To keep your brain healthy and sharp, it is important that you exercise it. What we don’t know is that we could be harming our brain without us even knowing it. This can have several detrimental effects which could be more than just forgetting where your keys are. Here are the ten things we must avoid to keep our brains in the best condition.
Brain Damaging Habits
1. Skipping Breakfast
There’s a perfectly good reason why it is called the most important meal of the day. However, most of us skip this too often because either we are too busy, running late, or that we overslept. Not eating breakfast not only makes you weak, but it also affects your levels of concentration. In a study conducted by Otsuka Pharmaceutical Company, they looked into a group’s level of concentration when performing mental tasks without breakfast. Results show that these participants had very low levels of concentration at all points in time. The reason behind it is that when we sleep our body is also fasting, and this can be a stressful state. So when you prolong fasting by skipping breakfast, you strain your body and consequently affect your brain.
2. Sleep Deprivation
Being sleep deprived can be common for many individuals, especially for those who are doing odd shifts. There may be times when this is unavoidable, but this should not be a regular thing because it could cost you your mental health. Scientists found certain wave ripples in the brain which are responsible for consolidating our memories, these also transfer memories to long-term. These sharp wave ripples only occur during deep levels of sleep, so when you lack it you end up getting forgetful. What is worse is that sleep deprivation also hastens the death of your brain cells.
3. Covering Head While Asleep
So you may have gotten some shuteye, however, the manner in which you sleep also matters. Sleeping with your head covered with a pillow increases the concentration of carbon dioxide, while decreasing oxygen levels which can lead to brain damaging effects. This also increases the likelihood of dementia and Alzheimer’s among those who are highly at risk.
4. High Sugar in Your Diet
Diabetes is a very good reason to avoid consuming too much sugar, but if you want to keep your brain sharp you need to dial down the sweetness too. HbA1c measures the damage caused by elevated blood glucose. In a study, participants show that for every 7 mmol/mmol increase in HbA1c these people recalled two fewer words in memory tests. The extra sweetness can also interrupts the absorption of proteins and nutrients which inevitably affects brain development.
An eye opener on how sugar affects your brain:
5. Overeating
Eating too much not only breaks the scale, but it can also hurt your brain. Research showed that it doubles the risk of memory loss. Increased caloric intake also increases cognitive impairment. Prof. David Loewenstein of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine suggests that, “anything that is good for the heart — like decreased calories — is good for the brain.” On top of a healthy diet, you may also use brain-boosting supplements to help fill in the gaps and provide you with the much needed nutrients that are beneficial for the brain.
6. Working Your Brain Even While Sick
There’s a reason why people are given sick leaves, this is to fully recuperate and get your system rebooted. Research showed that even the common flu affects your attention span, the coding of new information, and the speed of your working memory. When you force yourself to work, it decreases the effectiveness of your brain and cause damage.
7. When You Rarely Talk
Who knew that being too quiet can have detrimental effects to your brain? Engage yourself in intellectual conversations because this can serves as good “brain exercise”. This not only benefits the brain, but it also boosts your social skills.
8. Not Feeding Your Brain With Stimulating Thoughts
Just as intellectual conversations gets the gears well oiled, stimulating thoughts also has the same effects to your brain. For instance, constantly bombarding your brain with slapstick shows as opposed to a documentary may halt your brain from being challenged. It also prevents it from developing with new information. Reading, writing and exploring new ideas or hobbies are just some of the fun ways to develop your brain. There is so much that it can hold and process, so don’t allow it simply settle for lazy thoughts!
9. Dehydration
Did you know that our brain is made up of 75% water? This is why it is very important that you keep yourself hydrated. It’s okay if you don’t reach the 8 glasses per day requirement, however when you go 24 hours with very minimal water consumption, you end up losing some brain cells.
10. Unmanaged Stress
Stress is known to create a plethora of untoward effects to your body. Physical and mental stress causes your kidney to secrete cortisol. When this gets to the brain it can prevent memory formation, it also affects the retrieval of long-term memory. What is worse it that cortisol also kills the neurons when there are high amounts in your system. Stress also produce free radicals which are highly reactive forms of oxygen that damage your brain cells. If not corrected these can cause brain cell death and faster cognitive decline.
Here’s an interesting discussion on how stress affects your brain:
When you are guilty of most of the things on this list and end up damaging and losing brain cells, this can end up being detrimental to your overall cognition. It affects your ability to think, solve problems, and perform advanced tasks. Most people may not notice any difference, with some still highly functional in their tasks. However, it doesn’t mean that you can simply downplay brain health.
With neurodegenerative disorders accounting for an enormous disease burden in terms of human suffering and economic cost, it is important that you take the simple measures in keeping your brain healthy. It is not only a big favour to yourself, but your family as well.
The good news in all these is that your brain can heal. It has the ability to grow new cells in a process called neurogenesis. Aside from lifestyle changes, you also need to put importance on your nutrition. Choose the right kind of brain food, and it also helps to take supplements.
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