Effortless Ways to Achieve Cognitive Improvement
It is so important to continuously work on cognitive improvement, especially as we progress in our careers. We need to have the ability to think, remember a multitude of things, make dozens of decisions each day and pay attention in countless conversations and meetings. Below we will discuss some tips you can use to make sure you don’t experience a cognitive decline.
Tip #1 for Cognitive Improvement - Improve Blood Flow
It’s crazy to think that the brain is 2% of the body’s weight, but uses 20% of blood flow, and 20% of the oxygen in your body. Some risk factors that can impeded blood flow include:
1. History of stroke
2. Smoking
3. Caffeine consumption (caffeine restricts blood flow)
4. History of cardiovascular disease (including coronary artery disease, heart attack, heart failure, and heart arrhythmias)
5. Prehypertension or hypertension (hypertension in midlife; low blood pressure later in life)
6. Limited exercise (less than twice a week)
So, what can we do to improve our blood flow:
1. Drinking more water
2. Avoiding caffeine and nicotine
3. Getting plenty of exercise
4. Eating sugar-free dark chocolate
5. Eating beets and green leafy vegetables
6. Eating pumpkin seeds
7. Drinking green tea
8. Incorporating spices such as ginger, turmeric, cinnamon and garlic
Tip #2 for Cognitive Improvement – Lifetime Learning
To help keep your brain young it is important to engage in lifelong learning. The best mental exercises involve acquiring new knowledge and doing things you haven’t done before. Learning new things helps to establish new connections which then maintains and improves other areas of your brain that you might use less often. This is important because the parts of your brain that you use grows, and the parts of your brain you don’t use will shrink.
For example, I tried taking some Jazzercize classes recently and I found I really enjoyed them, partly because I found it good for my brain. Since all the dance moves are new to me I had to really pay attention and concentrate to make sure I was doing them correctly. My mind didn’t go on autopilot like it does with some other workouts that I have done a million times. You want to make sure you do these activities daily or a couple times a week. If you just do something one day a week you won’t get the full benefits you are looking for.
Tip #3 for Cognitive Improvement - Diet
We want to make sure we are eating food that helps our brains and slows down the aging process. There are so many examples so I will give you a handful of my favorites: raspberries, walnuts, blueberries, artichokes, cranberries, kidney beans, blackberries, chocolate, shrimp, eggs, salmon, shiitake mushrooms, chickpeas, lentils, bell peppers, cauliflower, lentils, asparagus, spinach, and broccoli.
Tip #4 for Cognitive Improvement – Inflammation
You may hear the word inflammation thrown around, but the fact is that high levels of inflammation in your body harms your brain and mind. Poor gut health from inflammation has been associated with anxiety, mood disorders, and other mental health issues. So, what are some things you can do to calm inflammation and heal your gut?
1. Avoid smoking
2. Eliminate toxins
3. Prioritize dental hygiene
4. Eat prebiotic and probiotic foods for gut health such as asparagus, chia seeds, beans, cabbage, artichokes, raw garlic, onions, leeks, root vegetables (kimchi, sauerkraut, kefir, miso soup, pickles, kombucha
Tip #5 for Cognitive Improvement – Head Trauma
Undetected or untreated head injuries can cause depression, anxiety, panic disorders. To avoid head trauma, you want to make sure to protect your brain. Common causes of brain injury include falls, violence, sport injury, and automotive accidents.
Avoid any future head injuries by avoid contact sports, climbing where you might fall, diving, texting while driving, always wear your helmet and seatbelt.
Conclusion for Cognitive Improvement
I hope walking through these tips opened your eyes to what you can do every day to take care of your brain. Nothing is hard to do but takes dedication and awareness. By avoiding certain things and adding certain things in you will find that your cognitive ability improves which results in you not only feeling better but succeeding in both your career and in life.
To help make things easier on you I have put together a Brain Healthy Food Checklist that you can bring with you to the store so you can easily remember the types of food you should be eating. You can grab it for free here.