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The brain is much like the rest of your body. If you don’t use it, you’re liable to use this. This becomes more true over time as we aren’t constantly learning and adapting to new things, but instead, more likely to settle into routines, some of which can legitimately stifle or limit our thinking. However, with the right balance of daily habits, you can ensure that you’re keeping your brain sharper for longer.
Read A Little Every Day
One of the simplest ways you can keep your brain active, reading is often one of the habits that we drop as soon as life gets busy. However, it doesn’t have to. Even taking ten minutes to read a day can help expose your brain to new ideas, expand your vocabulary, and have you considering perspectives that you haven’t before. As a result, you can become more empathetic, better at recognizing patterns in behavior and events, and better able to focus your attention on things when you need it. Both fiction and nonfiction writing are valuable, with the former building imagination and connection to others’ viewpoints, while the latter can strengthen your reasoning abilities as well as your knowledge.
Challenge Your Brain With New Skills
When we don’t spend any of our time learning new skills, it’s relatively easy for it to go into autopilot. When we’re only doing the things we know, it terminates thought, which in turn can make our brains less flexible in general. Learning new skills, whether it’s picking up a new language, playing a new instrument, coding, knitting, or anything else, all of it is great for helping your brain build new neural pathways and improving your neuroplasticity. This means that not only are you learning something new, but you’re improving your ability to learn other new things, as well, which can also make you better at retaining information across the board. Mastery is not the point here; the point is the ongoing process of learning.
Make Time For Some Play
A lot of us want to stay sharp so that we’re able to remain productive, fast-thinking, and on the ball when it comes to our work. However, being in work mode for so long could be part of what’s slowing your brain down. The stress of work and other responsibilities builds up our mental load, which, over time, can become too much to operate under. Low-pressure games that still require a little forethought and problem-solving, like Spider Solitaire, can encourage planning, pattern recognition, and focus while giving your brain time to slow down. They are quiet mental noise, but don’t switch off the brain entirely, making them perfect for lunch breaks and slow days.
Don’t Forget To Socialize
Given how busy life can become, it’s no surprise that our social circle can shrink as we get older. We lose touch with old friends, and it’s not always easy to make new ones. However, it is important. The complex cognitive tasks of listening actively, interpreting tone and social cues, and responding thoughtfully all keep vital parts of the brain active. Finding hobby and meetup groups online to join can make sure that you’re not letting the shadow of isolation slowly reach over your life. Otherwise, simply make the time to call a friend, family member, or loved one, and see if you can’t make a routine out of meeting up for lunch or a hangout.
Take The Time To Reflect
When life is on autopilot, we tend to miss the things that happen to and around us, and when we don’t process them, we’re less likely to pick up on them in the future, as well. Journaling can keep your brain active through reflection and structured thinking. Simply writing about your day, emotions, and ideas is great, and a good way to offer yourself some distance from concerns or worries that otherwise run circles in your head. It can even help you become more productive and organized in general if, for instance, you write down your to-do list for the day ahead, allowing you to prioritize your time and avoid forgetting any goals that you want to achieve.
The Body Supports Your Mind
If you’re thinking of the body as a separate entity from the mind, you’re mistaken. Physical activity has huge benefits in brain health; it doesn’t just help you build muscle or lose weight. When you move around, it increases the blood flow to your brain, which in turn delivers oxygen and nutrients that can help boost your memory and focus. Even light exercises like walking, stretching, and bodyweight movements can improve your mood and reduce the effects of mental fatigue. Think of regular movement as mental maintenance, regulating stress hormones, sustaining brain development, and helping you avoid becoming cognitively sluggish throughout the day.
Sleep Is A Non-Negotiable
You might not associate the act of sleeping with the idea of being active in any way, but when your body is at rest, your brain is doing its most important work. Sleep does a lot of things for the brain: allowing it to consolidate memories, process information we’ve learned, and strengthen our neural connections. It also helps the brain get some rest. As such, without it, you can end up having trouble making decisions, focusing on even basic tasks, or regulating your emotions. Find what you need to improve your night’s sleep, whether it’s fixing your environment with blackout blinds, creating a more comfortable spot with mattress toppers, or simply getting to bed on time with the help of a nightly ritual. If you’re keeping your brain active during the day, then it’s vital that you give it the recuperation it needs at night.
You’re not going to become a genius out of the blue following the tips above. However, you can keep your brain limber, exercising portions that might dull otherwise, and building new neural connections that can help you continuously improve. You can become sharper tomorrow than you were today and, over time, smarter and faster-thinking than you ever were.
