The Brain is a very efficient machine which has control over everything in our bodies and especially in terms of regulating the habit/routine mechanism, but sometimes we cannot really do what we wanted to do with our brains. In this blog post I am going to share some points and some daily routines that we can increase our ability the use our brains.
Technically brain is not a muscle, although it has some muscles. Brain has grey and white matter which have more complex functions than muscles. However training brain like muscle is possible and brain will improve under the specific schedule of intensive workout. This ability is called plasticity of brain. (Neuroplasticity) . After reading some papers on Neuroplasticity and brains ability change itself, I wanted to try it to myself. Involuntarily all of us are somehow changing our brains from the very beginning until the end. But I wanted to change it in a very good way so I could use my brain more efficiently. After an extensive research on training brain, increasing processing power, increasing memory power, and other related topics; I came up with 6 points which combines most beneficial techniques and habits for training our brains.
This training is like other trainings, it requires commitment and constant attention. Or we can convert the training into daily routines and make them habits, so until the end of our life, we will be improving our brains. This is my main goals is to select some daily routines that will help me achieve the points above.
Keep Brain Busy
Keeping brain busy sure sounds like something we have already been doing but not necessarily. I am not saying that people are not using their brains, although I believe some people not, but I am saying that what we do is habits throughout the day and they don’t require a lot of processing power. We should always surprise the brain and challenge it.
Playing Smart Games like chess, scramble, sudoku, keeps your brain active since you have to think your moves.
Don’t Use GPS not never but try to memorize the roads, it will make your brain really active and probably cause headaches at first.
Reading Fiction is one of my best, which puts you in a fictional world with fictional characters. When you try to absorb them your brain will definitely have a blast.
Having a Puzzle of the Day will give you to challenge your brain in different areas according to what area the puzzles gets into. This puzzle might be a algorithm, math, physics, or logic question.
Producing New Ideas everyday means you are pushing your brain forward to produce something new. I recommend you to have a small notebook in you pocket and write the ideas there when they hit you.
Follow the Questions in Your Mind and don’t miss them. If you are intrigued by a question try to find an answer immediately, if not possible immediately write it somewhere and look for it later.
Physical Exercise
“Exercise affects the brain on multiple fronts. It increases heart rate, which pumps more oxygen to the brain. It also aids the bodily release of a plethora of hormones, all of which participate in aiding and providing a nourishing environment for the growth of brain cells. Exercise stimulates the brain plasticity by stimulating growth of new connections between cells in a wide array of important cortical areas of the brain.”(1)
Sleep
Healthy sleep puts us in the right state of mind to take in information as we go about the day. In the sleep our brain takes the memories into long term memory. So after you wake up from a great, relaxing, and healthy sleep, your brain is cleaned from the junk information and stored the important information into the long term memory, so new day and better performance.
I know it is really hard to get a healthy sleep, this is also one of my struggles. I could not get settled with a nice sleep schedule. I will research on this matter more and maybe I could write on this topic too in future. Stay tuned for it.
Healthy Diet
There are specific diets to help people who are having problem remembering such as Alzheimer patients. But these diets are not for those patient they are for everyone who wants to improve their brain power. I am not going into detail about the diet, but I will point out some foods to eat to be able to increase brain power. If you want more information about MIND diet, check this link
- Whole Grains
- Eggs
- Nuts
- Berries
- Seeds
- Fish
- Avocados
- Tomatoes
- Red Cabbage
- Spinach
- Bananas
- Dark Chocolate (My Favorite)
- Dry Beans
Get Help by Technology
Technology is something inseparable from our everyday life. Smart phones, computers, wearable techs, they are everywhere and it seems there is no escape route possible from them. So we should learn how to use them effectively. This is a whole new subject to focus and research about. I want to spend time on this research and write another personal development blog post about it in more detail. For now let’s just focus on simple hacks we can use to improve our brain’s power.
Reading from Knowledge Sources is the key for our brain. Funny videos are nice and funny, but consumes your valuable time, more importantly it consumes your brain’s time and space. Quora, StackOverflow, and Quality Blogs are the best sources to read from and learn.
Watching Beneficial Videos on YouTube or other video sites. My favorite channels are:
Keep Learning
This is pretty straight forward. As I mentioned earlier we have to keep our brain busy all the time, we have to give it something new. Following online courses, speaking to smart people, reading informative blogs, or even following news will give you new information knowledge.
In short, if you want to improve your brain in every way possible you should train it. If you follow the points above you will have a nice set of habits which will keep your brain healthy.
Your input is really valuable, so do not hesitate to leave a comment. I would love to read them and respond to them.
Until next time, be safe…