Whoever you may be – student, teacher, employer, employee – you rely on mental strength to get you through the day.
However, you’ve likely experienced incidents when you’ve struggled to focus on a task, analyse a situation or even recall certain facts, a reminder that your brain does not always function at its total capacity.
Be that as it is, like most people, you want to be at your 100% all the time. This is hard to achieve when you feel all drained out.
Here are several easy ways to boost your brainpower starting from today.
1. Sleep
It’s normal for your brain to feel stressed from all the information it processes throughout the day.
Remember that the brain is the command centre of your whole body. Everything your body does, inside and outside, is controlled by the brain.
When your brain becomes sleepy, this affects your cognitive function. You find you can’t think straight or have reliable judgment. It is harder to focus and finish tasks when you are mentally worn out.
Your brain needs rest to recharge and process everything. To achieve this, you must get enough sleep every night. It is not only about getting the right amount of sleep but also sleeping at the right time every day.
2. Exercise
Your brain needs power to function. Aside from energy, it needs oxygen.
When you exercise, you improve your body’s blood flow. As a direct consequence of exercise, blood travels to your brain and thus, sends more oxygen to it.
Your body also releases endorphins that make you happy while lessening any mental stress you may be experiencing.
3. Eat right
Remember, you are what you eat. Whatever you put into your body will directly affect your brain.
Sometimes the food you consume does not provide your body with sufficient nutrients.
This is why a daily intake of vitamins and supplements, including herbal preparations, can help provide nutrients that your brain requires to function at its best.
There are what they call ‘brain or smart food’ that improves your brain. You should consume mostly vegetables and fruits, including salmon, nuts, eggs, and dark chocolate to help boost brainpower.
4. Meditate
Sometimes, the reason you can’t concentrate might be because you are overthinking.
Your brain is going overdrive and is having a hard time focusing on one thing. Your thoughts are all over the place, which makes your mind wander off easily.
Try meditating to collect your thoughts and calm your mind. Stop what you are doing and try some breathing exercises for a few minutes.
You can calm your mind by engaging in some journaling as a means to organise your thoughts.
5. Solve puzzles
Your brain is a muscle. If you do not stimulate your brain often, it will degenerate over time.
Experts recommend engaging in activities that help strengthen the brain.
Even simple puzzles have the ability to stimulate your brain. Reading is yet another great way to achieve the same results.
6. Do one task at a time
Multitasking will speed things up for sure. However, this also means that your mind cannot give your 100% to the task at hand.
It is better if you focus on one task first before moving on to the next as this will help you produce better results besides preventing you from feeling overwhelmed by everything required of you.
Dennis Relojo-Howell is the founder of Psychreg and host of The DRH Show. You can connect with him on Twitter @drelojo_howell