8 Best Ways to Exercise Your Brain

8 BEST WAYS TO EXERCISE YOUR BRAIN

This information is taken from the book ‘How God Changes Your Brain’ Andrew Newberg MD & Marc Waldman.

8.    Smile

Smiling tells the brain you are ok. When you smile it releases dopamine and other relaxing neurochemicals. It also leads other people to respond to you in a more generous and kinder way.

It works even if you don’t feel like it so fake it until you make it! Learn to let go, lighten up and smile.

7.    Intense Intellectual Stimulation

Learning new things strengthens the neural connections in your frontal lobes. This improves your ability to communicate, solve problems and make rational decisions about your behaviours. Use it or lose it!

6.    Consciously Relax

Your frontal lobes are more active when you feel relaxed allowing for better brain function.

A great way to do this is to use a progressive relaxation. Just go through each part of your body and allow each part to relax as you focus on it. You can imagine a relaxing colour spreading over you or all the cells smiling as you go. Another way is to focus on your breathing, noticing the gentle rise of your abdomen as you inhale and the fall as you exhale. Otherwise just use any of your favorite ways to relax such as listening to calming music.

5.    Yawn

Apparently, yawning will relax you and bring you into a state of alertness faster than any other meditation technique. It improves cognitive function, memory recall, empathy, relaxation and lowers stress. Try yawning a few times when you wake up, before you go to sleep, if you feel anxious, stressed or before an important event. However it may not look so good in front of an important meeting so choose your time and place to do it!

When you yawn, this temporarily suspends all brain disorder symptoms. It resets the correct metabolism and consciousness in the brain. It is contagious like neural empathy.

4.    Meditation

There is a lot of information on the benefits of meditation such as reducing depression, anxiety and stress and improving cognition and intellectual functioning. It also enhances social awareness, and gives you better control over your emotions. Generally it helps you to be calmer, more peaceful and alert and gives you a more positive outlook on life.

Visualization and Self-Hypnosis are equally as effective as meditation in maintaining a healthy brain.

3.    Aerobic Exercise

When you do aerobic exercise, your whole brain lights up helping to make new neural connections thus brain growth. In general the more intense the better but listen to your own body.

It is said to be miracle grow for the brain. It improves cognition and academic performance, repairs and protects the brain, boosts immune function and reduces anxiety.

Weight training is also said to increase cognitive function, assisting in decision-making and focus.

2.    Intense Social Interaction & Dialogue

Make sure this is positive as anger damages the brain. Hang out with those people that make you feel good and talk about a wide variety of interesting, positive topics.

1.    Faith

Optimism, hope and faith are all neurologically the same. It doesn’t matter if it’s real or imagined as the brain cannot tell the difference. If you can predict a positive future for yourself, it adds years to your life. If you believe something is good for you, then it is, and this is the best thing to do for your brain. When you trust your intuition, you are putting faith in yourself which is very important.

If we don’t have faith that we’re making the best decision, then we will be consumed by doubt. As far as your brain is concerned, being in doubt is a precarious state in which to live.

Faith in an optimistic future could be a placebo, but placebo’s can cure, on average, 30% of most physical and emotional diseases.

A ‘good’ diet and a ‘good’ nights sleep are obviously very important for brain health too.