10 Habits of Highly Effective Brains

Neurogenesis or growing new brain cells while exercising makes sense because your brain is receiving more oxygen and blood. At 45-minutes your mind is at its sharpest.

Society is obsessed with working out for their body, but it’s the brain that will lead you to take the right actions, make good decisions and naturally secrete endorphins and naturally alleviate anxiety, depression and inflammation.

Here are 10 ways you can keep your brain vibrant, sharp and constantly improving.

By:   Alvaro Fernandez

1. Learn what is the “It” in “Use It or Lose It”. A basic under­stand­ing will serve you well to appre­ci­ate your brain’s beauty as a liv­ing and constantly-developing dense for­est with bil­lions of neu­rons and synapses.

2.  Take care of your nutri­tion. Did you know that the brain only weighs 2% of body mass but con­sumes over 20% of the oxy­gen and nutri­ents we intake? As a gen­eral rule, you don’t need expen­sive ultra-sophisticated nutri­tional sup­ple­ments, just make sure you don’t stuff your­self with the “bad stuff”.

3.  Remem­ber that the brain is part of the body. Things that exer­cise your body can also help sharpen your brain: phys­i­cal exer­cise enhances neurogenesis.

4.  Prac­tice pos­i­tive, future-oriented thoughts until they become your default mind­set and you look for­ward to every new day in a con­struc­tive way. Stress and anx­i­ety, no mat­ter whether induced by exter­nal events or by your own thoughts, actu­ally kills neu­rons and pre­vent the cre­ation of new ones. You can think of chronic stress as the oppo­site of exer­cise: it pre­vents the cre­ation of new neurons.

5.  Thrive on Learn­ing and Men­tal Chal­lenges. The point of hav­ing a brain is pre­cisely to learn and to adapt to chal­leng­ing new envi­ron­ments. Once new neu­rons appear in your brain, where they stay in your brain and how long they sur­vive depends on how you use them. “Use It or Lose It” does not mean “do cross­word puz­zle num­ber 1,234,567″. It means, “chal­lenge your brain often with fun­da­men­tally new activities”.

6.  We are (as far as we know) the only self-directed organ­isms in this planet. Aim high. Once you grad­u­ate from col­lege, keep learn­ing. The brain keeps devel­op­ing, no mat­ter your age, and it reflects what you do with it.

7.  Explore, travel. Adapt­ing to new loca­tions forces you to pay more atten­tion to your envi­ron­ment. Make new deci­sions, use your brain.

8.  Don’t Out­source Your Brain. Not to media per­son­al­i­ties, not to politi­cians, not to your smart neigh­bor. Make your own deci­sions, and mis­takes. And learn from them. That way, you are train­ing your brain, not your neighbor’s.

9.  Develop and main­tain stim­u­lat­ing friend­ships. We are “social ani­mals”, and need social inter­ac­tion. Which, by the way, is why ‘Baby Ein­stein’ has been shown not to be the panacea for chil­dren development.

10.  Laugh. Often. Espe­cially to cog­ni­tively com­plex humor, full of twists and sur­prises.

DRUMROLL PLEASE…# 11 COMES TO US FROM A READER NAMED, JOHN.  I love the hobbies he mentions as they’re my own and they do serve to keep the mind sharp.  John has a beautiful blog. I encourage you to take a look at it. The link for it is:   http://realtruelove.wordpress.com/

11. Write, journal, blog (as well as draw, paint, play an instrument, learn photography).  And read decent books (and poetry); give yourself some real food for thought. And when you read decent books, read slowly enough to explore–and even better, to journal–your own thoughts in relation to what you are reading. Developing and refining our own personal philosophy or “life map” is a huge part of using it and not losing it.

Now, remem­ber that what counts is not read­ing this article-or any other-, but prac­tic­ing a bit every day until small steps snow­ball into unstop­pable, inter­nal­ized habits…so, pick your next bat­tle and try to start improv­ing at least one of these 10 habits today. Revisit the habit above that really grabbed your atten­tion, click on a link below to learn more, and make a deci­sion to try some­thing dif­fer­ent today!

Related articles

• Want a More Effective Brain? (writersresortllc.wordpress.com)
• Transcript: Dr. Gary Small on Enhancing Memory and the Brain (sharpbrains.com)
• Can Brain Training and Biofeedback Help Prevent Depression (sharpbrains.com)
• 10 Biggest Brain Damaging Habits (socyberty.com)
• the human brain: a slave to habit (gethardgohard.wordpress.com)
• Insight on Brain Development (enfamil.com)
• Big Brain, Little Baby (enfamil.com)
• Transcript: Alvaro Fernandez on Mental Capitalism and Non-invasive Cognitive Enhancement (sharpbrains.com)
• Transcript: Paul Nussbaum on Meditation, Neuropsychology and Thanksgiving (sharpbrains.com)
• The Ten Habits of a Sharp Brain (sharpbrains.com)

Hot Books on Brain Health by friends of mine:

The Brain Mechanic by Spencer Lord

Super Body, Super Brain by Michael Gonzalez-Wallace

My Review of Super Body, Super Brain. I serve on the board.

SUPER BODY, SUPER BRAIN by Michael Gonzalez Wallace is my #1 pick for a fitness book. It’s based on the very latest, cutting-edge brain research. Michael’s program is unique in that it provides a whole brain workout that requires thinking and precision through specific left to right, and front to back movements.

This is the first time someone has created a program, which taps into how complex circuits in our brains connect to our muscles through voluntary and intentional movement. Huge implication for aging. For more than a century, medical science firmly believed that our brain could not repair itself and that we were born with all the brain cells we would ever have.

Over the last 20 years, research has shown neurogenesis, the creation of new brain cells, actually does occur in the brain with the right training. Michael brilliantly harnesses this knowledge to provide expert training on how your brain connects to your body through motor and sensory pathways.

In SUPER BODY, SUPER BRAIN he provides compelling evidence that exercise is not only good for your heart, but also good for your brain. He aptly demonstrates an exciting daily fitness program that stimulates your brain cells during your workout. He shows you how to work out smarter, instead of longer.

As someone who has specialized in medical/health for over two decades, I strongly endorse Michael’s program. When you first learn of it, you’ll think it must be a gimmick. It’s not. As mentioned, it’s based on decades of scientific research. I use the program myself and have known Michael for years.

He’s the real deal; extremely passionate about the program because he knows it works and can help others improve their energy level and entire well being from the inside out. In today’s ever-competitive world, it’s not enough to have a Super Body. You absolutely need a Super Brain. Michael shows you how to build both at the same time.

The benefits of his unique program are long overdue within the entire health community. Super Body Super Brain by Michael Gonzalez Wallace is definitely the future of fitness. Everyone at any fitness level from beginner to pro will take something away from this book that improves his or her health.

-Maria Dorfner, Founding CEO, NewsMD Communications

I also highly recommend all Books by John Assaraf

Take a Listen to John’s Latest Podcast Here on The Power of Expanding Your Awareness:

 https://unmistakablecreative.com/podcast/the-power-of-expanded-awareness-with-john-assaraf

Your Brain After Chemo by Idelle Davidson

You can also check out one of my own books HEALTHY WITHIN at the following link. Make sure you check for Discount Codes before checkout.

Link: http://www.lulu.com/shop/maria-dorfner/healthy-within/paperback/product-21813389.html

 

 

Stay healthy!

MARIA DORFNER is the founder of NewsMD Communications and
Healthy Within Network (HWN)

This is her blog

contact:  maria.dorfner@yahoo.com

 “When We Tell Stories…People Listen.”