During our education and training in the younger years, you learn rapidly how to get information on how you can save it in your head and how you can apply it later.
With these learned functionalities you will later be able to further develop yourself. Important indicators are your EQ and your IQ.
In middle age you reap the benefits of this and, if things are going well, you can more easily apply the learned in your daily life, and in particular your working life.
So we all know how to store information and find it again, but how does that happen? We have no idea of ??that. These processes in your brain are so terribly complex that even the medical world has been able to map only a very small part of these processes.
There is still a lot of research needed to get everything clear. But what is now clear is the fact that we ourselves can exert an important influence on the functioning of your brain.
The following tips have been collected especially for you to give you the chance to keep your brain in good health, but most of these also have a very positive effect on your body in general, both mentally and physically. So just do it!
Tip # 1: Sleep well
Your brain needs rest during the night hours . Rest to process all impressions from the past day and give them a place. It is a proven fact that this is only possible if you are sufficiently asleep, not only in hours but also in quality (1). A good night’s sleep is also much better for the functioning of your whole body. The moment you sleep badly, you have to look for a possible cause.
Obvious causes may lie in the fact that you have a bad pillow or that your mattress needs replacement. In addition, you have to look very critical around you in your bedroom: Is the room perhaps too light? Then ensure good, blackout curtains. It is also important to turn off as many devices with lights as possible. For example, the alarm clock display is a fairly strong light source.
Tip # 2: Chew firmly
In the present tense we are only in a hurry: The children have to go to school, soon a meeting, be on time at work, just a little too late, etc. etc. We all recognize this picture. As a result, the food often has to take place very quickly.
This is very unfortunate, because eating is not only a matter of taking food to survive, but is also a moment of rest, a moment of social contact, sharing stories with the rest of the family and making new plans for the rest of the day or for the next day. It is an important moment of communication.
A part of the food is chewing. Due to the necessary speed, the macaroni plate is pushed in so that it is not chewable. This is a very bad thing. Chewing has a number of important functions : Not only is the food chopped into smaller pieces by your teeth, you also mix the food with your saliva, so that important substances are added to the food. This means your stomach does not have to work as hard and the nutrients are better absorbed by your body. A very important aspect of chewing well!
Tip # 3: Stay physically and mentally active
Older people often tend to take a nap. They are less active and therefore almost no longer outside. It is very important in old age to remain active both physically and mentally . It is of course important to do new things besides your normal activities, to offer new challenges to your brains. To give a small example:
Playing the same game every day is not very useful. That is the same way of thinking every time, and you will also get stuck in that. For example, chess is a better alternative. This mind-set of sport keeps putting you back to work to come up with new solutions to the issues.
With this you keep your brain better in shape and you are able to be mentally more flexible.
A very nice combination of physical and mental activity is dancing . Not only is it very nice for your social contacts, which keeps your mind younger at all, but the combination of moving and learning new dance patterns is a proven solution.
Tip # 4: Keep pushing your Boundaries
This tip is a bit in line with the previous point. To constantly challenge your brain to solve new problems, it is important that you gradually shift your boundaries. If, for example, you no longer travel by train, because you find it complicated to check in and out with the new OV chip card, I advise you to do so.
You challenge your brains in this way in a positive way, so that you gradually shift your boundaries. The excitement this entails will ensure that your information will be processed faster, remembered better and therefore can solve a similar problem faster.
