In today’s stressful, fast-track, hi-tech world, the need to keep your mind healthy, focused and strong has never seemed more important, whatever your age or stage of life. Author and health blogger, Sara Davenport, explains the five simple things you can do to keep the old grey matter in tip-top shape.

The latest research from across the world shows that the way we choose to live can, over time, be toxic for the brain. Pollution, household chemicals, pesticides and eating processed foods can cause mayhem in the brain; so too can a build-up of bacteria, viruses and parasites and the cumulative effects of the electro-magnetic stress from the white goods, computers, phones and wifi that surround us. Add in the state of your spine, your ears, eyes and teeth, and the overwhelm becomes – overwhelming! With cases of Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia soaring, and no pharmaceutical cure available, what can you do to optimise your chances of keeping your brain in tip top shape deep into your older years?

Start Simple  

If your heart sinks into your boots at the thought of adding yet more ‘stuff’ to your already jam-packed day’, don’t panic. You are probably already engaging in some of the most effective strategies for brain health. And reassuringly, neuroscience, the rapidly growing science of the mind, shows that brain cells can be grown at any stage of life. In our parents and grandparent’s day the thinking was that you were born with a certain amount of neurons and over time, those numbers decreased incrementally, leaving you with a fading memory and lessened ability to process, think and function. Today, with the advent of brain scans that show exactly what is happening inside your head, we now know that brain cells can multiply daily and develop even at an advanced age and stage of life. It all depends how you ‘feed’ them. Eating right, adding in brain boosting nutritional supplements, breathing and even the water that you drink will all make a difference.  

Improving your neural circuits and boosting your brain can be very simple – and inexpensive to boot.  The health of your brain is very definitely in your own hands. Reassuringly, it’s never too late.  

Five Top Tips That Make A Brain Boosting Difference

1 Exercise

30 minutes of moderate exercise daily has been shown to increase the production of new synapses (the junction between two nerve cells) in your brain and studies have demonstrated that regular cardiovascular exercise that elevates your heart rate is one of the best ways to encourage neuroplasticity in the brain. 

HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) stimulates BDNF (brain derived neurotrophic factor), the ‘brain fertilizer’ protein that triggers new brain cell growth. BDNF increases blood flow and oxygen to the brain, and boosts the mitochondria in your neurons, the tiny ‘batteries’ that power your brain. Regular exercise – even half an hour three times a week – can increase its levels by 300%. People who exercise have been shown to have less deterioration in their brains than people who don’t.

2 Start Running

A study from the New Mexico Highlands University found that ‘foot impact’, the striking of your foot on the ground, increases blood flow to the brain. So, although cycling or rowing can increase oxygen levels to your brain, walking and running (which has an even stronger foot strike) had additional benefits, building grey matter volume and strengthening overall cognitive skills.  

3 Meditation

Did you know that meditating lights up your frontal lobes – the area for problem solving and impulse control – and develops the areas of the brain related to attention and sensory processing? Meditators have higher volumes of brain tissue, reduced brain inflammation, well-balanced neurotransmitters and less stress. 

4 Sleep                                                                                                                             

How many hours do you sleep each night?  Too little or too much and your brain simply doesn’t work properly. In one study of more than 9,000 people, less than six hours sleep or more than eight hours sleep resulted in a reduction of memory function and decision-making ability. 7 – 7.5 hours seems to be optimal.  

5 Brain Boosting Aromatherapy 

Aromatherapy can be a powerful way to reboot your brain and improve brain function. Scents in specific essential oils stimulate parts of the brain that control memories and emotion. Northumbria University carried out a study with a group of elderly participants and found that merely being in a room diffused with the smell of rosemary boosted memory scores by 15%. 

And if you want to delve deeper, find out how to reduce the burden placed on your brain from the chemicals, toxic metals, bacteria, viruses and the electro-magnetic frequencies that surround us all daily, then ‘Reboot Your Brain’ contains all the latest scientific information on where to look and what to do.  Written by Sara Davenport, Founder of the breast cancer charity, Breast Cancer Haven, and the health blog www.reboothealth.co.uk, this is a complete mind-body-brain manual that explains clearly and simply what works and what doesn’t.  Act now for a better brain – it’s never too late to start.