7 Ways to Support Your Brain Health

There are a number of ways to support your brain health and numerous articles have been written on the subject but few have been written with mental illness in mind. Most of us would love to support our brain in theory but actually having the spoons to do so is another story altogether.

So what can we do to improve or maintain our brain health little by little instead?

Be active

Being active doesn’t necessarily mean setting aside time to run a few miles or even setting aside a half hour to do an at home workout. Being active can be as simple as using your body thoughtfully in your daily living.

The benefits of being active are a little deeper than we normally hear about. As we age, natural degeneration of the brain begins to happen. Neurogenesis, which is the increase in the number of neurons being produced and generally decreases as we age, can be impacted by exercise and just being more mindfully active. Exercise has been shown to increase neurogenesis in the brain, helping regrowth of neurons, which in turn can help improve stress and anxiety too! Some obvious examples would be:

• Running or jogging

• Swimming

• Lifting weights

• Yoga

Home work out videos are perfect for those of us who have social anxiety about leaving the house. Youtube is a great place to start if you are looking for free videos that give instruction in almost any kind of area of exercise.

For those who want to focus on being more active with a workout but don’t have much time, check out the 7 Minute Workout.

Some examples of ways to get more out of your daily activities without many spoons:

• Take the stairs instead of the elevator

• Use items you’re already lifting as weights and lift the item a few more times with each arm

• Walk around a room once or twice while doing housework

• Pair activity you’re already doing like changing litter boxes or doing dishes, wash dishes instead of putting them into the dishwasher, vacuum the carpet instead of letting the robovacuum have all the fun

• Do stretching exercises while you are laying in bed or sitting on a chair or sofa

With whatever you’re doing, start out small and build it into your days slowly. Starting small, no matter how small, is still starting and will help ensure you’re beginning a routine you can commit to long term.

Personally, as someone who currently works at home and doesn’t get out much, being active to me means 10 minutes in the morning of yoga to get my body moving. At night, I like to try and relax down with 10 minutes of restorative yoga. That’s 20 minutes of exercise or movement in my day without needing much thought or structure.

I highly recommend the Down Dog app for yoga, they are advocates of mental health and disability and are also willing to help out with free trials or discounts if the price is too expensive initially. Their yoga sessions can be as little as 8 minutes long and offers every type from more relaxed stretching to heavier, faster-paced workouts.

Do brain stimulating activities

Neuroplasticity is the brains ability to form new and reorganize existing neural pathways, which has a direct impact on our ability to adapt to change and experience new things.

There is research that suggests we have a reserve of cognitive resources stored up in our brain. Those who are educated, have more mentally stimulating jobs, who are more social, all are believed to have a higher amount of reserves stored up. These reserves help protect cognitive ability as the mind and brain begins to age.

Taking advantage of mentally stimulating games can be beneficial for storing up your own cognition reserves.

Examples of this:

• Sodoku

• Crossword puzzles

• Math problems

• Learning a new language

• Painting

• Drawing

• Taking a computer course

• Photography

I personally have uploaded the brain game app “Elevate” to my iPhone. Although you have to pay for the full version, it gives you 3 games daily to play to stimulate brain health completely free. I enjoy the app and use it daily. I also like that it limits me to how many I can play in a day for free because I would have a tendency to get distracted by it otherwise.

The times I use Elevate the most are actually the times I need to take a break from doing something more strenuous or if I need to take a break because my anxiety or stress levels are getting too high. It’s the perfect quick break.

Limit your alcohol consumption

Society has made drinking alcohol a very normal, causal past time but the long term impacts to your brain should be frightening to anyone.

As discussed in exercise, neurogenesis is the process of building new neurons, but alcohol impairs the brain, contributing to a lack of neurogenesis in the brain. Experts believe this may be why there are such severe brain deficits linked to alcohol consumption.

Per the NHI’s Alcohol Alert, women are more likely to have higher rates of cirrhosis, alcohol induced damage to the heart, and nerve damage after only a few years of heavy drinking compared to men.

One study on women concluded that daily drinking can actually cause higher incidents of cirrhosis than binge drinking.

I drank casually for most of my life, but haven’t had an alcoholic beverage in 3 years now. This isn’t to say I wouldn’t have one if a situation encouraged me to and I actually WANTED the drink being handed to me, but my brain health has become one of the most important things I can focus on to help aide my mental health and I don’t take the impact alcohol can have on that lightly.

Take control of any chronic conditions you have

High blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes all impact brain health and functioning.

Most chronic conditions, including mental health conditions, lower cognitive functioning and impact things like executive function and memory. These symptoms are not limited to ADHD, in fact, they’re more often found in other mental health disorders than not.

The prevalence of comorbidity after receiving one diagnosis is high. Comorbidity is defined as having two or more physical or mental illnesses occurring in the same person. Having multiple illnesses decreases the chances of a positive outcome, increases the chances of developing more conditions or disorders, reduces functioning, and reduces general quality of life.

When you live with a chronic illness or disability, you KNOW that you need to do certain things to help manage that condition. A lot of times though, the things we should be doing get swept to the side when we run out of energy or spoons. In reality though, these should be the things that are taking priority over everything else.

It may feel necessary to push off your mental or physical health when you have things like rent due but letting other life items take priority in your life over your health will turn into a hamster wheel cycle that you’ll struggle to get off from. I know from experience that doing this can only be sustained for so long. Eventually, your body is going to find a way to demand your time and it will come at the cost or price of a possible job loss or wage reduction if you need to take something like short term disability to get your health back under control.

Don’t underestimate the impact of compounding. Small changes every day will go a long way in supporting your physical and mental health for the long term.

Get quality sleep

For adults, quality sleep should equal 7 or more hours of sleep per night. The specific amount can change depending on the person. According to the CDC, 34.8% of adult Americans were getting less than 7 hours of sleep in a 24 hour period.

The impacts of not having a full night of sleep:

• Difficult to make decisions or impaired judgment

• Poor concentration

• Poor emotional control and irritability

• Reduced coordination

• Memory problems

• Increased paranoia

• Higher rates of heart disease, kidney disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, obesity, and depression

• Increased chance of injury

• Experiencing microsleep during the day (a type of falling asleep or brief unconsciousness that is out of your control)

When I was working two jobs to try and make ends meet, I pulled all-nighters more times than I can count. However, going just 24 hours without sleep can cause you to begin experiencing the effects of sleep deprivation, which is comparable to having a blood alcohol content of 0.10 percent.

Personally, I need 8-9 hours of sleep per night for me to function at my best. This may sound like a lot but I’ve made it a point to respect what my body needs to function best and typically get my full hours in.

Be mindful and caring towards your emotions

Get help for your emotions when you need it.

Our emotions, especially with mental illness, can sometimes feel out of our control. It can feel overwhelming and daunting to try managing something that feels so consuming and debilitating. But there are things we can do to help control and manage our emotions when they are beginning to feel overwhelming.

Ways you can seek help with your emotions:

• Talk to a psychologist, therapist, or counselor

• Utilizing 988 for mental health services when you are having a crisis or a bad day

• Taking advantage of telehealth options for online therapy

• Workbooks, like Retrain Your Brain: Cognitive Behavorial Therapy in 7 Weeks for only $10 on Amazon

• Journaling about emotions, feelings, or reactions

Engage in social activities with others

Socializing can be one of the hardest things to do when you’re feeling mentally unwell. As someone who does not get much socialization, I completely understand the need to be alone where you can mentally recharge and prepare yourself for days when you’re not feeling your best.

Despite how resistant we can feel to social interaction, studies have proven that socializing can benefit our health in numerous ways, especially our brain health.

Some ways that socialization can impact our brains:

• Slows the rate of memory decline

• Enhances intellectual stimulation

• Reduces depression and combats loneliness

• Reduces stress

• Strengthens neural pathways

Socializing does not always need to be interaction with friends or family members if you’re really in a spot where you feel you need space. Socialization can be obtained in numerous ways including volunteering! Volunteering doing an activity you like that won’t require much human interaction can be a great way to get some benefits of socialization without all the talking. Volunteering time at an animal rescue helping to clean cages or walk dogs is a great example. Volunteering to help at a local food pantry or thrift store doing tasks away from customers is another.

And although it’s not one you’d usually find in a socializing activity list, increasing time spent with our animals can also be a great substitute when you’re just not able to tolerate the energy it requires to interact with other humans or complete energy consuming tasks like volunteering.

By taking control of certain areas of our lives, we are able to impact and greatly improve the overall quality of our brain health. With our brain functions impacting almost everything we do, protecting and enhancing our brain health should be one of our top priorities every day.

So, what changes are you going to make after reading this article? Share them in the comments!

Stay safe and be well, everyone!

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