How To Boost Your Brain Functions

Updated on July 15, 2020

There’s nothing worse than being in the middle of a conversation about a topic you know well and then –blank- you have no idea what the name of that person was. As you get older your brain can start to slow down. There will be times when you feel like you have no memory for anything. There might be other times when your brain just feels worn out and you don’t think you could learn another thing. Luckily, there are ways you can combat this mental fatigue and help give your brain a boost. These are a few things you can do to keep your brain functioning at maximum capacity.

Food for Thought

As with any other part of your body, your brain needs certain nutrients to deliver its best performance. Adding certain foods to your diet can help to improve concentration on any given day, improve short and long-term memory, and reduce your risk of brain degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s. A few suggested foods include dark chocolate, coffee, fish, whole grains, berries, avocados, broccoli, kale, eggs, and nuts. These foods can provide such nutrients as healthy fats, antioxidants, B-vitamins.

Supplement Your Diet

While adding different brain-stimulating foods to your diet is important, it can be hard to eat a healthy and balanced diet all the time. Between work, pets, partners, and children, you don’t always have time to cook fresh food. A good way to get the nutrients you need each day is by taking additional supplements. Great supplements for brain health include magnesium, vitamin C, vitamin E, and cocoa flavanols.

You might be asking yourself, “What are cocoa flavanols?”. It is a supplement that has been shown to help boost the amount of nitric oxide in your system, promoting blood flow. Boosted blood flow helps to circulate all the nutrients you’ve been taking in through your brain.

Get Moving

Exercise is an important aspect in general fitness, but it is also a great way to help your brain function its best. Your brain needs plenty of oxygen and blood flow. Taking steps to increase your cardiovascular health will help with this.

This doesn’t mean you need to become an all-star athlete. Activities as simple as going for a 20-minute walk in the evening or playing a game of disc golf with a friend are great ways to get your body moving. The idea is to get out-and-about on your feet instead of sitting on the couch all day.

Stimulate Your Brain

Your brain, like the rest of your body, needs to be exercised. Unlike the muscles in your arms, however, you can’t exercise your brain by lifting weights or going swimming. While these activities help improve your overall health and blood circulation, the best way to work-out your brain is by stimulating it mentally. Activities such as a crossword puzzle, reading the news or a book, or learning a new board game are great ways to do this.

The brain also enjoys socialization. Taking time to interact with other people both socially and intellectually can help challenge your brain to interpret social cues and information. People that socialize more frequently have also been shown to have lower levels of depression.

Getting older shouldn’t mean losing your memory and concentration. With a few easy additions to your day-to-day life, you can help combat fatigue and boost your brain function. This can help you to keep up with the demands of your life and could even be fun! Don’t let your brain get the best of you, it’s time to get the best out of your brain.

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