Habits to Adopt to Keep Your Brain Sharp

It’s not only never too late to start working on your brain health, but it’s crucial to adopt some easy habits along the way that will help keep you feeling sharp as much as possible. Here are some of them.

Take a Walk

Taking a daily walk at some point during the day has been shown to cut the risk of developing dementia considerably. Power walking can increase the blood flow to the brain which helps to keep it healthy. It’s also a good way to clear your mind and decrease stress during a busy workday.

Start Learning Another Language

A study published in the journal Neurology says that learning a second language might be more effective at keeping dementia at bay than any drugs that out there on the market. Just ten minutes a day is enough to make a difference, so pretty much everyone has time for that. There are language learning apps out there that actually make learning fun too, such as Duolingo.

Keep Your Attitude in Check

Some research has found that people who are more cynical are more likely to develop dementia than people who are more trusting. The researchers are not entirely sure what the link is between being pessimistic and developing dementia, but it might have something to do with the fact that more pessimistic people are more likely to be depressed which can cause all kinds of health problems all around.

Laugh More

If you can spend 20 minutes out of your day laughing you can lower the stress hormones in your body like cortisol that can attribute to the cognitive decline in the brain. Laughing is seriouslt good for you according to the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, so anyway to get more chuckles in is a good plan, be it talking to a funny friend or watching some of your favorite sitcom.

Take Care Of Your Teeth

When you don’t brush and floss regularly you will start to develop the bacteria Porphyromonas gingivalis which has been linked with cognitive issues. So literally not flossing your teeth can cause issues for your brain. Easy enough fix.

Get Enough Sleep

People who sleep less than six hours a night on average are more likely to develop dementia that people who get more than that. However don’t think that getting enough sleep by taking sleeping pills is going to help you out. One study found that using sleeping pills can actually increase the risks of developing dementia since they block the sleep neurotransmitter acetylcholine.

Drink Wine

But if a glass of wine helps you fall asleep at night then you are in luck. Researchers at the The Loyola University Medical Center have found that people who drink a glass of red wine each day are 23 percent less likely to develop dementia than people who do not. The antioxidant resveratrol has been shown to keep the blood vessels flexible and dilated, which helps to keep the oxygen flowing to where it needs to be.