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In this week's challenge you must Boost Brain and Memory A strong memory depends on the health and vitality of your brain. Whether you’re a student studying for final exams, a working professional interested in doing all you can to stay mentally sharp, or a senior looking to preserve and enhance your grey matter as you age, there are lots of actions you can take to improve your memory and mental performance.
- Eat Less Added Sugar
Research has shown that people who regularly consume lots of added sugar may have poorer memories and lower brain volumes than those who consume less sugar.
- Make Time for Meditation
Meditation isn’t just good for your body — it’s also good for your brain. Research suggests meditation may increase gray matter in the brain and improve spatial working memory.
- Cut Down on Refined Carbs
Like added sugar, refined carbohydrates lead to a spike in blood sugar levels, which can damage your brain over time. Diets high in refined carbs have been associated with dementia, cognitive decline and reduced brain function.
- Practice Mindfulness
Practicing mindfulness techniques has been associated with increased memory performance. Mindfulness is also linked to reduced age-related cognitive decline.
- Choose Anti-Inflammatory Foods
Anti-inflammatory foods are great for your brain, especially berries and other foods that are high in antioxidants. To incorporate more anti-inflammatory foods into your diet, you can’t go wrong by consuming a variety of fruits and vegetables.
- Train Your Brain
Games that challenge your brain may help you strengthen your memory and may even reduce the risk of dementia.
- Add Some Cocoa to Your Diet
Cocoa is high in antioxidants that may help improve memory performance. Make sure to choose dark chocolate with 70% cacao or higher so you get a concentrated dose of antioxidants.
- Exercise More
Exercise brings incredible benefits for your whole body, including your brain. Even moderate exercise for short periods has been shown to improve cognitive performance, including memory, across all age groups.
- Drink Less Alcohol
Alcohol has neurotoxic effects on the brain, including reducing memory performance. Occasional moderate drinking isn’t an issue, but binge drinking can damage your hippocampus, a key area of your brain associated with memory.
- Eat Right - The foods you eat – and don't eat – play a crucial role in your memory. Fresh vegetables are essential, as are healthy fats and avoiding sugar and grain carbohydrates
- Exercise — Exercise encourages your brain to work at optimum capacity by stimulating nerve cells to multiply, strengthening their interconnections and protecting them from damage.
- Stop Multitasking — Used for decades to describe the parallel processing abilities of computers, multitasking is now shorthand for the human attempt to do simultaneously as many things as possible, as quickly as possible.
- Get a Good Night's Sleep — Research from Harvard indicates that people are 33 percent more likely to infer connections among distantly related ideas after sleeping,3 but few realize that their performance has actually improved.
- Play Brain Games — If you don't sufficiently challenge your brain with new, surprising information, it eventually begins to deteriorate. What research into brain plasticity shows us, however, is that by providing your brain with appropriate stimulus, you can counteract this degeneration.
- Mnemonic devices are memory tools to help you remember words, information or concepts. They help you to organize information into an easier-to-remember format.
- Avoid Unhealthy Trans Fats - They cause inflammation, promote free radical damage, compromise cell membrane integrity, and inhibit the production of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids.
21 Best Brain Foods to Boost Your Memory and Focus - Learn more here.
How to Improve Your Memory - Learn more here.
15 Foods To Boost Brain Power and Improve Memory Naturally - Learn more here.
This challenge was closed on 6/2/2019