Brain Health - It Matters!
Renee Tipman • February 6, 2020
Should you exercise your brain? The answer is yes!
Everyone knows that is it important to engage in physical exercise regularly. In fact, it is common to hear about new health goals which involve more gym attendance at the beginning of each new year. However people tend to forget the brain. Just because it is made mostly of gray and white matter doesn't mean we shouldn't exercise it like we try to regularly do to our muscles!
So how do you maximise your brain health? Well there are many ways we can maintain our brain health, including the more obvious ways like getting regular physical exercise, avoiding excessive alcohol, making sure your blood pressure and cholesterol are under control etc. However a key way we can give our brain a 'workout' is to try to regularly engage in mental stimulation. But what is mental stimulation? This is any mental activity which is reasonably complex - and if it includes new learning then it is even better for your brain! For example, more typical examples of mental stimulation which are good for your brain can include reading, listening to the radio, or participating in hobbies or leisure activities. However I always encourage people to think about new ways to challenge their brain regularly. For example, activities such as learning a language, visiting a museum, trying to learn a musical instrument, or even flexing your artistic side via drawing or painting are all wonderful activities we should all try to regularly do to stimulate our brain!
These activities are not only great for your physical (and emotional) health, they may help reduce the risk of developing conditions such as dementia as you get older. So given it is still close to the start of the year I encourage you to reflect on your weekly schedules and see if you can fit in a bit of time to stimulate your brain and give it a real 'work out'.