Ditch These 4 Habits To Improve Brain Health

When it comes to good health, you probably think of things like diet and exercise as the best ways to promote it. But what about your brain? Do you know what you need to do to keep it functioning at its best? There are a number of everyday behaviors and habits that can negatively impact our brains. Here are a few to avoid:

Drinking too much caffeine

According to Dr. Nicole Clark, a neurologist from St. Peter's Health Medical Group, caffeine isn't entirely bad; in fact, in some of her patients, she's seen caffeine be the trick to curing chronic headaches and migraines.

However, when consumed too frequently — more than two cups of coffee or 400 mg of caffeine — it's not only common for people to adopt more anxious, jittery, and overstimulated states of being, it's also been shown to contribute to higher cholesterol levels, insomnia, anxiety disorders, and headaches.

So, experts don't argue that you need (or even should) completely cut out caffeine from your daily routine, but ensuring you're consuming it in moderation is key to protecting and maintaining a healthy brain and emotional state.

Consuming too much bad news

While listening to and seeking out bad news feels inevitable with the accessibility of traditional media and social media sites, the constant overload of negative news outlets tend to share with readers can drastically impact your general well-being and brain chemistry.

Triggering a consistent stress response in our brains, consuming too much bad news can skew our sense of reality, urging our brains to constantly assume the worst from every situation and experience. This kind of catastrophic thinking can spark anxiety and depression, but it can also directly sabotage healthy relationships and social interactions.

Set limits with yourself to regulate the news you're susceptible to every day. It's not impossible to completely cut out some of the daily habits that can damage your brain, but it's possible to set boundaries like time limits on news apps that ensure you're not hyper-focusing and catastrophizing over worldly events and news you have little power over.

Isolating yourself from social interaction

According to a study from Biopsychosocial Science and Medicine, there's a direct association between social isolation and cognitive decline. From memory recall to communication skills, people who don't consistently and intentionally interact with others don't feed into the parts of the brain associated with connection, communication, and learning.

On the other hand, there are certain things that may inhibit social interaction, cognitive decline included. When we're stressed, overwhelmed, or burdened with emotional turmoil, we may feel less driven to pursue social interaction. But even in small doses, it can encourage us to adopt a better, happier, and more fulfilled mood and emotional state.

Not moving your body throughout the day

Generally, exercise has been shown to enhance brain cognitive function, strengthen learning, memory, and focus, and promote a better, more balanced mood for people who commit to making it a daily practice. Experts from the Mayo Clinic add that moving your body is also a great way to de-stress and combat burnout in people with busy routines and schedules.

Of course, you don't need to run a marathon, commit to a sport, or even weight lift to leverage the benefits of exercise for your brain; you can find smaller, more intentional moments. From taking a 5 minute walk outside to stretching in the morning, finding a movement that's comfortable and exciting for you to engage in is more important and impactful than fitting the mold of stereotypical exercise routines.

For more tips on optimizing brain health, read the full article here.

As people are living longer, there is much more of a focus on brain health. After all, it is the machine that powers the body. If there are small changes we can make to ensure our brains function optimally for longer, why wouldn’t we make them?