Keeping Your Brain Sharp

The amount of information processed by our brains on a daily basis is mind-blowing; according to a recent estimate, our five senses take in 11.000.000 bits of info per second! Fortunately we are consciously only aware of only 40 of these bits (overheating brains anyone?). Still not all of the other 10,999,960 bits are merely discarded. Quite the opposite in fact, as the unconscious part of our mind makes great use of them. Until reading this sentence, for example, you have not been aware of the fact that your pants (if you are wearing any) are pressing against your leg, or your shoes against your feet. Now, all of a sudden, your attentional radar shifts. Your feet feel encased and your legs constricted. This phenomenon, called selective attention, is one of the many remarkable features of our brain and our forthcoming mind.

Knowing that our brain has to cope with su ch a gigantic flow of info every second, minute and hour of the day, it is not hard to imagine that great care needs to give to this delicate and unimaginably complex organ. Especially with the increasing pressure and expectations of today's society, optimizing one's brain performance seems an essential thing to do. Fortunately this is becoming easier and easier with the continuous development of new brain supplements, however there are also several other quick changes you can apply to your life to enhance your brain performance. The following 3 valuable tips come from an awesome article on brain fitness:

1: Remem­ber that the brain is part of the body. Things that exer­cise your body can also help sharpen your brain: phys­i­cal exer­cise enhances neurogenesis.

2: Prac­tice pos­i­tive, future-oriented thoughts until they become your default mind­set and you look for­ward to every new day in a con­struc­tive way. Stress and anx­i­ety, no mat­ter whether induced by exter­nal events or by your own thoughts, actu­ally kills neu­rons and pre­vent the cre­ation of new. You can think of chronic stress as the opposite of exercise; it prevents the creation of new neurons.

3:Thrive on Learn­ing and Men­tal Chal­lenges. The point of hav­ing a brain is pre­cisely to learn and to adapt to chal­leng­ing new envi­ron­ments. Once new neu­rons appear in your brain, where they stay in your brain and how long they sur­vive depends on how you use them. “Use It or Lose It” does not mean “do cross­word puz­zle num­ber 1,234,567″. It means, “chal­lenge your brain often with fun­da­men­tally new activities”.

Apply these in you r life and you're already well on your way to neural and mental well- being. Check out Brain Supplements for more info on improving your brain performance!