10 tricks to improve your brain health

Learn about the habits that increase (or worsen) the health of your brain.

Our brain is a living organ in which phenomena that are absolutely essential for our daily life occur.

If we make a metaphor with the computer world, we could say that the human brain is the CPU that governs and controls all the processes of the computer equipment, that is to say, of our body, our mental processes, our physiological processes, neurochemical processes? In short, the brain is the executive organ that allows us to live, think, move, perceive through the senses and perform any activity of our daily life.

There are a series of tricks and techniques to make your brain faster and more productive. Unfortunately, we tend not to pay much attention to the agility with which our neurons interact, and we repeat habits that negatively affect our brain health.

Brain in top shape: how to achieve it?

No matter how many exercises and strategies to improve concentration you put into practice, it will be difficult to notice an improvement if you continue to damage your body and your brain.

If you're serious about improving the health of your brain cells, here are ten things you can do to improve your concentration, here are a total of ten tips that you should implement.

1. Quit smoking

Smoking is harmful to our entire body, and as far as the brain is concerned, the damage of cigarette smoking is severe. Smoking increases the chances of developing dementia in old age, and the more you smoke, the greater the risk of dementia.The higher the daily consumption, the greater the risk. Those who decide to give up the bad habit stop this process, so there is still time to purify yourself of the bad effects of smoke.

2. Relating to other people

Have you ever heard of transactive memory? You may have noticed that in interpersonal relationships we tend to remember some things, and forget others. Some people never forget a face or a name, while others have an easier time remembering their hobbies or occupation.

For this reason, it is interesting to it is interesting to cultivate personal relationships in quantity and quality, to be able to encourage your brain to be able to explore new themesThis is the reason why it is interesting to cultivate personal relationships in quantity and quality, in order to encourage your brain to explore new themes, being able to foster your creativity and, with it, your openness to new experiences. All these factors converge to provide your brain with a greater capacity to process information and learn new things.

3. Thinking positively

The Pygmalion Effect alerts us that if we believe that we will be able to achieve our objectives and goals, we are building the bridge so that our desires can come true. On the other hand, those people who firmly believe that they are not capable of carrying out any project, it is very difficult for them to carry it out.

This is what is known as a limiting belief. To achieve a goal, it is important to think that we will be capable, so that we have confidence in our possibilities and our attitude is focused on making the maximum effort to achieve it.

4. Rest and sleep adequately

Our brain never rests, not even when we are asleep. Look at dreams: they are a reflection of the brain's work to process and store everything we learn on a daily basis. In the hours of rest the perceived information is consolidated in the brain, and if we do not sleep, it tends to be eliminated.

For this reason it is very necessary to sleep between seven and nine hours a day to give our brain time to process and select the data.

5. Healthy diet

Popular wisdom warns us that there are good (and bad) foods for our brain. Vegetables such as tomatoes, spinach and broccoli, as well as the proteins we get from meats, eggs and some vegetables, provide us with amino acids. These last ones allow the creation of neurotransmittersThese amino acids allow the creation of neurotransmitters, responsible for connecting neurons together in a process known as neurogenesis.

There are also certain vitamins that strengthen the brain's capacity to regenerate and enjoy an iron health.

From the time we are babies, nutrition plays a fundamental role in our psychic and cognitive development, since children who are breastfed have a higher intelligence quotient than those who are not.. Another factor to take into account is the mother's diet during the months of gestation.

6. Meditation

Although meditation is an ancient art and has been discredited on many occasions, it is actually a practice that improves our ability to concentrate and our memory. Some brain regions are better developed and information can be processed faster and more efficiently.. Meditation also prevents stress, which is a limiting factor when it comes to acquiring new learning.

7. Keep physically active

Physical exercise increases Blood flow, through which the brain is better oxygenated. Physical exercise also increases brain-body coordination, which activates and improves attention and the agility of certain mental processes. It is also positive since it creates new neuronal connections and blood vessels.

On the other hand, a sedentary lifestyle causes structural changes in our brain, with multiple disadvantages and functional problems in cognitive capacity.

8. Keeping the mind awake

From an early age, our parents teach us, play with us and communicate with us. All these stimuli are positive and serve as anchors for us to reach levels of cognitive development.. Solve puzzles and teaching reading are activities that adults should share with their children.

Asking questions or explaining stories is a very interesting way to encourage their cognitive development and social skills.

9. Education, a challenge for everyone

Formal education in schools from an early age gives them a regular framework that allows them to intensify their learning, but this does not help them to be smarter or better prepared for life. For this reason, education should be extended to interpersonal relationships and self-directed learning.. Studying constantly and acquiring knowledge and skills helps to increase our IQ.

In addition, it has recently been found that children who attend 'green' schools (surrounded by vegetation) report better academic grades... It seems, then, that the environment also influences the health of our brain.

10. Training the mind and brain

Training to increase the capacity of our brain is effective if it is done well, and there are a variety of methods to speed up and make our capacities more efficient. There are also many methods that are based on false assumptions and are not effective.

Exercises focused on developing mental agility or logical and deductive thinking are the most recommended. In this sense, the benefits of playing word games, sudokusmental arithmetic, mental arithmetic or crossword puzzles are a proven and are an entertaining way to improve our cognitive capacity..

Bibliographical references:

• Cosgrove, K.P.; Mazure, C.M.; Staley, J.K. (2007). "Evolving knowledge of sex differences in brain structure, function, and chemistry". Biol Psychiatry.
• Papalia, D. and Wendkos, S. (1992). Psychology. Mexico: McGraw-Hill, p. 9.
• Triglia, Adrian; Regader, Bertrand; Garcia-Allen, Jonathan (2016). Psicológicamente hablando. Paidós.