How to Have a Healthy Brain

Steps

1. 1
   Understand brain plasticity - The human brain starts slowing down as early as age 25. Fortunately, you can keep it running at peak performance and even make improvements at any age. Just like your body, you can "use it or lose it". One of the essential concepts of Brain Fitness is the building of “Brain Reserve”, which is also related to Brain Plasticity, or the brain's ability to reorganize itself and build new connections. At nearly any point in your life, you can strengthen your Brain Reserve by doing tasks that are Novel and Complex, and stimulate a balanced variety of areas within the brain.
2. 2
   Use it or lose it. - Mental activity is an important way to develop a stronger, healthier brain through the building of Brain Reserve. Brain Reserve relates to the brain’s ability to physically reorganize itself in response to the demands placed upon it. A brain with a strong Reserve is one that has formed many cellular connections and is rich in brain cell density. A strong reserve is generally believed to have the ability to delay the onset of mental deterioration, such as Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). Simply put, mental diseases must work longer and harder to manifest in a brain that has built up strong reserve.
3. 3
   Build a jungle, not a desert. - A healthy brain should look like a lush, vibrant jungle (as opposed to an island with a single palm tree), because it is full of dense cellular connections. You might think of a mental disease like Alzheimer’s as a weed-whacker which invades the brain and begins to do its damage by destroying brain cells. However, it takes AD a much longer time to show any impact if it has to destroy a jungle’s worth of brain cell connections. In contrast, AD can manifest itself fairly quickly after infiltrating a brain with only a relatively few cellular connections. At any point in your life, you can build these connections with a regular, balanced routine of mental stimulation.
4. 4
   Exercise 5 brain functions:
   • Memory
   • Concentration & Attention
   • Language Skills
   • Visual & Spatial
   • Executive Functions (Logic & Reasoning)
5. 5
   Learn a new skill. Research has shown that learning a new skill can improve brain functions.[1]
   • Juggle. Research has shown that juggling can improve connections and white matter in the brain.[1]
   • Play games that require critical thinking. Puzzles, sudoku, mazes, chess, and word-games are all a great help.