Health Tip of the Day - Brain Power

Here are some Simple Ways to Supercharge Your Brain:

☻ Sleep well - Research indicates that long-term memory is built during sleep. Your brain goes through 4 cycles of sleep repeatedly through the night. The fourth stage of rapid eye movement (REM) is the dreaming phase. During REM, your mind replays images of your experiences of the previous day. The repeated playbacks program your subconscious mind to store these images and other related information. Absence of REM sleep has been linked to psychotic behavior. Antidepressants suppress REM sleep.

☻ Eat a light meal at night - A heavy meal at night causes tossing and turning and prolonged emotional stress while at sleep. The body expends energy to digest the food instead of resting and dreaming. It is wise to eat your heavy meal in the middle of the day when your body is in motion. Eating a light meal with some fruits allows you to sleep well. A good night's sleep strengthens your brainpower.

☻ Reduce Sugar intake - Sugar is a non-food. It is a simple carbohydrate that sends your body on a roller coaster ride. You may initially feel a surge of energy and mood, only to head on a downhill slump once the initial burst wears off. Excess intake of sugar is known to cause claustrophobia, memory loss and other neurotic disorders. Eat food without adding sugar. Stay away from sweet drinks or excess consumption of caffeine with sugar.

☻ Eat Almonds - Almonds are believed to improve memory. Soaked almonds are easier to digest. Almond milk is made by soaking 1/2 cup almonds for 12 to 24 hours. Add 2 cups of water and blend. You can add 2 dates or 2 tablespoons of honey. Soaking sweetens the nuts, so you might find sweetener unnecessary.

☻ Drink Apple Juice - Research from the University of Massachusetts Lowell (UML) indicates that apple juice increases the production of the essential neurotransmitter acetylcholine in the brain, resulting in an increased memory power. Drink unfiltered (cloudy) apple juice for best benefits.

☻ Eat whole wheat rather than white flour products – The whole wheat germ contains lecithin. Lecithin helps ease the problem of the hardening of the arteries, which often impairs brain functioning.

☻ Take Vitamin B-complex - Vitamin B-complex strengthens memory power. Eat fruits and vegetables high in Vitamin B-complex. Stay away from starchy food or white bread, which depletes the Vitamin B-complex necessary for a healthy mind.

☻ Enjoy simple Pleasures - Stress drains your brainpower. A stress-ridden mind consumes much of our memory resources to leave us with a feeble mind. Make a habit to engage yourself in few simple pleasures everyday to dissolve stress from your mind. Some of these simple pleasures are good for your mind, body and soul.

☻ Enjoy music you love - Music stimulates the brain at a very deep level. Classical music is noted for being structured and providing fuel to build brain power. Folk music has survived because of its benefits. Loud music with harsh sounds and a driving beat can be stimulating, but too much can overstimulate your brain, resulting in added stress.

☻ Interact with and appreciate others - Volunteer. Studies show that people who are socially active are less likely to develop dementia or succumb to it later in life.

☻ Play with your children. Have you noticed that children have far superior brainpower than an adult does? Children have playful minds. A playful mind exhibits superior memory power.

☻ Get moving - Run, bike, or swim. Exercise increases the circulation throughout your body, including the brain. In addition, exercise increases your breathing, which brings more oxygen to energize those brain cells.

☻ Practice Yoga or Meditation - Yoga or Meditation relives stress, lowers blood pressure, slows and deepens respiration, slows metabolism, and releases muscle tension. All of these factors contribute significantly towards increases in our brainpower.

☻ Exercise your mind - Just as physical exercise is essential for a strong body, mental exercise is equally essential for a sharp and agile mind. Engage in activities that require your mind to remain active and playful.

☻ Play scrabble, do sudoku, or crossword puzzles.
☻ Start a new hobby such as blogging, reading, painting, bird watching
☻ Learn new skill or a foreign language

☻ Develop imagination - The Greeks mastered the principle of imagination and association for memorization. This technique requires you to develop a vivid and colorful imagination that links new information to a known object. If you involve all your senses - touching, feeling, smelling, hearing and seeing in the imagination process, you can remember greater details of the event.

☻ Control your temper - Bleached food with excess starch, in particular, white bread can lead to a nerve grating effect. This results in violent behavior and depression. Eat fresh vegetables. Drink lots of water and meditate or practice yoga to relieve these toxic emotions of temper and stressful mood swings.