To keep a brain in great shape, there are principles to keep in mind: stimulate it, protect it because it is fragile, maintain it through healthy eating and physical activity and maintain relationships. social. No need to chain math exercises, you can stimulate your brain with very simple activities!
Neuroscience confirms it: stimulating your brain by offering it motivating situations and exercises allows it to create new neurons and new connections.
This is called the brain plasticity and this property still holds at any age. It allows us to maintain our faculties of concentration and learning throughout life, and to delay cognitive aging (loss of memory, balance problems, mild depression, etc.)
1. Play to stimulate your brain
Play is the most natural way to learn because it stimulates attention and skills. It is also the opportunity for a social interaction, especially board games (yes, yes, even a simple game of goose). The WHO even recommends stimulating your brain by playing network games, which can also overcome isolation.
There are only good things to get while playing even if, for video games, it remains a question of dose because the risk of overconsumption is very present.
2. Read for fun
Reading is the best stimulant, because it makes your whole brain work. All the time, you’re working your whole brain. When we read, we do visual recognition, we interpret symbols that remind us of emotions, ideas, memories. Captivated by this activity, the whole brain is mobilized, whether for novels, essays, practical manuals or even comics and manga.
3. Do some physical activity
Going out for fresh air is pleasant but also useful for stimulating your brain. Physical activities outside or at home (yoga, gym, treadmill…) are excellent.
Regular practice of a sport as simple as brisk walking allows improved cognitive abilitiesand she might even protect against certain pathologies of the brain such as neurodegenerative diseases and depression.
4. Meditate
In December 2017, a study conducted at Inserm in Caen among seniors aged 65 and over showed that meditation had a positive effect on brain aging by boosting cognitive functions.
Researchers believe that it is possible to optimize one’s level of attention by concentrating and synchronizing one’s breathing (practice of cardiac coherence).
5. Exposing yourself to the sun
Lack of exposure to light because it is one of the main factors that makes it possible to manufacture vitamin D, essential for the balance of our neurons and bone density. It is estimated that it takes 30 minutes of daily exposure to get enough vitamin D. Vitamin D supplementation may be helpful.
6. Limit exposure to screens
Limiting your exposure to screens is important, especially in front of the mobile phone (social networks) and television (continuous news channels) because this contributes to maintain the stress and what is called infobesity. As with your meals, you have to “consume” the information at a fixed time and set specific hours for teleworking. It is also necessary avoid blue light screens after 6 or 8 p.m. They are sleep disruptors.
