We all know that things like solving puzzles, healthy nutrition, and exercise enhance our brain function. But what about some less obvious ones?
9 Things That Enhance Your Brain Function
1. Specific goals
Once you articulate a specific goal or a task for yourself, wonderful things will start happening. You will be able to find resources, opportunities, and time to accomplish things.
And if you outline the main goal for yourself and split your main objective into smaller tasks while slowly, steadily, step by step trying to carry them out, you will have no problems in achieving what you set your mind to.
2. Positive emotions
Emotions are short-term subjective human responses to the world around us (joy, anger, shame, etc.). Feelings can be described as a consistent emotional attitude towards other people or phenomena. Feelings are associated with consciousness and can develop and improve continuously.
Emotions can be exciting and positively impacting human life, or depressing when they suppress vital processes. Positive emotions motivate people to action. They arise as a result of being satisfied.
Start looking for simple pleasures in life, and brain stimulation will begin, leading to the release of large doses of endorphins, or pleasure hormones into your body, which will lead to satisfaction.
Because of that, positive emotions will excite and improve your life and allow an easy flow of thinking processes which will give rise to a good mood and a positive outlook on the world around you.
It is in human nature to seek happiness, it is just another form of self-preservation instinct.
3. Exercise in the fresh air
Fresh air allows blood to be saturated with oxygen more actively, which causes blood to carry oxygen faster and provide better nutrition for the brain cells while strengthening the processes of oxidation and metabolism. More energy required for healthy functioning is released, and new biochemical compounds are created.
The brain makes us be more active to save itself and, of course, our bodies. To provide us with an opportunity to think, create, solve complex problems, and to form memories. Without the movement of fresh air, the blood becomes inactive, and so does our brain function.
At the same time, by exercising outdoors, you get the opportunity to enjoy some sunlight. The abundance of sunlight can be harmful to the skin but not to the brain. Researchers believe that higher levels of vitamin D (which is produced by sunlight) can slow down brain aging.
4. Simple foods consumed in moderation
Simple foods are easier to obtain, prepare, and digest.
The brain tells us (if you want to hear what it has to say), that 50 % of the energy produced by the body is spent on vision, 40 % on digestion and decontamination of food-related toxins, and only 10% remains for active motion, the functioning of mental and nervous systems, and fighting off billions of microbes.
If we eat all the time, when is the time to think?
Soups are very healthy, they improve digestion, metabolism, fill the stomach much quicker, giving a feeling of fullness with less food.
5. Sleep and rest
The brain, just like the entire human body, needs to rest. During physical exertion, we need to take mental breaks, during intellectual activity engage in exercise, and while being morally fatigued try looking for a change of place.
Complete rest can only be possible through sleep. The process of sleeping is the most mysterious human condition, without sleeping it is impossible to survive.
During sleeping, our consciousness is turned off, but we continue to think, even though the way we think is changed and follows completely different laws. This is due to the fact that while asleep, our subconscious activities become predominant.
The brain analyzes what happened during the day, restructures these images, and provides us with the most probable outcome. This outcome could have been predicted even for a long time, but it was not accepted by our consciousness until extracted from the subconscious during sleeping.
It is assumed that before going to sleep each night, we need to instruct the brain to make a prediction, come up with a decision or solution, or just have a pleasant dream.
Unnecessary impressions or obsessive thoughts can be washed away by the “nightly protective wave” inside the brain. People who experience prophetic dreams all the time are the most talented analysts.
6. Customization
The brain cannot instantly adapt to sudden changes in previously experienced circumstances, new life conditions, new work, new study routine, or a place of residence, social circle, unfamiliar food, or new people. Any new activity must be introduced gradually and calmly by slowly getting accustomed to it.
Every day, by doing everything you can, you can achieve something that seemed impossible. The habit to study, or to work is formed gradually and continuously. Sudden insight and inspiration always involves previous knowledge and may not always be something you were fully aware of before.
Often, parents, teachers, bosses, loved ones (and sometimes ourselves), without understanding the complexity of forming a habit, require from us (and we expect from others) achieving instant results. It does not happen that way.
It is best not to become overwhelmed, calm down, and kindly tell them or ourselves that nothing can be achieved all at once, “Hey kids, be patient and you will get you Christmas gifts just in time for Christmas”. And start moving forward slowly, and picking up the pace as we get used to new things.
The brain by itself creates stereotypes (habits, skills, reflexes). Stereotyped thinking helps immensely to live our lives as we do no need to repeatedly solve common tasks. Every day, when we perform the same actions, we turn them into a habit, a skill or an ability, or sometimes a conditional reflex.
Without much reliance on our brain function, we become able to salivate at the sight of a lemon, close the front door, turn off leaking tap, wash dishes, jump up from a sudden car horn, click X when we need to close a window on the computer screen.
Instincts and insufficient life experience force us to create stereotypes related to our childhood friends, enemies, or lovers. This can be useful when dealing with “the ocean of mankind” to choose someone and to create our own team and then stop, which frees up the time and energy for other life goals.
Stereotypes help us to deal with strangers, get along with our parents, and to educate our own children.
7. Freedom
Albeit limited by the instinct of self-preservation and social norms, freedom is essential to all of us. Freedom is our ability to be free of fears and stereotypes.
Of course, the stereotypes in the form of unconditional and conditional reflexes are important, if we get burnt by fire for the first time, the second time around we most definitely will not stick our hand in the fire – it hurts!
But if life circumstances require to show contempt for pain and death, we may burn the right hand, just as the famous ancient Roman military man Muzio Scevola once did. Without being afraid to think according to our beliefs or in a completely new way, we defend our way of thinking, way of living, our appearance, and our loved ones.
Without blaming the whole world for the lack of understanding and acceptance to recognize our “wonderful uniqueness” and allow others to be different, to have their way of thinking, their own outlook on life.
8. Creativity
…which is the ability of the brain to create new, unique and artistic things using and relying on old memories. Creativity is a favorite type of activity of the brain, making us similar to God, making us be close to God.
Creativity in science studies, describes, explains the world and nature of humans, advances new ideas, finds ways and means to implement them, looks into the future, and is ready to change it for the better.
Creativity in arts combines hard work and emotions and reflects upon reality through artwork. Art brings people together: writers share their lives, feelings, and perceptions of other people, showing that we are not alone in the feelings we may experience.
A painter offers a look at how inside our environment we can see ourselves being beautiful or ugly. Musicians make us respond to the sounds of their heart at the sound of a tuning fork.
Art awakens our imagination and enriches our inner world, helps to see the world in a different light. Art creates ideals.
9. Division, seeding, communication, and close interactions
Life is a continuous process of cell division, constant metabolism, and distribution of information. The work of the nerve cells of the brain or neurons is based on “love.” They constantly “hug” each other, with close contact of dendrites (extensions, “hands” ), always transmit energy (nerve impulses), and exchange information about everything (through biochemical compounds).
Harmful not to share, but impossible to demand, which can become quite confusing. You should befriend your brain as well as make friends with people around you.
This is the essence of the brain function when it is in a constant need to receive and exchange information.