7 Ways to Optimize Your Brain and Improve Mental Health

Improve brain performance by following these 7 proven ways, backed by hundreds of thousands of brain scans and research, and discover the importance of protecting your brain along with what foods are best and worst for your brain along with what research has shown to make your brain better for life.

1. Protect your brain from injury, pollution, sleep deprivation, and stress.
To help ensure optimal brain functioning you’ll want to take actions that prevent potential brain traumas. Several brain areas are especially vulnerable to trauma, especially the parts involved with memory, learning and mood stability. So when in a car, wear a seatbelt and when riding a bicycle, motorcycle, snowboarding or skateboarding, you’ll want to wear a helmet.
With sports there are few that you might want to steer clear of such as football, soccer or hockey which are all more prone to head injuries. The sports that Dr Daniel Amen recommends to his children are golf, baseball and tennis.

With sleep deprivation, if you’re not getting enough sleep, it decreases brain activity and limits access to learning, memory and concentration. People who consistently sleep less than 7 hours have less brain activity. Sleep problems are common in people who struggle with their thoughts and emotions.

Brain cells can die with prolonged stress and Dr Richie Davidson, the Harvard neuroscientist has shown that prolonged marital stress can compromise emotion regulation circuitry which can have a deleterious impact on resilience and your brains ability to get back to baseline.
So get your sleep and reduce stress as best you can.

2. Feed Your Brain.
Your brain can function best with lean protein, complex carbohydrates, and foods rich in Omega 3 fatty acids such as large cold water fish like tuna and salmon. Also suitable are walnuts, brazil nuts, and olive oil are essential to optimize your brain function.

Additionally what not to eat is also important.
What has been helpful for maintaining energy and focus in your brain is to eliminate simple carbohydrates such as sugar cereals, Pop Tarts, muffins, bagels, waffles, pancakes or donuts.
These foods are known to cause brain fog and lower performance in many people.

3. Eliminate Automatic Negative Thoughts.
We are all prone to worry and the brain does have a negativity bias, but knowing this lets you realize that you can do something about it. For instance, happy, hopeful thoughts has a calming effect on the brain while negative thoughts inflame brain areas often involved with depression and anxiety. You can train your thoughts to be more positive and rewire your brain to be less anxious or allow them to be negative. If you can correct negative thoughts, then you can take away their power over you. When you think a negative thought without any pushback, your mind believes it and your brain reacts to it, so try to keep thoughts positive.

4. Work Your Brain.
Every time you learn something new your brain makes a new connection.
Rats who were allowed an easy life without any new challenges or learning had less brain weight than those rats who were challenged and forced to learn new information in order to be fed. New learning actually caused increased brain density and weight.’
Learning enhances blood flow and activity in the brain.
If you have long periods without learning something new you start to lose some of the connections in the brain and can struggle more with memory and learning.
Keep your brain fit with a workout by learning something new everyday.

5. Sex
In a series of studies at the University of Pennsylvania and later at Stanford University, found that regular sexual contact had an important impact on physical and emotional well being of women. Sexual contact at least once a week led to more fertility, regular menstrual cycles, shorter menses, delayed menopause, increased estrogen levels and delayed aging. Brain studies at UCLA showed that decreased estrogen levels for women through regular sexual activity enhances overall brain activity and improves memory.

7. Get Help Early.
If you are having challenges with mental health, the sooner they are addressed the better. The brain has neuroplasticity which means it changes with experience so be sure to give your brain the experiences that empower you.  One of the ways to ensure that you are thinking right is to avoid common cognitive distortions. These can be easily discovered by sharing your thought process with an online licensed therapist.

And if you’re curious to see if therapy is for you, visit the link and you’ll have access to licensed online therapists to choose which one is most suitable for you.

For online licensed therapists visit:
https://reprogrammingmind.com/Online-Therapy

What's your brain type? Take the Dr Daniel Amen brain quiz to find out.
https://reprogrammingmind.com/Brain-Type-Quiz

For a more relaxed mind, visit:
https://reprogrammingmind.com/ZenMind