Neuroscience Found a Way to Keep Your Brain Young

Every moment, of every day, you are aging. And with age comes experience, maturity, intelligence and, unfortunately, mental degradation. It’s true, as time goes by, if untrained, your mind will begin to slow down and perform inadequately in your old age. However, you can prevent this with simple steps designed to protect and improve your brain’s health. If done regularly, these steps will keep your mind sharp well into your old age.

Sing Something Great to Remember

Playing music is a great way to make sure your brain stays in tip-top shape for years. Whether it be Classical piano or Blues Guitar, merely playing an instrument engages several separate parts of the brain all at once.

When music is heard and played the auditory cortex, the limbic system and motor cortex of the brain fire off in conjunction with each other. This synergy between the body’s systems helps keep neural pathways sharp and can lead to improved cognitive abilities.

Additionally, learning to read music can help improve your brain’s health. By challenging yourself to know more than the layman you push your mind in a way that keeps it elastic and adaptable.

Move Every Muscle From Top to Bottom

Exercise doesn’t seem like it would be great for your brain, but it is incredibly helpful. Cardiovascular workouts increase the flow of blood and oxygen to your brain. The more blood and oxygen that flows into your brain, the more cells the brain can grow to protect, repair and maintain its health.

Strength training can help prevent lesions in the brain from forming. White matter lesions can cause diminished mobility and cognitive functions in your later years. By simply doing 45 minutes of bicep curls, lunges and calf raises you can help keep your mind sharp and bulk up at the same time.

Exercise also helps the brain by regulating your mood and reducing inflammation or infection. When you move, your body creates serotonin — a chemical primarily responsible for regulating your mood and soothing muscles. So do yourself a favor and exercise every muscle from top to bottom.

Don’t Just Sleep, Sleep Well

Sleeping might seem like an obvious tip, but many people can’t seem to get quality sleep anymore. A good night’s sleep is generally understood as 8 hours. When we sleep, our brains take a good break and understandably reset.

Sleep time is also the time in which our brains clean out neurotoxins and rebalance itself from the changes of the day. If you ensure enough quality sleep plan ahead. Give yourself an hour before bed without any screens or noise and make sure you’ve got enough time to be alone in something cozy.

Be Your Happiest Self

Mental health and your brain’s physical health are intimately related. If you want your brain to stay active, give yourself reasons to be happy:

• Celebrate every success: Every win, big or small, should make you feel like a champion. Do a victory dance or just smile, whatever it takes for life to be more fun.
• Don’t be so hard on yourself: Everyone makes mistakes, what’s important is that you only linger on the fall for a short time and can pick yourself up.

An active, healthy brain can do a lot of good. It can help create great ideas, enjoy complex moments of life and prevent poor health and disease down the line. By following these steps, you’ll be able to keep your mind sharp and do all that you need and more, down the line.