Taking Care of Your Brain

We all hear a lot about taking care of our heart health or our kidneys, how to avoid diabetes and so on, but we never hear much about taking care of our brain.

Our brain is the control center of our bodies and yet we neglect to talk about the overall health of our brain. Why is that? Well up until about a couple of decades ago, the research was minimal due to all the other concerns and worries our healthcare professionals were addressing. And then the Silver Tsunami started gaining attention along with Alzheimer’s Disease, the populations started seeing this more and more often and the stats told us we were in for a some trouble in the future.

Fast forward to today. Now there has been special attention paid to brain changes or call it what you want, cognitive impairments and so on. And now we have discovered that if we focus on our overall brain health then we are focusing on all the other diseases as well since the brain is our control center. We can imagine this as a wholistic approach to care and that the healthy things you do for the brain benefit your whole body.

While pharmaceutical companies continue to work on that magic pill, others have studies the effects of your lifestyle on your brain. Turns out that lifestyle habits could be the key to a majority of the health problems we have that could lead to dementia or other co-morbid diseases. Who would have thought?

So while I am talking in a sarcastic tone, I do want you to let that sink in and recognize that maybe your lifestyle, food culture, job requirements and so on are quite literally what is shutting your body down.

A quick google search will tell you what you need to know about brain health since now it is more common to hear about it now. But here is a short list can help you reflect on your lifestyle to see if you might need to pay some special attention to areas on your wellness wheel.

1.) Think about the food you eat, not the fad diets (just forget about those). Look to see if you are eating colorful foods everyday, the right portions for you and less sugar and processed foods. Keep it simple. Don’t over-complicate the need for good food in your life.

2.) Are you moving, or mostly stationary in your daily routine? You have no idea how beneficial it is to do some type of stimulating movement for 30 minutes a day. Break it up if you have to, 15 in the morning, 15 after work. But find ways to move and not sit. This helps almost every part of your body, but it especially gets that blood flowing to the brain where it brings what is needed and then flushes out what isn’t.

3.) What does your sleep routine look like? Do you rest at points during your day as well? Not getting 7-8 hours of sleep is a real thing. Just like when you charge your phone at night, it cleans up the storage in your brain by flushing out the bad toxins and files the memories of the day away. When you don’t get the correct amount, it causes inflammation of the brain that is hard to reverse.

4.) Do you try to keep learning and discovering new things in your life? Yeah we know that you thought when you finished school or college you were done. Truth is, we are never done learning. We should become wiser and wiser year by year as well as pass along our skills and experiences to others in our lives. Especially those younger who need to learn those skills. Explore something that challenges you. Believe it or not, your brain can continue to grow!

5.) As we get older, sometimes our connections and friend groups get smaller and smaller. We may enjoy our alone time as well, but we are all connected, humans need other humans whether we like it or not. We are never really independent of each other. Our brain’s chemical balances rely on the relationships we build and if we notice more time isolated, so does our brain. It may seem funny to say you are going to have to make an effort to make new friends just like you would if you moved to a new school. This is crucial for the well-being of a human. Ugh. I know, sometimes we find ourselves a little self conscious like we used to be. Concerned about what others will think of us, or maybe we aren’t, and we find those who like us for who we are. How will we know if we don’t try. Go find some time to laugh with friends. The benefits are beyond what you can imagine.

6.) How do you view yourself? Are you spiritual in nature? Or not? Spirituality is much more than just finding a religion that aligns with your values. It is finding the connection to nature, to yourself, to the world around you. Believing in something bigger than yourself, whether it be a deity or a cause helps us find connection to ourselves and the world around us. And suddenly we begin to recognize purpose in just “being”. Self reflect on this. Let your thoughts flow and accept them, then ask yourself what do you believe for yourself.

This has been a long blog, but I hope it helps you find where to get started on thinking of the brain as a whole and what should be considered for our overall well-being in this life.

-Amanda Oporta