heart, it’s good for your head too. A quick 20 minutes a day improves memory function and assists with the processing of information.
A study conducted at the Centre for BrainHealth at the University of Texas in Dallas found that adopting an exercise routine (one hour on a stationary bike or treadmill three times a week) helped healthy ageing adults (50-70) improve their memory, brain health and physical fitness.
“Physical exercise may be one of the most beneficial and cost-effective therapies widely available to everyone to elevate memory performance,” says Sandra Bond Chapman, PhD, leading author of the study paper and founder and Chief Director of the Centre for BrainHealth. “These findings should motivate adults of all ages to start exercising aerobically.”
In another study, Dr Scott McGinnis, a neurologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and an instructor in neurology at Harvard Medical School in Boston, found that “engaging in a programme of regular exercise of moderate intensity over six months or a year is associated with an increase in the volume of selected brain regions”. So our brains can literally grow and develop as a direct result of exercising.
FAST FACT
Although the brain accounts for only 2% of the whole body's mass, it uses 20% of all the oxygen we breathe. A loss of oxygen for 10 minutes can result in significant neural damage. – www.brainhq.com |
