From thinking of new ideas to remembering birthdays, our brain does a lot more work than we think. In our daily lives, better brain function benefits us in many ways. Most importantly, it can get more done in lesser time.
Did you know that only one-third of our memory is our biology – which we can’t change. But thankfully, two-thirds of our memory is our lifestyle and we can change it to improve brain power.
We can get sharp focus, clear memory and better output. We can improve brain power and brain efficiency. But how? We just have to change a few basic aspects of our lives to unlock our superbrain.
Here are 10 simple ways to help improve brain power. If we wish to make the most of these tips, it is important that we stick to them. Keep moving ahead regularly till we memorise faster.
Let’s get started.
1) How to Control Automatic Negative Thoughts (ANTs)?
The first is to control the negative thoughts in our brain. The term was coined by Dr. Daniel Amen, an American doctor, in the early 1990s. He checked over a lakh of brain scans to prove that negative thoughts can actually hurt our brain.
Every single time we have a thought, our brain releases chemicals. Every time we have a sad, hopeless, or helpless thought, our brain releases chemicals that make our bodies feel low. These chemicals make it hard for us to take even simple decisions. The effect of these chemicals results in lower confidence and strained relationships. It may ultimately end up in depression, anxiety, and even anger.
That is why it is important to try mind hacking and think of positive thoughts by removing our negative thoughts. It gives us better control over our minds, moods, and behaviour. Together, it guides us to make practical choices in our professional and personal life. So, if we wish to live a vibrant, brain-healthy life, fixing our negative thinking via mind hacking is the first step.
Another way is to follow the ‘5 Whys’ technique developed by Sakichi Toyoda, the founder of Toyota Industries Company. This method says that we ask “why” five times to find out the root of a problem. This can help us remove negative thoughts and have a positive outlook.
2) What is a Healthy Diet to Improve Brain Power?
I am reminded of the age-old adage – ‘We are what we eat’. The world offers us a choice of natural brain boosters to improve unique strengths or fight various issues of our body.
Primarily, we have to choose the foods which make us feel very active or more distracted – and avoid them as much as we can. Sugary drinks like soda, sports drinks, energy drinks have a negative effect on our brain. The high sugar content in these drinks may increase our risk of having a bad memory. Also, refined carbs like white flour cause an increase in blood sugar and affect brain function. One of the most avoidable foods are highly processed foods like chips, sweets, instant noodles, microwave popcorn, store-bought sauces and ready-made meals. A research found a link between these foods and lower scores in learning and memory.
In contrast, there are specific natural brain boosters that help us memorise faster – which we must prefer. Here, we need to know that there isn’t one magic pill to stop brain decline or to sharpen our brain. The best idea is to follow a healthy diet. One that is full of fresh fruits, veggies, legumes and whole grains. For healthy fats, we can choose olive oil or canola over saturated fats.
Let’s dive deeper into this in the next topic.
3) How can Brain Nutrients Improve Brain Power?
Our brain doesn’t need a special spread of food. It is content with natural brain boosters that can improve brain power and memory. Here are two vital nutrients that help us memorise faster.
Omega 3: The fatty acids help our brain function its best. They lead to healthier brain cells and lesser wear of our brain.
How can we get Omega-3: Fishes like salmon, anchovies and sardines are loaded with omega-3 fatty acids. 2-3 servings of the fatty fish per week can provide the necessary dose. We can even pick vegetarian sources like flax, walnuts, chia and hemp seeds as they are natural brain boosters and can improve brain efficiency.
Vitamin B: A lack of these Vitamin B may increase blood level of homocysteine, an amino acid that’s been linked with mental damage. Another research claims that even though changes in brain function in older adults may often be credited to old age, it could due to a lack of vitamin B12.
How we can get Vitamin B: Pick a bunch of dark green vegetables and fruits like leafy greens, asparagus, broccoli, Brussels sprouts and avocado. Similarly, plant-based proteins like beans, peas and lentils are packed with Vitamin B too. For vitamin B12, we can take a serving of animal proteins like salmon, sardines, tuna and beef or look to fortified sources like nutritional yeast.
It is important to understand that we may already have a balanced diet. So, before we think of adding more of these natural brain boosters, we need to check with our doctor and get our blood tested. We may already have all that we need.
4) Does a Clean Living Space Affect our Brain Power?
Our mind cannot live fully disconnected to space around us. Our room, home or workspace is where we spend a major chunk of our time. It plays an important role in how our brain functions. That’s why tidying the spaces we live in is a vital route to improve brain efficiency.
While we focus on the physical spaces, let’s not ignore the digital spaces of our lives. Be it our laptop or our phones – clear up that data we don’t need. We can delete the apps we don’t use anymore and arrange pictures, videos and other media properly.
A clean environment around us helps our brain in many ways – besides the joy of cleaning and ease of organisation. Without the mess around, we will feel less stressed and more focussed. It will help calm our brain and improve brain power.
Our environment is just an outer image of what we are inside. So, as we clear stuff on the outside, we also clear on the inside. And vice versa.
5) How can Exercise Help Us Memorize Faster and Improve Brain Power?
We know that exercise is good for our physical and mental health. It boosts our mood instantly and adds healthy years to our lives in the long-term. Truly, regular exercise is a BFF for us all.
How it helps to improve brain memory, you may ask. Active body actions ensure regular brain work – as one of the basic brain functions is to control our body. Moreover, physical movements lead to a more amount of oxygen sent to the brain. It leads higher brain function and helps improve brain efficiency. This is why people who exercise have better memory and focus. Moreover, physical activity stimulates various brain chemicals that make us feel happier and relax our mind.
6) How Can We Protect Our Brain Physically?
While we focus on how to improve brain power, our ignorance to certain vital aspects may lead to reducing it. For instance, head injury or similar events due to accidents may affect our brain’s learning abilities and the power to memorise faster. So, it is vital that we protect our brain physically and save it from accidents.
One of the smartest ways of protecting our brain is by wearing proper gear while on the road. Fastening a seatbelt while driving can go a long way. While riding or doing any physical activity like skateboarding or cycling, a helmet is a must. Even when we practice safety and caution while doing all these activities, seatbelts and helmets can prevent more serious injuries to the brain. Remember, only a healthy and undamaged brain can memorise faster.
7) How Can a Positive Peer Group Help us Improve Brain Power?
Did you know that we are the average of the people we spend most of our time with? A circle of friends that has a positive impact on our life makes us healthier and happier. They help reduce stress and inspire us to achieve our life’s goals.
First of all, we must move away from people who put us down and give out negative vibes. We need to add friends who challenge us, change our lives and inspire us to touch the highest limits of our ability.
As young adults, all of us were guided by our peers. Likewise, even in our adult life, peer pressure may affect our decisions and behaviour. We must spend more time with positive peer groups that make us creative, refresh our minds and help us improve brain efficiency.
8) How can New Learnings Help Improve Brain Power?
There is no such thing as enough knowledge. It is important to open new areas of knowledge regularly to improve brain efficiency. Read more books. Listen to podcasts. Ask questions. Seek answers. Develop a new skill. Learn a new language. There are a million ways to keep learning.
I feel that the key to learning is being consistent. Only daily action enables real improvement. It’s like saying that our mind is like a boat in the ocean. If we do not sail it in the right direction, we will not reach anywhere.
Every day we have to set time to improve brain power. We can learn new skills, improve talents, correct our attitude, and more. Every day is a chance for us to get better. Keep on learning. Keep on improving. The more we learn, the more we push our brain, and the more we improve brain power.
Moreover, a study from The University of Minnesota found that being mentally active is the secret for a long life. Do we need more reasons to keep learning?
9) Does Stress Have any Impact on Brain Function?
How many times have we seen public speakers forget their speech on stage? Or how many times have we forgotten a vital point of argument during an office meeting? All this and more, stress can affect memories in many ways.
When stressed, we may have a hard time creating short-term memories or turning those short-term memories into long-term memories. This means that we may find it difficult to memorise faster and to learn.
To improve brain memory, we have to learn to manage stress. It will not only help us lead happier, healthier lives: it will help improve brain power too. Experts suggest a range of mental relaxation methods like meditation for stress management. Physical activities like exercise or yoga help greatly too, as a fit body is better at fighting stress.
10) How Important is Sleep to get more Brain Efficiency?
It will be a surprise to hear that during sleep, while our body relaxes, the brain does a lot of work. Sleep helps us put OFF physical actions but our brain is fully ON.
It is impossible to get high brain function without enough quality sleep. The reason why I stress on ‘quality’ is because a lot of us face sleep- related problems. From disturbed sleep to insomnia, sleep affects our body and brain in many ways.
Sleep helps us improve brain memory. It converts short-term memory into long-term, which we can access later in our life. It also helps us clear our brain of unnecessary information or plaque that can lead to Alzheimer’s or dementia.
In my opinion, these vital keys help us upgrade the software of our brain. When we find the right balance of these key tips, we can learn better, memorise faster and improve brain power to focus and concentrate better. It will also help us get more control over our emotions.
If you found this article interesting and want to go deeper into this topic, I would suggest you a great books from one of my favourite teachers and healer:
Unleash the Power of the Female Brain Daily Journal by Daniel G. Amen
You, Happier: The 7 Neuroscience Secrets of Feeling Good Based on Your Brain Type
Say Good Night to Insomnia: The Six-Week, Drug-Free Program Developed At Harvard Medical School
So, are you ready to unlock your super brain and its unlimited powers?
Have a Good Day and Life!
Alessandro Cipullo
Wellness Explorer & Lover
