You pay attention to and talk a lot about taking care of your physical health. But for healthy living, you must give top priority to your mental well being too.
Tips For Healthy Mind
- Socialize more. Spend time with others. Being social is a great way to boost your mental health. Having people to lean on and to have meaningful conversations can be really important.
- Meditation- It is true that the quieter you become, the more you can hear. Practicing mindfulness meditation is one of the best ways to stop negative thoughts. People who meditate regularly are found to be more relaxed and less anxious than those who don’t.
- Love yourself a hundred percent. Foresee every day as an opportunity to experience positive emotions.
- Take breaks from your responsibilities. You must carve some time away from responsibilities, away from work, which can be a vacation or even just a day off. Take a break to just unwind and relax. Make sure that it is a part of your self-care routine.
- Take time to reflect. Spend time identifying your emotions and think of several ways to tackle them. This relaxes your mind.
- Surround yourself with the right people. You have to surround yourself with positive people if you want a positive life. Choose the people who share the same values, who motivate and encourage you and help bring positivity in your life.
Healthy Mind And Healthy Body
The mind has an impact on your health. Our inner behavior – like your inner attitude of being happy, being jealous, being greedy and being angry greatly influence your health. The lifestyle you lead also greatly determines your health. Train your mind to be peaceful and positive for a healthier life. Constant anger and fear actually destroy your immune system. On the other hand, a more compassionate mind is very helpful in keeping your immune system healthy. With knowledge of the consequences of anger, develop a compassionate attitude. Your irritation, stress, and anxiety get reduced. Give top priority to a regular exercise regime. Exercise is as important for mental health as it is for physical health. It helps to increase your mental strength.
Healthy Mindset And Healthy Lifestyle
- By creating and implementing a healthier lifestyle you start accepting the space that you are in right now. Don’t lament about the past and don’t worry about the future. Be present-oriented. This mindset and mindfulness are the driving forces of a successful life.
- Give up your bad habits to make way for the new healthy habits.
- Fuel your body with the correct exercise and food.
- Learn something new every day.
- Keep the eight dimensions of wellness namely emotional, spiritual, physical, occupational, financial, environmental, social and intellectual, in your mind at all times and work towards improving them on a daily basis.
Healthy Mind And Happy Life
A happy life is the summation of a healthy body and a healthy mind. Learn to be a thankful person. Be thankful for the nights that turned into mornings, friends that turn into family and dreams that turn into reality. Stop thinking too much and become more sensitive to the small pleasures of life.
Don’t attack what you hate, but promote what you love. Being in a loving relationship brings in calmness. Move into your heart space. If you have a healthy positive attitude about yourself, your DNA will change for the better and you will look younger and feel amazing.
Be cheerful and optimistic. Always have the belief that something wonderful is about to happen. Each day may not be good, but there is something good in each day. View negative experiences as challenges and not as obstacles. When your thoughts, words, and actions are in alignment you become your greatest version.
How To Make Mind Sharp And Active
- Find the skill that you are best at, and start practicing on it, every day.
- Give a thumbs up to physical exercise.
- Develop a reading habits.
- Maintain a daily schedule and follow it.
- Communicate with strangers.
Activities To Keep Your Mind Sharp
You can try the following gadget-free activities to keep your mind sharp.
Count Backward: Sit comfortably in a place where there is no scope for disturbance and start counting mentally from 100 to 1. Later you can increase the number to 500, 1000 and so on, depending on what you are comfortable with.
Count Words: Open any book and try counting the words in one paragraph. When you get better, start counting the words on an entire page, then increase the number of pages and finally, count the words in an entire chapter. It is required that you must do the counting entirely mentally and using only your eyes and do not use your finger pointing at each word.
Observe: Get any physical object – small furniture or a fruit, – and examine it closely and carefully. Observe its characteristics and features while keeping your mind from straying away to get entangled in other thoughts. Focus your complete attention on the object of study. Take note of its texture, shape, color, and even the smell.
After observing it for some time, close your eyes and visualize the object mentally as you have seen it. Visualize it by “examining” the object mentally by turning it around in your mind and take note of its physical characteristics and features, while shutting out any irrelevant or stray thoughts.
When you do the above activities and finally return back to your work, you will be amazed to find that your concentration has increased many fold and you are now more energetic in your routine work.
How To Keep Your Brain Healthy?
You can keep your brain healthy by following these general wellness strategies:
- Make sure you stick to a healthy diet.
- Be sure to get moving on a regular basis. Being on the move slows down diseases in the brain in many ways. So go for regular physical activity.
- Give your mind a workout as well. Mental activities like puzzles, math games, and so on protect your brain and keep it healthy for a long time.
- Reducing stress helps give your brain a boost. Try and find the unique stress busters that work wonders for you. You can select from the mind-body exercises like Yoga or Tai Chi, etc. that have a meditative component as well for keeping your brain healthy.
How To Keep Your Brain Active?
Here are a few brain activating strategies:
Use Non-dominant Hand More Frequently
Try to consciously use more of your left hand for brushing your hair, picking up a book or newspaper and so on. This has a positive effect on the brain and keeps it active.
Working With Closed Eyes
Try to attempt a few daily activities at home, closing your eyes. This has a direct stimulative effect on your brain.
Index Finger On Your Forehead
Place your index finger on your forehead for 60 seconds and try to concentrate on it. You can try chanting the “AUM” mantra that relaxes your entire body and has a very positive effect on your brain.
Solving Puzzles
Solve crossword puzzles, play Rubik’s cube, chess or other games, memorize names of states, phone numbers, and so on.
Exercise
When you sweat more, you gain more intellect.
Brain Health Nutrition
What you eat not only affects your body, but also your mood, your brain’s energy, your memory, and even your ability to handle stress, complex problems, and performing simple daily tasks. Though your brain weighs only 2% of your body weight, it consumes 20% of the calories you eat. And the more nutritious your food is, the sharper your brain works. So, to be naturally brainy, eat the following foods liberally.
- Legumes- Legumes are rich in folate — a B vitamin critical to brain function.
- Mint – Mint is a good source of vitamin A and vitamin C. Vitamin A can help boost learning skills and increase brain plasticity, while vitamin C is said to protect against cognitive decline.
- Broccoli – Broccoli is not only a superfood for the whole body, but it’s also one of the best foods to boost brain power and improve your memory.
- Beets – Beets contain lots of vitamin B9, which can aid cognitive functioning and delay dementia.
- Quinoa – Quinoa is an excellent source of complex carbohydrates and fiber to balance blood sugar while providing the essential glucose the brain craves.
Brain Exercises To Improve Memory
Enrich Your Vocabulary
An undeniable way to enrich your vocabulary and memory is reading books.
Visualizing Time
Try to quickly memorize the objects you see on your screen top in 5 seconds- boy, sea, sun, cap, dog, sandwich. If 5 seconds is not enough, try to connect these words logically. A boy was playing by the sea on a sunny day. The wind blew his cap off, but the dog saved it and was rewarded with a sandwich. Now play this image in your mind. Can you remember the words in their exact order now? You definitely can!
Chunking
This is another memory-boosting exercise. Many of us are not good at memorizing big numbers. You can train your short-term memory easily. You can split the numbers into sections, memorize them and then let the numbers sink in for a few seconds. Then try to recollect the numbers. This is a good exercise for the brain and improves your memory.
Inventing conversations
See a short mute video. Try to improvise and invent some lines for its characters. You will have more fun if you do it with your friends, but even doing it on your own will stimulate your brain and imagination.
Riddles
Riddles of different kinds are a great help to keep your brain sharp.
Conclusion
Thus, for a healthy body and lifestyle, it is highly important to have a healthy brain and mind.