5 Ways to Protect Your Brain Health Every Day
Video Transcript:
Today, I’m really excited to share with you five different things you can do every single day to support and protect your brain health. This is great for individuals of all ages and, if you have a family history like I have of Alzheimer’s and dementia, these are really critical in lowering your risk factors in developing those degenerative diseases.
1. Play Brain Games
Number one of the most impactful and important things you can do every day is to mentally invigorate your brain. This classification would be things like mental games and applications like phone apps, where you can download… MindPal is one of my favorite apps…. where you play brain games. This is how we can use technology to help support that.
But also things like Sudoku and games like chess and other games that are going to use your mind, you want to constantly be activating your memory, problem-solving skills. Mental games are great for that, and the apps have a lot of scientific data. They queue up a lot of different brain games to help support, invigorate the brain centers so that you’re constantly rejuvenating and sending circulation and energy and focus to those different parts of the brain.
2. Practice Self-Care
Number two in protecting your brain is practicing self-care, meaning employing tactics that help you sleep better, that lower your stress levels, and encourage things that will calm your body and calm your central nervous system.
Sleep and exercise and stress management like massage, yoga, tai chi, getting out walking, being in nature, grounding – those are all good practices of self-care. I even put in “self-care” good-quality nutrition in this category. Just loving and nourishing your body and nourishing your brain with all the different choices you make on a daily basis.
3. Supplement with Nootropics
Number three, I love to add brain-oriented supplements and nutrition, brain-based nootropics. We have our Brain Health 8, which is a nootropic blend of assorted herbals and medicinal herbs that help enhance and invigorate brain health. Similarly, adding things like 7 Mushrooms and functional mushrooms encourages the enhancement and the connection of new neurotransmitters and synapses and neuro pathways in your brain.
4. Do Balancing Exercises
Fourth in this category is actually something that most people aren’t tuned into, but we know from recovery, from traumatic brain injuries of folks who’ve had accidents or injuries to the brain, one of the most impactful things that you can do to enhance your brain function and protect your brain is to deploy exercises and activities where you are forcing your body to balance.
Simply getting a balance board or a wobble cushion and doing something as simple as standing on and trying to level yourself or taking one foot and keeping that level and raising another foot, trying to balance.
There was actually a whole viral, I think it went viral in the last year on Instagram and TikTok, where one of the best functions of balance and is an indication of how healthy your brain is, functionality-wise, is to balance on one foot while putting a sock and shoe on the other foot and maintaining your balance. That seems like a simple task, but when you try it and you might be out of balance, as you fine-tune and use those different muscles along your spine, you’re also invigorating the process of your brain. You’re actually helping connect different parts of the brain or reconnect. Balance is really important.
5. Use Your Less Dominant Hand or Foot to Create New Pathways
In that same vein, my fifth resource that we can use every day to protect your brain and enhance your brain function is to take everyday tasks and use a different hand. If you’re right side, I’m right side dominant, so I’m righthanded, I do a lot of things with my right hand.
Even when I run, I start with my right foot. Well, if you change that up and you either feed yourself with your non-dominant hand, with your left hand, or you try writing with your left hand, or you try kicking the ball with your left foot first versus your right, or start running with the left foot first, not the right. If you switch that just simple activity up, that creates this new pathway and creates and develops new neurons. That’s this whole kind of interesting process of enhancing and engaging the brain.
Just like our muscle groups – we have to break muscle and we rebuild – the brain is the same way. But if we change our tasks, it kind of forces the brain to get outside of the normal routine and that is where we see greater brain enhancement when we have scans of the brain. When an individual goes from regular right-handed to writing with their left, it invigorates other parts of the brain.
This is a really powerful way to protect your brain and to enhance and encourage new tasks in your life. Same thing with learning a new language. That’s a really good thing also to invigorate your brain health.
Ready to Dive Deeper?
These are things that are great for enhancing your brain health, supporting and protecting your brain. I also have, if you’re really wanting to deep dive and kind of biohacking resources for your brain, I have created a masterclass. It’s called Biohack Your Brain, and we go deep-diving into using nootropics, dig into supplements like our Brain Health 8 and also 7 Mushrooms, and how to create new connections, how to invigorate new neuron growth and new neuron pathways, so that you live your healthiest, longest brain-healthy life, which is really critical. That’s a huge part of our function, not just in our mental health and emotional health, but also in the way the body functions and how it processes.
I hope these tips are helpful. I’m going to encourage you to Ask the Doctor, send me any questions that you have, and I will be answering specific brain health questions in future Ask The Doctor answers. Thanks for tuning in. I hope this is helpful.
Catherine C says
Wow. Great tips. I do find a word every day and Mashong when I can.
Thanks foe sharing.
Lisa Velez-Davis says
Thank you for these great suggestions. I have been using the majority of these tips for the last 10 years to help improve brain function. I encourage people to start dialing their common phone numbers each time, instead of using the phone programming. I feel like many people have lost the phone # memory from not practicing it. I really like the Organixx company clean products. I truly enjoy your educational videos, keep up the great work.
Mary Rounds says
I lose my phone more. I started using the Ageless Brain supplement which seems to be improving my memory & clarity.
Dori J Dunlap says
Last year my husband had a brain CAT Scan and diagnosed with Amyloid deposits and mild cognitive impairment. I think these memory and focus kits might be helpful.
Monica Medina says
Amazing! Great tips!!