How to Invest in Daily Brain Care

The brain is a complex organ that controls major body functions. Some of these functions coordinated through your brain include thinking, breathing, and moving. When people exercise, the focus is on other parts of the body, leaving out the brain. You are about to find out how and why daily brain care is also essential.

Daily Practices for Brain Care

Ignoring to take care of your brain may result in issues like memory loss, and developing communication problems, among other problems. Brain care simply refers to caring for that brain. You choose a specific lifestyle that also prioritizes brain care on a daily basis. This brain care lifestyle, which in most cases is long-term regular exercise, is about keeping at minimum or eliminating any risk factors, so that your mind is active and producing the best out of it and for its longevity as you get older.

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But why care for the brain when my body workout is great!? One may wonder. Well, taking care of your brain has the following benefits:

• Helping the mind be clear and active
• Reducing the risk of having dementia or mild cognitive decline

Some of the effects of not caring for the brain include memory loss, communication problems, and negative impact on both the body and daily life. Next time when you plan for workouts or any exercise for the body, consider starting with the below brain care actions below.

Taking Care of Your Teeth

Daily brain care goes together with other body exercises and general health care matters. When engaging in activities that can cause brain injury in the case of accidents, it’s advisable you protect your brain by wearing a helmet. These would include activities such as sports like hockey, riding a bike, and military missions or in a war zone.

Besides protecting your head with such gadgets, scientists have discovered too that there is a connection between oral health and the brain. There are a lot of nerves that connect the oral cavity and the brain, like the trigeminal nerve. Because of this, oral infection that is not treated can quickly result in infection of the brain.

This means that taking good care of your teeth, like brushing well, treating gum diseases, and other oral-related care would result in not only good oral health but also protect your brain health. For Invisalign treatments, family orthodontics would tell you that oral hygiene is not hampered, meaning your brain care is guaranteed.

Reducing Screen Time

Keeping the brain active is an essential part of exercising it. Involve the brain in activities that make it work or concentrate. These would include activities like painting, drawing, playing puzzles and crossword games, reading, and so on. Just keep your mind busy.

Spending too much time on the screen is not a good daily brain care activity. Screens would range from smartphones, computers, televisions, etc. Watching them doesn’t keep the mind busy, thus too much watching them isn’t beneficial to the brain. Daily brain care tips recommend you reduce screen time because:

• It can disrupt your sleep, which is very important for the brain. Normally, darkness causes the release of sleep signals, called melatonin, but the light from the screen can cause a delay in its release. This delay can cause unhealthy reactions like hormone imbalance and brain inflammation
• It limits the exposure to natural light, which is vital for the brain’s attention and stress reduction
• It can negatively affect brain development for children
• Excess time on the screen causes eye strain and headache
• It takes away time you would otherwise spend doing physical exercise

According to experts, adults should limit screen time to the utmost two hours per day outside work-related activities. You can reduce screen time by:

• Turning off the notification alerts, helps in limiting unnecessary time on screen

Setting time limits for whatever device you use

• When having a meal, put the screen off, because you may get carried away by the content displayed
• Ensure your screen gadgets are outside the bedroom. This will make it easy for you to get to sleep faster, and not get into too much screen time
• If your work makes you sit in front of a computer for long hours, plan to take breaks after a few minutes. Walk and stretch

A brain injury can be among the conditions affecting the normal functioning of the visual system. Such brain injury, or other conditions, may cause headaches, blurred vision, discomfort of the vision, and inability to accomplish tasks that require the use of your eyes, such as reading and driving. Following an evaluation of the visual system, a vision therapist may prescribe therapy for the brain injury. As much as visual media on screens is good for society, like for passing information, just like you are reading this now, regulating screen time is key.

Moving Your Body

Regular use of your muscles has a great positive effect on the brain – because blood rich in oxygen is transported to the brain. These physical exercises help new nerve cells to develop. In addition, exercises boost synapses, which means an increase in the connections of the brain cells. According to research, people who exercise regularly are less likely to experience a decrease in mental function and Alzheimer’s disease. Some of the simple exercises you can do are swimming, walking, and playing golf.

There are also certain exercises that directly target the brain. These specific exercises can help in brain memory, concentration, and sharpness, among other benefits. Some of these brain exercises that you should try include:

• Puzzles
• Playing cards
• Developing your vocabulary
• Learning and teaching skills to others
• Both listening to and playing music
• Dancing

These exercises are among the top daily brain care tips you should never ignore because they will help your brain remain healthy, active, and functioning for a long, even when you age. Both the spinal spine and the brain are made to work together. In case there is a misalignment in the spine, which could be due to those physical exercises, this may greatly affect the brain as well. Chiropractic adjustments come in handy here to put things back in order. Visiting a chiropractor for checkups helps to eliminate any interference with the spinal cord.

Finding Good Hobbies and Habits

Hobbies and habits are generally activities we do out of passion. You don’t struggle with loving them. They are pleasurable, and you would run to do them in your free time. When you do something you love, naturally, there is the release of the feel-good chemical, dopamine, making you feel the pleasure of doing it repeatedly. This in the long run has the effect of preventing dementia and Alzheimer’s.

Daily brain care is a good hobby and habit. When choosing a good hobby from a variety or long list, one of the things to consider is whether you loved it when you were young. Whenever you do these activities that make you happy, your mental health improves. Good hobbies can help you reduce stress, create new relationships and improve existing ones, improve neuroplasticity, and improve self-esteem.

Some of the hobbies that are considered best for daily brain care and mental well-being are:

• Cooking
• Nature walk
• Doing art like drawing, painting, embroidery
• Reading
• Music
• Games that require strategy, like chess, sudoku
• Exercises
• Writing
• Gardening
• Knitting

Some people, especially teenagers and young adults, find themselves smoking marijuana as a habit that makes them happy – seeking to be ‘high’. Some claim that marijuana makes them feel relaxed, re-energized, and calms their nerves. However, smoking ‘weed’ isn’t a good habit because marijuana affects the brain directly. It affects thinking, memory, and movement. In addition, it affects the development of the brains of these teens and young adults.

If you have a specific medical condition that justifies the use of marijuana, you should first seek the advice of a doctor. Marijuana doctor services would only recommend medicinal marijuana for medicinal purposes. Marijuana is mostly used to control pain. These doctors are licensed to administer or prescribe marijuana as medicine.

Taking Care of an Animal

Did you know that animals can also help in your daily brain care? Having a pet is considered to help a lot by delaying loss of memory and reducing the risks of cognitive decline. Most people would think of dogs and cats as the only pets that can help with brain care. Well, other animals like rabbits and fish are helpful too.

A clinical neuroimmunologist called Dr. Tiffany Barley, says that, when one owns a pet for at least five years, cognitive decline is greatly delayed. Some other benefits of taking care of animals include:

• Stress relief
• They help in getting you moving around. This could be when going for a walk, mountain climbing, or playing with your pet. This has the effect of having your body exercise
• They help in your social life, by providing companionship. This is more so for aged people, and children

As a daily brain care step, consider volunteering to offer your services or help at a pet medical care clinic, cat grooming center, or any other facility that cares for pets. You will be able to interact with the animals in these centers. This will be beneficial to your brain care. When your pet needs to be taken there, instead of sending them with someone else, take them yourself.

Practicing Putting Your Needs After Another’s

Mankind is a social being, and caring for others becomes automatic. But is this helpful for one’s brain? According to various studies, helping others doesn’t just make the other person fulfill their needs, but it equally comes back to you positively by boosting your happiness and health. This is such an awesome daily brain care step.

When you help someone, your brain releases some hormones whose effect is boosting your mood as well as relieving stress. These hormones are oxytocin, serotonin, and dopamine. Taking care of others also improves your self-esteem, while decreasing behaviors considered problematic. According to research done on the benefits of the brain for helping others, targeted support, like helping a friend in fundraising, was found to be beneficial, unlike non-targeted support, like charity.

And this care for others doesn’t start and end with humans, it extends to animals too. Putting their needs first and caring for them has great benefits for the brain. For instance, an animal care specialist, animal cosmetic surgery doctors, and other animal caregivers take special care of these animals. Constant interaction with these animals causes a decrease of blood pressure and the stress-related hormone, cortisol.

Staying Hydrated

It’s said, water is life. So it is to the brain. A dehydrated brain is functionless. While you might be wondering how water is, or better put it, hydrating the brain, helpful to the brain, note the below benefits for your brain by staying hydrated:

• Improves concentration
• Mental fatigue is reduced, as focus is improved
• Toxins are cleared out as well as any waste that would impair the functioning of the brain
• Water carries nutrients. This helps in keeping the brain healthy
• Increased alertness, decreased confusion
• There is generally improved performance

Note that the brain will have low levels of functioning when you drink less water. You should aim to drink 2-3 liters of water in a day. But if your activity entails too much sweating, like athletes, you may need to take more to replace the lost fluid. The only requirement is that you consume clean water. At your home, you can use filtration water treatment to enable you to take water free from germs and other unwanted particles.

Hydrating your brain should be the first daily brain care exercise. Investing in your brain is a wise step to take. This is because the brain is the command center for the nervous system. Therefore, the well-being of your brain is crucial, especially as you get older.

With the information in this article, you now know the importance of exercising your brain and taking care of it as well. Use these daily brain care tips to enhance the functionality of your brain, its longevity, and overall well-being.