How To Keep Your Brain Ticking Over

Your brain changes as you get older. You can try and fight against it, but you’re not going to be able to if you aren’t looking after it! Like anything in the body, when you work on it you’re going to strengthen it. You would work on your arms and legs in the gym to make them stronger, and you would workout so that you can exercise your heart muscle, too. Your brain is much like anything else and you should be working on it so that it remains as strong as possible. 

Every single brain changes with age and some of the mental functions can change along with it. It’s common to deal with cognitive decline, but if you want to avoid developing conditions like dementia, you have to work on maintaining your brain function. You need to do all that you can to keep your brain working well and the good news is that it’s never too late to do it. From using printable word searches, looking at playing math games like sudoku, embracing a game of chess, or playing puzzle games like minesweeper, there are many ways that you can help yourself. You can even look into speaking to the best doctors around to keep on top of your brain health, you will be able to get to your old age with a functioning, healthy brain that has remained sharp. Let’s take a look!

Engage it. Mental stimulation is so important if you hope to keep your brain working well. There is plenty of research out there to prove that brainy activities can help to foster new connections between the cells in the brain and the nerves. Building up the right reserve in function is important and your brain is better equipped to do that when you engage it as much as possible. There are so many activities out there that can help you to build up your engagement and stimulation, and these can include things like taking courses, reading, math problems, drawing and even painting!

Workout. You would workout in the gym to help your heart to feel strong, and this is no different. Working out can help you to have a clearer and happier mind and you’ll also be able to open the vessels so more oxygen flows in and out of the brain. The more blood is flowing, the more oxygen is flowing and that keeps your brain feeling good, working well and doing everything right to ensure that you are happy and healthy. There are so many different physical exercises that you can enjoy that make you feel good and ensures that you have the best possible performance. Let’s not forget that exercise is going to lower your blood pressure dramatically and improve your cholesterol levels all at the same time. 

Gamer Health
Gamer Health

Work on your diet. Your diet is going to contribute to the health of your brain as much as the word searches you download and print. There are foods out there that are packed with vitamins and minerals, water and good fats. The mediterranean diet is one that is linked to a reduction in the development of cognitive decline and dementia. This is a diet packed with nuts, fruits, fish and vegetables and a strong association with unsaturated oils like olive oil. The more you ensure that your diet is rich in all of these foods, the better. Plant based sources of protein are also a smart choice, as they can contribute to less cognitive decline.

Talk to your doctor. When was the last time you had your blood pressure checked? If you haven’t had it done for a while, then buy a blood pressure monitor from the chemist and make sure that you are keeping tabs on it at home. Your blood pressure being high pushes up your intracranial pressures, which adds pressure to your brain. This can cause crippling headaches, reduction is your ability to see and it can even contribute to areas of the brain declining faster than others. Improving your blood pressure is so important if you want to ensure that your brain is healthy. You can use lifestyle changes to keep your pressure down, so stay as lean as you can, exercise regularly even for fun and limit how much saturated fats and alcohol you consume. If you reduce your stress, too, you’ll keep your blood pressure low and your brain in one piece.

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Reduce your blood sugar. You should think about the risk of diabetes in your life and whether your doctor puts you at high risk for it. If they do, you can work on preventing it by eating well, working out and remaining as lean as possible. However, if your blood sugars end up being high, you can use medication to help you to gain control over it. You’d be surprised how often blood pressure and blood sugars damage the brain, especially when both conditions are preventable. 

Get a blood test. Did you know that poor cholesterol levels are associated with an increased dementia risk? High levels of LDL in your blood can be reduced with diet, exercise and weight control. If you stop smoking and drinking so much, you’ll go a long way to ensuring that you are the healthiest that you can be. If your blood results show any issues, you can often use lifestyle changes and medications and the epic help that science gives us to improve your cholesterol and other levels.

Stop smoking. Clouding the lungs and staining your teeth isn’t the only side effect of smoking. You can damage your brain and the best thing that you can do is avoid tobacco in every single form. 

Speak to a therapist. Just like any of the pieces of your body, your brain needs help when it’s in danger. Sometimes, the danger isn’t just immediately physical. Your mental health can seriously suffer if you’re not careful and you can help this by speaking to a therapist. Depression has a negative impact on the brain, changing its chemistry and even its shape. Speaking to someone who knows how to help is the smart choice.

Get social. Another way that depression can creep in is if you’re not expanding your social circle and putting yourself out there to get to know people. Remain social and your brain will function well.

Paul Bellow

LitRPG Author Paul Bellow

Paul Bellow is a LitRPG author, gamer, RPG game developer, and publisher of several online communities. In other words, an old school webmaster. He also developed and runs LitRPG Adventures, a set of advanced RPG generators powered by GPT-3 AI. Here at LitRPG Reads, he publishes articles about LitRPG books, tabletop RPG books, and all sorts of DND content that's free to use in your personal tabletop campaign - i.e. non-commercial use. Enjoy your stay and reach out on Twitter or Discord if you want to make contact.

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