Showing Your Brain Some Gratitude

Simple Ways to Support Healthy Brain Function

As we continue to age, the brain goes through changes and can even face a mental decline. Fortunately, there are plenty of simple activities you can add to your routine that can help to maintain your brain function for years to come.

Getting Regular Exercise

According to the CDC, it is recommended that adults get 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise each week to support various areas of your health—including your brain! Exercising may be beneficial to your brain cells because it increases the flow of oxygen-rich blood to your brain.

Studies have shown that getting regular aerobic exercise can help to boost the size of the hippocampus, which is the part of the brain responsible for verbal memory and learning. Research also suggests that those who exercise regularly also have a larger prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for thinking and memory.

Getting Enough Sleep

It’s no secret that you’re better able to focus and retain information when you’re well-rested. According to the American Sleep Foundation, this is because getting good quality rest each night triggers changes within the brain, allowing you to retain information better. Not only does rest help with recalling previously learned information, it also helps you to think critically and form new ideas. Try to get the recommended 7 to 9 hours of rest each night.

Stimulate Your Brain

Though games and puzzles can be fun to do, they can also help to stimulate new connections between nerve cells and even support the generation of new brain cells. There are plenty of the activities that you can work into your day that help to build up your brain’s functional reserve and prevent future cell loss.

Activities that stimulate your brain can include but aren’t limited to:

• Reading
• Crossword puzzles
• Jigsaw puzzles
• Chess
• Painting
• Drawing