If you want to ignite your life, you need to be building your brain every day.

In today’s blog, I’m going to talk about different ways to keep your brain young, simple things to help your brain function better, and easy things you can do to improve your ability to focus or concentrate on something.

Stay Hydrated

Make sure you’re drinking enough plain old water. Okay, you can add flavorings like lemons, cucumbers or mint if you like to perk it up a little bit.

As the saying goes, when you feel thirsty, you’re already dehydrated.

Plus, caffeine is a natural diuretic. That means that you will need extra water to replace the fluids from caffeinated drinks like coffee or soda and even some teas.

You also need extra water if you exercise even if you don’t feel like you’re sweating.

When your brain doesn’t have enough water, you get foggy brain. It also causes slower memory, impaired reasoning abilities and sometimes, you can have vision problems. You may also notice a lack of energy. And you are more negative and easily annoyed.

Here’s what’s almost scary. It’s believed that 80% of Australians are chronically dehydrated!

So buy a cute water bottle that keeps your water cold but doesn’t sweat. There are some affordable options out there.

Also, there are special water bottles and jugs that allow you to add in the fruit or herbs. You can set it up the night before, and have spa water for the next day.

If you find one that holds 0.5L, then you should try to drink about four of them a day. You can also get water from eating fruits and vegetables.

You may want to start your day by drinking two glasses of water when you first get up. You may find your brain wakes up faster.

Get Enough Oxygen

Our brains need lots of oxygen to function properly. There are a number of fun ways to get it!

In a prior blog, I talked about how yawning can be a symptom of your brain needing more oxygen. So if you find yourself yawning and you’re not hungry and it’s not bedtime, your brain is begging for more oxygen.

Exercise

Doing cardio increases the blood circulation and delivers lots of good oxygen to your brain.

If you’re finding yourself feeling snoozy mid-afternoon, go for a 10-minute brisk walk (and drink a glass of water).

We’ve talked before about how important exercise is for your whole body and feeling of well-being. It’s an excellent habit for keeping your body and brain younger for a longer time.

You’ll find yourself ready to tackle that next project quickly.

You can also provide brain stimulation with 20 minute sessions of hatha yoga which helps improve your focus and ability to retain information.

Breathing

Sometimes, we forget to breathe enough. We inhale only enough to keep going. So try to remember to regularly take deep breaths.

If you can, try to get some fresh air and sunshine. Remember, a simple walk outside can do a world of good for your whole body.

Meditation

Meditating is a great way to help tell your brain “Now is the time to focus.”

If you can, spend a few minutes relaxing and meditating before you have to do something that requires a lot of focus. It could be an important report you’re writing, or a test you have to take.

Either way, you’ll have better control of your brain.

Laughter

Give yourself permission to binge watch sitcoms or movies that make you laugh hard.

Laughter is like exercise in that it releases endorphins, dopamine and serotonin in your brain. So it’s something you want to do every day.

I should step back a moment and talk about these wonderful chemicals that help your brain live a happier life.

What Is Dopamine

Dopamine gives you that feeling of accomplishment when you’ve solved a problem or overcame a difficult challenge. It’s your brain’s way of rewarding you. When you can trigger it, you have a better focus as you move towards your goals.

You also learn to deal better with overwhelm, think creatively and have more motivation to achieve things.

Other ways you can trigger dopamine is keep a journal of your goals, big and small, and get that rush when you cross them off as you achieve them.

You can also visualize achieving goals to trigger that feeling of accomplishment.

What Is Serotonin

Serotonin is similar to Dopamine, but instead of it being a reward, it’s more of a calm feeling that you can act and will achieve your goal. It’s that quiet confidence that lies in your heart.

Often you trigger it when someone looks up to you, or your peers recognize you for an achievement. You’ll start to be more self-confident and assertive.

What Are Endorphins

Endorphins are like dopamine in that they give you a reward. They connect to the “opioid receptors” in our brain. They’re the kind we get when we ride on a roller coaster. We feel that rush of adventure.

You also feel alert and ready for whatever life throws at you.

Keep Your Brain Young

Some additional ways to keep your brain young are to provide it with the nutrients that it needs to do its job well. And it’s important to continue to stimulate your brain in new ways.

We create connections in our brain cells when we learn new things. If we don’t learn new things, part of our brain will start to atrophy. So you want to build up the “neuroplasticity” by always creating new connections.

Supplements

The best supplements to boost your brain’s functioning power are

Fish oils
Resveratrol
Caffeine
Acetyl-L-Carnitine
Ginkgo Biloba
Creatine
Vitamin D

For fish oils, you want to look for Omega-3 supplements.

Resveratrol is that lovely antioxidant in red wine. You can also get it in grapes, raspberries, blueberries, chocolate, and peanuts.

I know I said caffeine is a diuretic and you need to drink extra water. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use caffeine for a perk. But you do need to be careful not to use caffeine in the afternoon or it can affect your ability to have a restful sleep that night.

L-Carnitine and Creatine can be found in many protein powder supplements and can be a great mid-morning or mid-afternoon lift.

If you are during a season or live in a region where you don’t get much sunshine, you probably need a Vitamin D supplement. Normally your body would synthesize it from the sunshine that you’d naturally get during the day.

But if you aren’t getting enough sunshine, then you have to help your body by taking a supplement.

Vitamin D is a fat soluble vitamin, which means excess is stored in your body fat. So do be aware of your doses

Aromatherapy

As I mentioned in a prior post, essential oils are wonderful for impacting your mood and helping your brain.

The best ones for stimulating your brain are:

Lavender
Frankincense
Basil
Lemon
Peppermint
Pine
Clary Sage
Sandalwood
Apple
Rosemary
Chamomile

Do feel free to make herbal teas in the afternoon and breathe their lovely smells deeply to help invigorate your brain.

Puzzles

I’m not suggesting doing crossword puzzles in pen.

However, there are a lot of activity books or online games available that would be wonderful to tease your brain and make it do “mental exercise.” Puzzles, math problems, or word searches are a great way to get started.

And, if you like, you can do a puzzle with a friend or loved one to get some additional brain chemicals going. We humans need interaction with other humans. And our brains are much happier when we are interacting with others.

Lifelong Learning

Is there something you’ve always been curious to do like watercolor painting or learning another language? Or perhaps you’ve always wanted to learn to change the oil in your automobile.

Whatever it is, find a course or book or video series and give yourself permission to study it.

You’ll be doing your brain a favor.

Reading

If you can, try to read for 30 minutes every day. If you don’t have much time, try adding it in to your morning routine.

Or you can create an evening routine where you walk away from your smartphone and the internet, and read for thirty minutes. If you have an eReader, try to turn on the blue-light feature so you’re not accidentally stimulating your brain.

Read fiction so you can stimulate your imagination. Read non-fiction so you can learn new things.

My Final Thoughts

Recently, a friend of mine’s father ended up in the hospital. He kept fainting. At first, the doctor in the emergency room wanted to treat him like it was epilepsy. Then they realized he needed a pacemaker. His brain wasn’t getting enough oxygen, and his body was starting to shut down a bit.

My friend felt horrendously guilty. Since her father was 80, she thought his sleepiness and not engaging in conversation as much during family gatherings was just because he was older. When everyone realized what was going on, her whole family was wondering why they didn’t think of checking the heart sooner.

So, take care of your own brain by eating well, drinking enough water, exercising, laughing, and challenging your brain regularly with learning new things or doing puzzles.

If someone near you seems very sleepy or doesn’t seem to be tracking conversations like they used to, please have them checked out for a pacemaker.

We can keep our brains young and healthy for a very long time.