Can we delay the aging of our brain?
Is there any way to make our brain age more slowly ? We have all been able to ask ourselves this question at one time or another, because we know more and more cases of people who suffer from some kind of dementia, the best known being Alzheimer’s disease.
It is clear that as we get older, our brain ages just like the rest of our body. In fact, neuroscientists believe that our brain begins to age from the age of 30 . But don’t worry, we can also influence this process with our lifestyle.
Slowing the Aging of the Brain
Neuroscientist Francisco Mora offers us 12 healthy guidelines that we can establish in our lives, regardless of our age, to keep our brain active and delay possible diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease.
1. Eat less
Eating more than we need increases the oxidative stress of the brain , in addition, reducing the amount of food boosts the production of new neurons in the hippocampus (region in charge of memory and learning) and strengthens the neuronal connections.
2. Exercise regularly
Physical activity increases the plasticity of the brain, that is, the ability to regenerate neurons and change the functioning of this set of organs of the nervous system .
3. Exercise your mind daily
Challenges and new learnings are a good option. For example, learning a new language ; the objective is not to be able to speak it properly, but the effort and satisfaction that learning it generates, also increasing our self-esteem.
4. Travel and discover new places
You don’t have to travel around the world, getting to know places close to where we live is just as enriching. Being in unfamiliar environments requires activating our brain to adapt to new stimuli, as well as living pleasant emotions. Routine is bad for our brain.
5. Take care of your social relationships
Living with and keeping alive our relationships with others increases our feeling of being supported by someone, we adapt better to changes and it moves us away from feelings of loneliness.
6. Adapt to change
We live in constant change, adapting to new situations and experiences is fundamental, otherwise we increase our level of stress and discomfort .
7. Avoid chronic stress
Continued stress releases glucocorticoid hormones that directly affect the brain by destroying neurons in the hippocampus, affecting our memory and learning capacity .
8. Don’t smoke
This habit can produce small cerebral infarctions, in addition nicotine produces atrophy and neuronal death and can reduce our cognitive capacities.
9. Sleep well
Enjoying a refreshing sleep is necessary for our brain to erase unnecessary information, reinforce the knowledge we have learned throughout the day and repair tissues that may have been damaged .
10. Avoid emotional blackout
Being motivated, excited about new projects and looking for things that excite us is part of our life’s engine.
11. Be grateful
Practicing appreciation with others strengthens our social bonds, helps to create new bonds and to forget old emotional burdens that cause us discomfort.
12. Enjoy the little things
No matter how old we are, we must put on our magnifying glasses and be aware of the things we live every day that make us feel good ; a conversation with a friend, coffee in the morning, the feeling of a job well done, singing in the shower… all these things that are within our reach provide us with great pleasant sensations.
Tell us if you already practice some of these habits in your life or if you have decided to start changing some!