Top 10 Tips for Maintaining Optimal Brain Health

Medically reviewed by: Dr. P N Dinesh Kamath, Senior Consultant Neurologist - Written by Jasni Salim - Updated on 29/10/2024

Are you looking after your brain? Check out some easy brain health tips to help keep your mind sharp and your brain healthy. The good news is that you can take steps to keep your brain healthy just like you do for your body. You can start working on how to improve brain health at any age. Also, it can be fun to do.

What Should You Do to Keep Your Brain Healthy?

Research shows that you can help keep your mind healthy and slow down aging by making simple lifestyle changes and simple brain health tips. Keeping your brain active and taking care of your body can help you age better. A healthy brain habits will help you think clearly and may lower the chances of getting dementia.

10 Tips to Improve Overall Brain Health

Learn to how to improve brain health and adopt healthy brain habits for your brain and let go of the bad ones.

Stay Active

Your brain is like a muscle. You need to use it to keep it strong. You can keep your brain fit by doing activities like crossword puzzles, Sudoku, reading, playing cards or putting together jigsaw puzzles. It is good to try different activities to keep it interesting.

Most doctors do not recommend paid brain-training programs because they often promise too much and focus on memorization which is not very helpful in real life. Instead, you can get a good workout for your brain with reading and puzzles. Also, watching too much TV is not good since it is a passive activity that does not exercise your brain.

Maintain a Healthy Diet

Try to eat a healthy food for brain health that has little fat and lots of fruits and vegetables. Studies suggest that following the Mediterranean food for brain health may help lower the risk of memory problems as you get older.

Challenge Your Brain

Try to keep your brain active every day by doing things like learning a new language, sport or skill. Instead of watching TV, play games that make you think or read a book.

Manage Stress Levels

Stress can hurt your brain thus it is important to lower your stress. You can do this by meditating or exercising.

Keep Your Blood Vessels Healthy

Taking care of your blood vessels is important for both your heart and brain. Make sure to check your blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol often to keep them normal. To help lower blood pressure and cholesterol, try to exercise more, eat a Mediterranean diet rich in fruits and vegetables and cut down on salt. Also, be careful with drinking alcohol, stick to one drink a day for women and two for men and avoid smoking to protect your brain health.

Embrace Brain Safety Measures

Injuries to the brain can make it more likely to have problems with thinking as you get older. To stay safe, remember to wear your seatbelt, put on a helmet when biking or playing rough sports and try to avoid falls.

Prioritise Sleep

Sleep is very important for your brain. It helps get rid of bad proteins and strengthens your memories which is good for your brain health. Try to get seven to eight hours of sleep without waking up often; this helps your brain organize your memories.

If you have trouble sleeping for long periods. It could be due to sleep apnea which is bad for your brain. If you or someone you know thinks they might have sleep apnea, talk to a doctor for help. Good sleep can make a big difference in how your brain works.

Say No to Smoking

Smoking is known to make it easier to forget things as you get older. This is another good reason to quit smoking.

Drink Alcohol in Moderation

Drinking alcohol is okay if you do it in small amounts. It is important to be careful because drinking too much can harm your brain. To stay healthy, try to have a few days each week when you do not drink any alcohol at all. This will help your body and mind recover. Remember, enjoying a drink can be fun, but taking breaks is good for you. Always listen to your body and make sure that you are taking care of yourself.

Remain Socially Involved

Talking and spending time with others can help prevent feelings of sadness and stress which can hurt your memory. If you live by yourself, try to find chances to connect with family, friends and others. Studies show that being alone for a long time can harm the brain thus staying social might help keep your brain healthy.

How Can You Achieve Better Brain Health?

Taking care of your brain is important for your everyday life. Here are some reasons to stay motivated: staying healthy in your body and mind helps you enjoy life as you get older.

You can make small changes to your daily routine. Start by doing simple things like going for a daily walk or trying to eat more fruits and vegetables.

To help you stay on track, think about getting the Five Lives app on your phone. It can motivate you and give you fun activities to improve your brain health.

Conclusion

In this blog, we shared ten easy tips to keep your brain healthy. All these tips are important to help prevent dementia and other thinking problems. Try to use these tips in your daily life to take better care of your brain. We hope you found this post useful.

For any further treatment related to brain, you can visit EMC, the best neurology hospital in Kochi, where our expert neurologists are dedicated to the comprehensive care of patients suffering from neurological disorders. These disorders which affect the brain, spinal cord, and nerves can significantly impact movement, speech, swallowing, breathing, learning, memory, senses and mood. This unit works all day and night by helping us be leaders in caring for brain and nerve injuries. So reach out to us if you really care about the health of your brain.