The human brain is one of the most amazing organs available. Well, did you know that your mind can produce approximately 23 watts of power when active? This energy is enough to light your room.
Shocking! Right? This organ is almost equivalent to your car’s engine. Minus this critical organ, your body is just but an empty shell worth nothing.
The human brain is responsible for every action you undertake. Analyzing from the complex task of solving sophisticated mathematical calculations to simple steps of winking to your crush, credits to your brain.
With all these essential and compulsory duties, your brain can sometimes be ineffective. Whether it’s continuously forgetting the simple task of switching off your lights, to taking your meds; we’ve all had experiences where the “almighty” brain proves unreliable.
So what causes your brain not to perform efficiently sometimes? What are the simple hacks to maximize its functionality? Read below to find out more.
What Causes Poor Brain Performance?
Your brain’s functionality could be affected by a variety of causes. Ranging from simple forgetfulness to dementia, you certainly need to understand the root causes. They include:
• Depression and anxiety
Stress can have adverse effects on your brain’s performance. The most affected factor is your ability to focus and concentrate on tasks. These deadly duos inhibit the retrieval of old memories and the addition of new ones.
• Those long sleepless nights are costing you!
Your brain does a lot of work during the day to keep you functional. However, sometimes you find yourself extending deep into the night, either watching your favorite show or hurrying to beat that assignment deadline.
These constant long nights affect your brain’s performance by overstretching its limits, the ultimate result being mood swings and anxiety.
• Quit your drinking habits
Too much alcohol in your system interferes with brain activities. Alcohol disrupts your short-term memory bank even after sobering up.
Though “too much” varies from one person to another, staying clear off booze makes your brain healthy and reliable.
• Prescription drugs
Drugs make your health better. However, some drugs are common culprits to your constant memory loss. Stress-depressants and pressure regulation drugs have this effect. They interfere with your system by causing confusion and drowsiness.
• Trauma caused by head injuries:
Accidents are unavoidable in every day’s hassle. However, some accidents involving head injuries may alter your retention and memory.
Yeah! That minor accident you had in the shower and downplayed could be the cause of your brain’s problems.
• Oops!! You might be at your prime age:
Old is undoubtedly gold. However, as old age sets in, constant and short term memory loss is bound to occur. These memory lapses shouldn’t worry you as they are both natural and manageable.
• Nutritional deficiency:
Your brain requires regular replenishment for better functioning. Deficiency of some essential elements, such as [Vitamin B-12], especially in older people, causes memory lapses.
Knowing the cause of your problems is one thing. But identifying simple hacks to boost your brain’s performance is the primary objective. Below are ways on how you can improve your cerebral output.
How to Maximize Your Brain’s Performance?
1. Work on your diet
You are what you eat. Any intake in your body has pros and cons. Quitting your favorite meal of KFCs drumsticks could be your ticket to a healthy brain. Instead of eating junk foods, maximize your intake of fruits and vegetables.
2. Cultivate a healthy social life
Introverts are more likely to get depressed than social and outgoing fellas. Talking to friends or your partner when feeling down could prevent you from sinking into depression. A stress-free brain will automatically deliver high performance.
3. Adopt a work-out culture
That morning jog that you’ve been avoiding could be a saver. Research indicates that regular exercise increases oxygen circulation in the brain.
Another plus on regular work-outs is that it burns those extra calories as well as promoting the formation of new brain cells.
5. Minimize your alcohol consumption
The drinking sprees you’ve been having with your buddies could be the problem. Excessive consumption of alcohol interferes with the brain system by causing short term memory loss and dementia to the extreme. Minimal alcohol consumption varies from one person to another. So to be on the safe, healthy side, quit your drinking habits altogether.
6. Take care of that head!
Your head is the housing chamber to your brain. Even though accidents are unforeseen, protecting your head from blows and strikes could save you big time. You should adopt safety measures such as; using helmets when cycling or riding your scooter. And in any case, you fall DON’T downplay the accident but instead see your doctor.
7. Engage your brain
Like regular exercising will give you abs and muscles, your brain requires constant training to increase its performance. If you’ve been experiencing memory lapses, subjecting your mind to cognitive tasks such as solving puzzles and other games could improve your memory.
8. Sleeping is a MUST!
In as much as sleeping feels like a non-issue, getting a good nap is vital in relaxing that overworked brain. A dose of enough sleep gives your brain time to fix those worn-out cells, as well as strengthening your memory and retention capabilities.
9. Eat fish and seafood regularly
Research proves that consuming fish regularly increases your chances of having a superb memory. Fish and other sea animals contain high levels of omega-3 fatty acids, which aid in brain development. Eating fish will not only boost your brain growth but also save you from the risk of heart diseases.
Wrapping Up
Sanity and brain health are the most ignored aspects of human health. However, this should not be the case, with the brain being a very critical organ. Maintaining a healthy and efficient mind requires a sacrifice to be made. Yeah! It’s not easy, but remember, you only have one brain, and taking good care of it should be your primary concern.