Brain building - crafting a powerful, healthy brain

Research shows that our brain’s cognitive abilities start declining with age. While moving our bodies is good for both physical and mental health, paying particular attention to our brain health can positively impact our mental wellness. 

The Brain Foundation lists some important habits that can impact our brain health. Let’s dive deeper into how they can help guard your brain against neurodegenerative disorders.

In order to tone our muscles, we have to train them. Heavy lifting, Cross Fit, Pilates, the choice is yours. And our brain health works much the same. To maintain a young and sharp brain, you have to challenge and train it. But how? 

• Take an extra few seconds to solve that maths question in your head instead of using the calculator.
• Movie nights can be fun, but how about switching them for a book during weekdays?
• Sign up for that dance class you’ve been meaning to for a long time! Learning a new skill is a great way to challenge your brain.
• Play games that challenge your memory, strategy thinking, and logic. Sudoku, puzzles, crosswords, chess, or bridge are great examples. You can also look at our seven brain games to help keep your grey matter fit.

Nowadays, you can have many of these games on your phone, so why not try one a day?

When it comes to boosting our brain with the optimal fuel, ensure a balanced, low-cholesterol diet, rich in unsaturated fats, proteins, vitamins, and minerals. Studies also point that following a Mediterranean diet, prioritising fatty fish as a source of healthy fats, and including probiotics to meals are protective factors that may reduce risk of Alzheimer's disease.

Antioxidants are also important for our brain health; try to include foods rich in antioxidant vitamins like E and C in your diet daily. These vitamins help protect your brain from oxidative stress. Avoiding excessive food intake is also good for you. Maintaining a healthy weight is important for brain health.

But don't cut out sugar entirely. Just swap the type of sugar you’re eating. Glucose (sugar) is the fuel that keeps brain cells alive and functioning, reports the Brain Foundation. You know that three o’clock slump we all hit occasionally? Try rewarding yourself with a natural sugar snack, like an apple. It will help bring your concentration and focus back up again.

Physical exercise is also very important for building a healthy brain. Try to move your body daily. Doctors recommend we exercise for 30 minutes every day, or at least most days. Make it a fun part of your routine by doing something you enjoy, maybe even a group sport to help keep you motivated.

Give sleep a top priority, paying special attention to your bedtime routine and sleep hygiene. Keeping laptops, TVs, tablets, and phones outside the bedroom is essential for your melatonin production and circadian rhythm. Both are responsible for helping us get to sleep and telling our body when to stay awake and when to rest. During our sleep, the brain processes and stores information we learned during our day. So, having a poor night of sleep can interfere with your concentration, memory and mood.

Alertness, concentration, creativity, and lateral thinking

We often expect our day will look like a consistent stream of productivity, putting pressure on ourselves to power through. But realistically, that’s not exactly how it works. Instead, our days usually look a lot more like this.

We’ll have ups and downs throughout the day regarding our productivity, energy and concentration goes. And it can really be helpful to identify when we feel our most creative, energetic, and focused − that’s when we should be doing our most demanding work. And when we’re at our not-so-productive, that might be the best times to do our ‘process driven’ work that doesn’t require as much concentration or thought.

But what are some things that we can do to boost our brain in both the short and the long term?

Brain boosting break ideas

HOT TIP:  choose dopamine boosting breaks to help improve your mood and motivation.

Nourish your body: eat a healthy snack and hydrate yourself with a refreshing drink.

Breathe away: use meditation apps or try belly breathing exercises. If you have a park or an outdoor area near your work, why not take it outdoors?

Listen: make the most of uplifting or relaxing songs. An audiobook or podcast can also be a good idea.

Move: stretch away your day! If you don’t feel comfortable or don’t have a designated space for a stretch, try going for a 10-minute walk around the block.

Plan your day: set your rewards or goals for the day and make enough time for your breaks.

Connect: chat with your coworkers, call a friend, or reply to that text message you forgot about.

Now you know how strategic breaks can help improve your mood and motivation, are you keen to put it into practice? Tyler, CBHS Exercise Scientist and Wellness Consultant has three exercises to help keep our brains sharp and improve our alertness, concentration, balance, and coordination.

Get ready for the day

Being alert is essential to triggering neuroplasticity. And one simple tool we can use to help us become more alert is cyclic hyperventilation. Next time you have something new you need to learn, or maybe even to regulate your attention, try this:

Cyclic hyperventilation:

• 25-30 breaths, in through the nose, out through the mouth.
• After the last exhale, hold empty lungs for 15-60 seconds.
• Breathe again the moment you feel you need to; don’t force it.

Get in the zone

Sustaining focused attention on a specific point or object can be an effective priming and training tool for concentration, says Tyler.

If there is a task that you need to concentrate on for some time, but you’re struggling to get ‘in the zone’, this one might help:

• Hold your hand in front of you or look at something in the middle distance.
• Identify a specific, unmoving point (a freckle, mark, indentation)
• Stare at this spot, blinking as little as you can for 30-60 seconds. (Don’t force the unblinking, if you need to, blink.)

This exercise can effectively be a ‘brain warm up’ and can help you get a lot more out of your working time.

Balance, coordination, and cardio? Brain building movements

We’re going to focus on three main areas:

• Balance – It requires our brain to process information from three different inputs: feeling, vision, and our inner ear.
• Coordination – Requires us to develop process, planning, and reaction to succeed at a task.
• Cardio – Increases the presence of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in our body. This assists the development of more neurons and increases blood flow to the brain, naturally increasing oxygen.

This is true for both the long-term AND the short-term. It’s even more effective if we can combine all three in our day-to-day activities.

Try this exercise at home to test your balance and coordination: Tandem stance! It’s when you place your feet one in front of the other, like the image above, with your toes almost touching the foot in front.

Level 1 – Semi tandem with nose taps

Tandem stance can be a challenging exercise; that’s why you can also try a semi-tandem and work your way up to a tandem. Now, imagine there is a line on the floor, and you need to place one foot in front of the other, but this time you can leave your foot on either side of the line (not in the middle). This subtle change can make it easier to perform this exercise.

Once your feet are in place, while balancing, extend both your arms to your sides and bring your finger to tap the tip of your nose. Repeat this exercise a couple of times with the left foot forward alternating hands, then repeat with right foot forward. 

Level 2 – Tandem with nose taps. Same idea as Level 1, but with a full tandem stand (each foot aligned one behind the other standing in the middle of your imaginary line).

Level 3 – Single leg with nose taps

For level 3, you will be holding your balance while standing on one leg. Once you’re ready, start extending your arms beside you and bring your finger in to tap the tip of your nose.

See which level you feel more comfortable at, but don’t overdo it! Try 20 seconds of balance and coordination, 10 seconds rest, switch legs. Do two rounds on each side.

Not only is this a really good practise for us to get into, but your memory and spatial cognitive abilities can benefit for the time immediately after your balance exercise.

Get creative

Using creativity can stimulate an area of the brain that we may not usually use. It could be music, poetry, or art—anything that allows us to flex our artistic side. 

This exercise combines abstraction, planning, and coordination (all challenges
for the brain) in attempting to draw a self-portrait with your non-dominant hand. 

This will take some concentration, so get ready. You have 90 seconds to complete your masterpiece. Let’s go!

Remember, quality sleep is a powerful ally for your brain. Ensure a restful night's sleep by minimising screen time before bedtime. Embrace these practises to safeguard your cognitive wellbeing and enhance your overall quality of life.

Looking after our brain is a life-long journey, it deserves our attention every day.

All information contained in this article is intended for general information purposes only. The information provided should not be relied upon as medical advice and does not supersede or replace a consultation with a suitably qualified healthcare professional. 

Sources:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5515881/

https://www.hubermanlab.com/newsletter/teach-and-learn-better-with-a-neuroplasticity-super-protocol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJdl-MNMxlY

https://brainfoundation.org.au/healthy-brain/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4651462/#:~:text=Sleep%20is%20needed%20to%20regenerate,an%20impact%20on%20their%20performance.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10194838/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5515881/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2596698/#:~:text=Ageing%20causes%20changes,neurotransmitters%20and%20hormones.

https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-brain-plasticity-2794886#:~:text=Enrich%20Your%20Environment,Reading

https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/antioxidants

https://www.cbhs.com.au/mind-and-body/blog/tips-for-getting-a-good-night-s-sleep

https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/physical-activity-its-important

https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/food-drink-and-mental-health