If you want to learn how to boost brain function but are unsure of where to start, follow these simple tips and tricks to boost your brain function naturally without the need for harsh pharmaceuticals or dull training exercises. At Vitaldiol, we create natural, plant-based remedies for physical and mental health and wellness designed to work with your body to enhance your life. Here, we’re sharing a few key strategies to boost memory and brain function.
Perform Mindful Activities
Many adults struggle to find ways to increase brain function and focus, but there are a huge variety of activities and games that you can incorporate into your daily routines to facilitate better brain function and stimulate your mind. Whether you choose foods to boost brain function or want to try mindfulness practices, there’s a strategy that’s right for you.
Meditation
One of the most tried and true methods to practice mindfulness is through regular meditation. Whether you do it every day or merely a few times per week, adding meditation to your routine has been proven to boost brain function and increase concentration.
A 2018 study set out to test the impact of one simple meditation exercise on cognitive function when practiced for just eight weeks, with one group of participants practicing the exercise while others performed muscle relaxation exercises instead. Those who practiced meditation showed a 9% increase in their accuracy when completing the assigned task while the other group showed no improvements at all.
The participants were asked to complete a simple breathing meditation in which they focused their attention on their breathing for ten minutes about four times a week. Even small mindful moments like this can significantly boost your overall brain function and your ability to concentrate on tasks.
Puzzles and Memory Games
You heard it right! Training your brain doesn’t have to be tedious or feel like homework. There are plenty of mindful games you can play that are both fun and engaging while providing your brain with vital stimulation at the same time. Jigsaw puzzles are a great example. Figuring out how to match small pieces together to create a larger picture trains multiple cognitive abilities at once, ultimately developing your spatial reasoning skills and combating the negative effects of age on the brain.
Aside from the typical matching games often associated with testing memory, there are more engaging games like sudoku and crossword puzzles that can boost both your short-term and long-term memory. Sudoku is a number placement game that requires you to track consequences to arrive at the correct outcome. Following a sequence like this is an excellent way to improve your short-term memory while growing your ability to concentrate as well. Similarly, crossword puzzles engage both your vocabulary and your long-term memory by requiring you to provide answers to clues from a huge variety of fields. Practicing either or both of these popular mind games is a great way to keep your memory sharp.
Learning or Practicing New Skills
You can never be an expert on too many things, right? Learning a new skill requires your brain to engage cognitive functions it might not normally use regularly, thus developing aspects of your mind which are not being fully utilized by your other routine tasks. Practically every skill you choose to learn will demand you to focus, improving your concentration abilities and lengthening your attention span.
Many new skills will boost your memory or even your communication abilities as well. Learning a new language is an excellent memory booster, as is playing a new instrument, both requiring you to memorize words or notes to express yourself properly. If you want to engage your understanding of a new skill even more deeply, consider teaching it to someone else once you have mastered it. Walking through the steps with another person or explaining the concepts involved will test your comprehension and require you to correct mistakes along the way, strengthening both the skill itself and your communication abilities.
Eat Nutrient-Rich Foods
Just like any other organ in your body, your brain needs the right fuel to function at its highest capacity and improve its abilities.
Fatty Fish
One of the most widely accepted brain foods is fatty fish. If you have ever wondered which types of fish are included in this category, the answer is any fish that is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, namely salmon, trout, albacore tuna, herring, and sardines. Nearly half of the amount of fat present in your brain is composed of omega-3 fatty acids. These fats are essential to your brain’s ability to grow and enhance itself, as they are utilized in the creation of cells. Regular consumption of omega-3 fatty acids found in fish can help prevent mental decline over time and boost your capacity to learn.
Dark Chocolate
Thanks to the increased amount of cocoa in dark chocolate, 70% compared to the 10-50% present in milk chocolate, this sweet treat contains a high number of flavonoids. Flavonoids are antioxidants that boost your brain function by easing the mental decline associated with aging and simultaneously strengthening your memory. On top of its cognitively stimulating abilities, chocolate of any kind is also a mood enhancer, meaning that incorporating this dessert into your meal routines will help encourage positive emotions.
Oranges
Citrus fruits like oranges are rich in Vitamin C, with one medium orange containing almost your full daily requirement of this potent antioxidant. Besides helping your body fight back against colds, Vitamin C has a multitude of mental benefits as well. As you age, the health of your brain can start to decline, making you more susceptible to disorders like Alzheimer’s disease, major depressive disorder, and anxiety conditions. Having high amounts of Vitamin C in your body helps protect against the development of these conditions and prevents mental health decline while strengthening your focus and memory, lengthening your attention span, and quickening your decision speed.
Take Supplements
If you feel that you are not getting enough mental stimulation from your diet and activities alone, consider adding supplements into your lifestyle as well.
NMN (Nicotinamide Mononucleotide)
NMN is a nucleotide already present in the body, though in somewhat small amounts which will decrease even more as you age. It facilitates the production of NAD+, another compound that plays a vital role in the protection of your body’s cells. Since it is impossible to take NAD+ supplements directly, supplying your body with NMN will naturally boost its production of NAD+, thus leading to increased protection of all the cells in your body, including brain cells, and helping to prevent mental decline over time.
CBD (Cannabidiol)
CBD is a cannabinoid that can help support a variety of bodily functions. Often used as a treatment for those coping with anxiety disorders, it has been shown to decrease mental tension, promoting emotional balance and stability. Free from the preoccupying weight of anxiety, your brain will have more attention to devote to other activities, like completing your daily tasks more efficiently.
Recover by Vitaldiol is an all-natural supplement that combines both NMN and CBD to boost cellular health and encourage healthy maintenance of integral processes within your cells. Adding Recover to your wellness routine will have you feeling rejuvenated not only physically, but also mentally, as our simple yet powerful combination of these two vital ingredients helps to enhance the long-term health of your body’s cells.