Tips to reboot your brain health
It’s never too late to stimulate fitter cells, says Sara Davenport, who offers 15 grey matter-boosting tips
In today’s stressful, fast-track, hitech world, the need to keep your mind healthy, focused and strong has never seemed more important, whatever your age and stage of life.
The latest research shows the way we choose to live now can, over time, be toxic for the brain.
Pollution, household chemicals, pesticides and eating processed foods can play havoc; so, too, can a build-up of bacteria, viruses and parasites, and the cumulative effects of electromagnetic stress from the white goods, computers, phones and Wi-Fi that surround us.
Add in the state of your spine, ears, eyes and teeth, and the overwhelm becomes — overwhelming.
Reassuringly, neuroscience, the rapidly growing science of the mind, shows that brain cells can be grown at any stage of life — it’s never too late.
Improving your neural circuits and boosting your brain can be simple and inexpensive to boot.
Use the opposite hand
Using your other hand can help your brain integrate its two hemispheres and develop new neural connections. Studies show when you use your stronger hand, just one side of your brain is engaged. When you use the non-dominant hand, both hemispheres light up.
Brain-boosting aromatherapy
Scents in specific essential oils stimulate parts of the brain that control memories and emotion. Northumbria University carried out a study with elderly participants and found merely being in a room diffused with the smell of rosemary boosted memory scores by 15%.
Exercise
Thirty minutes of exercise daily can increase the production of new synapses in your brain, and regular cardiovascular exercise that elevates your heart rate is one of the best ways to encourage neuro-plasticity in the brain. HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) stimulates BDNF (brain derived neuro-trophic factor), the “brain fertiliser” protein that triggers new brain cell growth. BDNF increases blood flow and oxygen to the brain, and boosts the mitochondria in your neurons. Regular exercise can increase its levels by 300%.
Meditation
Meditating lights up your frontal lobes and develops the areas of the brain related to attention and sensory processing.
Listen to binaural beats
Listening to a form of sound wave therapy called binaural beats, boosts the main hormones responsible for brain health in older age, DHEA and melatonin, by between 50 and 100% and reduces cortisol in half.
Start running
A study from the New Mexico
Highlands University found that “foot impact”, the striking of your foot on the ground, increases blood flow to the brain. Walking and running can build grey matter volume and strengthen overall cognitive skills.
Spinal checks
Adjustments by osteopaths and chiropractors can improve brain function, and especially the prefrontal cortex, which controls decision making, focus and intelligence.
Sleep
In a study of more than 9,000 people, less than six hours sleep or more than eight hours resulted in a reduction of memory function and decision-making ability.
Get your ears checked
Research shows there is a connection between hearing loss and brain decline and the development of dementia. The University of Colorado found when hearing loss occurred, though the brain rewired itself, handing the areas that deal with hearing over to sections that process touch or vision, the hearing parts of the brain were weakened. Turn on the hearing aids and a neuroplastic redress happens and reverses damage.
Drink more water
Your brain is 73% water and even loss of fluid equal to 2% of your body weight can affect decision making, focus and memory. Seventy-five percent of us are regularly dehydrated, which can trigger depression, chronic fatigue and attention deficit disorder (ADD).
Book a yoga session and breathe
Pranayama breathing will oxygenate your brain and clear your nasal passages. Breathing through your nose instead of your mouth enhances memory consolidation.
Get your eyes checked
When your sight weakens, so does your brain processing power, which relies on your eyes to feed it precise information. If your eyes are not in top condition, your brain’s responses will be slower than they should be.
Stimulate your tongue
The tongue is where two of the most important meridians in the body meet. Brain fog and memory issues can be treated by boosting energy flow with acupuncture. Stimulating the tongue with an electric pulse can activate the neural network in the brain in charge of balance, and can help multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s and stroke patients improve their muscle control.
Experiment with light therapy
The Vielight 810 is a small machine that attaches to your nose and sends a near infrared light up into your brain, pulsing at 10 Hz, the frequency that repairs brain cells and neural networks. Photons of light go deep into the brain’s ventral areas where dopamine, which controls sleep, is made, and also triggering the release of serotonin, the calming neurotransmitter.
Learn to cross-crawl
Cross-crawl exercises use opposite sides of the body. For example, on all fours, lift your right arm and left leg, then reverse. Exercises like this strengthen communication signals between your body and brain, boosting brain function. The movement fires up neural pathways in the right and left side of your brain, boosting clarity of thought, focus and spatial awareness.
Like paying regular instalments into your pension scheme, adding “brain gym” time into your weekly schedule is an essential long-term investment; top up your hours and you can eventually reap the benefits of your earlier efforts when you most need them.
● Reboot Your Brain by Sara Davenport will be published next month.