12 Ways To Improve Your Brain Right Now

Brain burnt out? Do you keep forgetting where you put your car keys? Your brain is a muscle, and the more you use it the stronger it will become. Luckily for us, it really is possible to keep improving your brain as you grow older.

It’s easy to build up your brain power by just doing a few things to improve your mind every day. Here’s a list of examples.

1. Eat Healthy

You are what you eat. When you eat healthy your entire body feels better. You start having more energy, your parts start working a lot better. I’m sure you’ve heard it before, “Garbage In, Garbage Out.”

How can you expect to have a strong brain when all you feed it are chips, beer, and hamburgers? Start eating healthy and you’ll be amazed at the change you see in yourself.

2. Exercise

Your brain is a machine, and like a machine it needs fuels to keep it running. With your mind, that fuel is Oxygen. Your brain uses 20% of the oxygen that your body takes in just to function.

When you exercise you are in effect making your body more efficient at delivering oxygen to every part of your body, including your brain. A brain that is supported by a strong heart and strong lungs has everything it needs to stay young and healthy.

3. Play Games

In the animal kingdom, it is the animals that play games when they are younger that become smarter when they grow up. Playing games has a direct effect on our mind.

It lets us think in creative ways and challenges our abilities. Anytime you can challenge your abilities it is a good thing because it will lead to growth.

4. Learn A New Skill

Whenever you learn a new skill, especially a complicated skill your brain is forced to make new connections. These new connections help your brain to grow and expand.

5. Eat Fish

Fish is not only a lean protein food that is perfect for diets; it is also the best source of the fatty acid Omega-3. Omega-3 supports healthy hearts, joints, and brains. If you’re eating a lot of fish in your diet, you may want to look into at least taking a supplement of this fatty acid.

6. Eat Blueberries

Your body naturally produces free-radicals into your system. These free-radicals attack your cells causing aging. The best weapon we have against free-radicals (and therefore aging) are Antioxidants.

The number 1 source of Antioxidants in blueberries. These colorful fruits help to slow cognitive decline and keep you younger long into your old age. Other fruits such as strawberries give you a smaller dose of antioxidants.

7. Stay Positive

Your thoughts have a direct affect on your body as a whole. If you keep telling yourself how much older you are getting and how your brain isn’t what it used to be then your body will respond by breaking down faster.

If you tell yourself that you are getting stronger and smarter everyday and that you love yourself, you’ll see an opposite effect. It’s one big circle. Your mind has a direct affect on your body’s health, which has a direct affect on your mind’s health.

8. Juggle

We all like to watch street performers juggle and do amazing tricks. But there is more than meets the eye with this talent. Juggling is not only entertaining to watch, but also healthy to perform.

Recent studies have shown that learning to juggle actually increases the size of your brain. And while there has been no official study on its effect in other areas of life, many teachers claim that children who learn to juggle fare better in different areas of school such as reading.

If you want to learn more about how juggling affects your brain here is a great article on it.

9. Solve Puzzles

One way to challenge your brain to think and grow is to solve complicated puzzles. You may think that you want to get smarter so you can handle these puzzles to begin with, but if you never start trying to solve complicated problems you are never going to challenge your brain enough so that it gets used to solving them.

10. Take Cat Naps

If you have ever had brain fog and forgot simple things like where you put your car keys it may be that your brain is simply burnt out. When you work your brain too much it is possible to simply overextend yourself.

It may need time to recharge. One of the best ways to do this is by taking regular naps. Studies have shown that napping actually helps our brain learn by clearing out cluttered memory spaces. Just like any other muscle, you need to work it out, but you also need to let it rest as well.

11. Drink Caffeine

Caffeine works as a stimuli to speed up the reaction of your brain and of your heart. Coffee has also been shown to increase your brain's ability to remember things like lists or answers to tests.

But the studies that confirm these theories are only true after drinking 8 ounces of coffee. Drinking more than that, may not have the same effect. It is also important to remember that too much of anything is a bad thing and coffee is no different.

12. Live A Balanced Life

When you live a balanced life filled with love, passion, and ambition you feel better about yourself. When you feel better about yourself your body works better. So work on improving your life and happiness and watch your health soar.

You can improve your brain by doing little things every day. If you want more information on ways you can expand your mind here is an interesting brain book on the subject.