Improve Brain Health Now: Easy Steps

We can sum­ma­rize a lot of research by say­ing that there are four essen­tial pil­lars to main­tain­ing a healthy brain that func­tions bet­ter now and lasts longer. Those pil­lars are:

• 1) Phys­i­cal Exercise
• 2) Men­tal Exercise
• 3) Good Nutrition
• 4) Stress Management

Great … now what?! How do you devel­op a healthy lifestyle that includes all four pil­lars? Let’s look at each one.

1. Phys­i­cal Exercise
   • Start by talk­ing to your doc­tor, espe­cial­ly if you are not cur­rent­ly phys­i­cal­ly active, have spe­cial health con­cerns, or are mak­ing sig­nif­i­cant changes to your cur­rent program.
   • Set a goal that you can achieve. Do some­thing you enjoy for even just 15 min­utes a day. You can always add more time and activ­i­ties later.
   • Sched­ule exer­cise into your dai­ly rou­tine. It will be become a habit faster if you do.
   • If you can only do one thing, do some­thing car­dio­vas­cu­lar, mean­ing some­thing that gets your heart beat­ing faster. This includes walk­ing, run­ning, ski­ing, swim­ming, bik­ing, hik­ing, ten­nis, bas­ket­ball, play­ing tag, ulti­mate Fris­bee, and oth­er sim­i­lar sports/activities.
2. Men­tal Exercise
   • Be curi­ous! Get to know your local library and com­mu­ni­ty col­lege, look for local orga­ni­za­tions or church­es that offer class­es or workshops
   • Do a vari­ety of things, includ­ing things you aren’t good at (if you like to sing, try paint­ing too)
   • Work puz­zles like cross­words and sudoku or play games like chess and bridge
   • Try a com­put­er­ized brain fit­ness pro­gram for a cus­tomized workout
   • If you can only do one thing, learn some­thing new every day
3. Good Nutri­tion
   • Eat a vari­ety of foods of dif­fer­ent col­ors with­out a lot of added ingre­di­ents or processes
   • Plan your meals around your veg­eta­bles, and then add fruit, pro­tein, dairy, and/or grains
   • Add some cold-water fish to your diet (tuna, salmon, mack­er­el, hal­ibut, sar­dines, and her­ring) which con­tain omega‑3 fat­ty acids
   • Learn what a por­tion-size is, so you don’t overeat
   • Try to eat more foods low on the Glycemic Index
   • If you can only do one thing, eat more veg­eta­bles, par­tic­u­lar­ly leafy green ones
4. Stress Man­age­ment
   • Get reg­u­lar car­dio­vas­cu­lar exercise
   • Try to get enough sleep each night
   • Keep con­nect­ed with your friends and family
   • Prac­tice med­i­ta­tion, yoga, or some oth­er calm­ing activ­i­ty as way to take a relax­ing time-out (maybe a bath)
   • Try train­ing with a heart rate vari­abil­i­ty biofeed­back sensor
   • If you can only do one thing, set aside 5–10 min­utes to just breathe deeply and recharge!