Medical

5 Tweaks to Keep Your Brain Healthy

Brain ageing is as natural as physical ageing. While we cannot halt this process entirely, we do have the ability to postpone its onset. Here are tiny tweaks you can make to improve your brain’s health.

By URLife Team

07 Jun 2024

A study published in JAMA Neurology examined the autopsies of 586 individuals who lived to an average age of 91. These participants were part of the Rush Memory and Aging Project, undergoing regular mental and physical tests, as well as annual questionnaires about their lifestyles, for over 20 years. The researchers discovered a direct link between healthy lifestyle habits and a reduced risk of cognitive decline as participants aged. This correlation held true even for individuals showing hallmark signs of developing Alzheimer’s disease or dementia.

Sometimes you tackle a difficult task with ease, solving problems effortlessly and coming up with creative solutions. Other times, you struggle to even get started, finding it nearly impossible to make progress. If this sounds familiar, there's a straightforward reason: our brains don't always operate at their best. This insight comes from Josh Davis, Ph.D., author and director of research and lead professor at the NeuroLeadership Institute. Davis explains that, as human beings and not machines, it's unrealistic to expect peak performance from ourselves all the time. And with time this ability of enhanced productivity declines. To keep brain health at par, here are simple tweaks that can help in delaying brain ageing.

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Easy Tweaks To Keep Brain Healthy

Bust Dance Moves Everyday

In a 2008 article in Scientific American magazine, a Columbia University neuroscientist mentioned that synchronising music and movement—dance, essentially—constitutes a “pleasure double play.” Music stimulates the brain’s reward centres, while dance activates its sensory and motor circuits.

A 2003 study in the New England Journal of Medicine by researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine discovered that dance can decidedly improve brain health. The researchers looked at the effects of 11 different types of physical activity, including cycling, golf, swimming, and tennis, but found that only one of the activities studied—dance—lowered participants’ risk of dementia

Dance also offers a unique social aspect that can further enhance brain health. Dancing often involves interacting with others, whether in a class, at a social event, or even just dancing with a partner. So, whether it's salsa, contemporary, or any other style, just dance your heart out.

Eat 8 Strawberries a Day

A recent study in the Annals of Neurology suggests that eating berries more than twice a week appears to delay cognitive ageing by up to 2.5 years. As an excellent source of vitamin C, pelargonidin, anthocyanidins, and flavonoids, strawberries may reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias.

Adding just eight strawberries a day to your diet can improve your memory and mood and potentially protect you against dementia and depression, according to a 2023 study published in the Journal Nutrients.

Eating one serving of 8 strawberries already fills 95 per cent of your daily vitamin C requirement. Strawberries are also rich in antioxidants, particularly flavonoids, which have been linked to various health benefits, including improved brain health. These antioxidants help counteract oxidative stress and inflammation in the brain, which are underlying factors in cognitive decline and neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's.

Related story: 10 Ways To Promote Brain Health

Dedicate Time To Build and Maintain Social Connections

A 2023 advisory report from the US Surgeon General highlighted this by comparing social isolation to smoking cigarettes. It turns out that chronic isolation can increase the risk of premature death as much as smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day does. Chronic isolation and loneliness can also increase the risk of dementia in older adults by 50 per cent.

Human beings are innately social creatures, and maintaining meaningful social connections is crucial for cognitive fitness. Regular social activities, such as spending time with family and friends, participating in group activities, or engaging in community events, help the brain age slowly. These interactions stimulate various parts of the brain, fostering emotional well-being and reducing the risk of cognitive decline. Engaging in conversations, especially those that are stimulating and thought-provoking, can enhance mental agility and memory, keeping your mind sharp and resilient.

Keep Learning

According to a 2021 study published by the BMJ, doing mentally stimulating activities is linked with a lowered risk of developing dementia.

Your brain thrives from learning. Learning stimulates neuroplasticity and neurogenesis, testing our grey matter to keep it in peak shape in order to keep adapting and growing. Learning helps your brain stay flexible and grow. The best learning involves a tough challenge. Studies show that longer-term challenges are especially good for your brain. Examples include learning a new language or playing a musical instrument. Even new skills like juggling or riding a unicycle give your brain a big workout. The key is to always be learning something new and move on to the next challenge when the current one becomes too easy

Related story: Troubled by Brain Fog: Read This

Travel and Explore New Places

A 2013 study showed that being in a new place could increase your empathy, energy, focus, and attention, which helps build strong memories. People often have stronger memories of a trip than they have of their own day-to-day. Travelling isn’t just a way to exercise your body, instead, it’s a great workout for your body.

But it’s not just about travelling to unknown destinations. It could be something as simple as changing your routine to work, to the park, to even your home. When you travel, you're exposed to different environments, cultures, languages, and experiences, all of which stimulate your brain in unique ways. Navigating unfamiliar streets, reading maps, and trying to communicate in a foreign language engages your brain’s problem-solving and critical-thinking skills.

When you immerse yourself in different cultural practices and norms, your brain forms new neural connections, which can lead to improved creativity and innovative thinking. Trying new foods, visiting historical sites, and engaging in cultural activities enrich your experiences and challenge your brain to process and appreciate diversity.

Avoid Reliance On Google History

Practising retrieval means trying to remember things without looking them up. This helps keep your memory strong because each time you recall something, it strengthens the connections in your brain. When you practise remembering, you make it easier to remember things in the future. This is much better than just reading or watching videos because it makes your brain work harder to find the answer.

A fun way to put this into play is to do trivia games. Trivia games are entertaining and help you remember facts about different subjects. You can play with friends or online, and it turns learning into a fun activity. By playing trivia, you test your knowledge and improve your memory at the same time. This helps keep your mind sharp and makes it easier to recall information when you need it.

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