The Human brain is the central processing unit of your entire functionality. It tells your body what to do even before you do it. It is the command center, a memory box and an engine room.
Just like all body parts and internal organs. It is important to keep the brain in a tip top condition. People have been known to accept that cognitive decline has to do with ageing.
It is not uncommon for people to have a lapse in memory every now and again like forgetting a familiar name or why you went into the bedroom in the first place. These things are not necessarily an indication of a failing brain.
However if you don’t want to grow old with cognitive decline, there are some habits that you can pick up. Note that certain medical conditions like brain injury and neurological illness can cause cognitive decline however these habits can help you at least to keep your mind sharp through your golden years.
Habits to keep your mind sharp
1. Learn a second language
As babies grow, they develop their brains by using all the senses to learn. What they see, what they hear, feel, smell and taste help their brain to understand how to react to those stimuli in the future.
Bilingual people make use of a lot more of their brain thereby exercising brain muscles to a large degree. Start learning Catalan, Swahili, or any language you like, and see what you can learn about yourself. Language learning gives you a chance to explore who you are and what the future may hold for you.
Just as artificial intelligence get better with continuous and deep learning, the human brain is benefited when continuous learning is employed. Studies shows a slow development of Alzheimer’s disease in bilingual and multilingual patients.
2. Puzzly games
Play games that challenge your intellect. Brain teasers, jigsaws, crossword puzzles and anagrams are perfect games to keep your brain sharp. These games helps sharpen your problem solving and activity completion skills.
Challenge yourself each time by trying extra harder puzzles than the previous ones. Get challenging puzzles, big puzzles those that keep you thinking constantly.Do not leave your brain dormant for long periods. Always make sure there is an activity you are doing to keep your mind sharp.
3. Involve more senses
One verified way of keeping your brain sharp is involving all your senses in memorizing things. An experiment conducted showed that people were more likely to remember things if they had more sensory properties about those things.
Merely seeing something and knowing it’s name might not help you to remember it unless you knew what it smelled liked and tasted like too. The more senses you involve in identifying things the more your brain works and essence keep sharp.
4. Eat better
There are foods that have been know to improve cognitive health and brain functionality. It is important to prepare your food with ingredients like fish, nuts and other nutritious foods that will help improve your brain.
5. Use your brain more
Your brain works better when it is used more. Don’t be afraid to memorize things, it doesn’t matter if you forget in time, just keep doing it. Do not be too quick to use gadgets to get things done. But rather do it with your brain.
It has been said that we only use small portion of our brain, leaving the other part dormant and prone to cognitive failure. Balance your checkbooks the old fashioned way. Do your taxes by doing a little math.
Leave the gadgets out of it sometimes. Don’t be quick to grab a calculator. Pick up a pen and paper and rack your brain from time to time. Help your kid with their homework. It might surprise you how challenging some of those math quizzes can be. Sharpen your brain with them.
SEE ALSO: BANISH MEMORY WORRIES WITH THESE SIMPLE ACTIVITIES HOW TO REMEMBER YOUR DREAMS
