How to Keep your brain healthy?

Keep your brain healthy

Keep your brain active

Keep your brain fit by exercising it – challenge it by stretching it and learning something new, whether through stimulating conversation, crosswords, or learning a language, a new skill or a musical instrument.

Stimulate your senses

Our senses need to be kept alive, too. Appeal to the five senses: sight, sound, touch, smell and taste. Listen to music that lifts your mood, place flowers where you will see and smell them, massage your hands and feet, or sip a warm drink.

Engage in meaningful, creative work

Do things that challenge your creativity, make you feel productive and have a positive impact on others, whether or not you get paid for them. Being useful to others and being valued for what you do can help build self-esteem.

Strive for balance

Try to maintain a balance between your daily responsibilities, looking after yourself and doing the things you enjoy. Balance the time, effort and energy you put into yourself, your study and work, and your family, friends, community, hobbies and other activities. Balance gives you better perspective, makes you and your life more interesting, and gives you the skills and connections you need to be better prepared to deal with challenges if and when they arise.

Learn to appreciate the moment

Life is short and we so often get caught up in the whirlwind that we forget to live in the present moment. Practise enjoying the moment you are in and the things you are doing.

Learn to reflect Make time for contemplation and appreciation.

Meditate, pray, enjoy the sunset or something you find beautiful, incorporate a relaxation technique into your daily routine or simply take a moment to pay attention to what is good, positive and beautiful as you go about your day. Think about what you read, and find out how you can use the information in your life. Look into yourself and into your mind, and try to find out what it is that makes you feel conscious, alive and happy.

Work towards goals

Having something to work towards is good for everybody. What that something is depends on you and your life. The achievement of milestones towards goals and the self-discipline required naturally leads to a sense of hopefulness and a greater ability to overcome despair, helplessness and other negative thoughts.

Learn and maintain good ways of dealing with difficulties

Be positive

Be optimistic. Try to recognise and be grateful for whatever it is that brings happiness and fulfilment to your life. Think positively and develop the happiness habit, by choosing a predisposition towards happiness. Open the door for the positive and don’t let the negative dwell. Happiness comes from within. Don’t let the outside world decide your happiness for you.

Learn from life’s lessons

Learn from difficult situations, accept they have happened, face their reality, take responsibility for your part in them, learn and move on with life. We have all made mistakes and poor decisions in our lives, but we have all made good ones, too. So learn and leave regrets behind, because regretting cannot change the mistakes we’ve made.

Limit unhealthy mental habits like worrying and regret

Try to avoid becoming absorbed by repetitive mental habits such as worry, regret and negative thoughts about yourself and the world. They waste time, drain your energy, trigger feelings of anxiety, fear and depression and don’t lead to positive outcomes. Consider whether what you are worrying about really matters, and if it does, try to generate a solution to the problem. If you find that you are worrying about something that might never happen, try to let it go, or even distract yourself with a physical or social activity.

Learn to release anger and let go of grudges

Anger can be constructive as long as it is expressed acceptably. We sometimes need it to give us the momentum to deal with injustices, make changes in our lives or deal with issues. So work constructively through anger via positive actions towards better outcomes. Holding on to anger or resentment builds emotional toxicity, which ultimately affects your overall health.

Manage your stress levels and learn to relax

Stress takes a heavy toll on mental and emotional health, so it’s important to keep it under control. While not all stressors can be avoided, stress management strategies and learning to relax can help you bring things back into balance.

The strategies that work for you will be individual to you, but make them positive ones and have a number of methods to fall back on. You may want to take some yoga classes, learn to meditate or incorporate a relaxation technique into your routine. You may want to exercise, listen to or play music, garden or paint, cook or play with your children.

Besides having fun and not taking yourself too seriously, it’s a good idea to integrate relaxation strategies into your routine for those times when life gets somewhat overwhelming.