Brain health made simple …
The very thought of the brain can make people feel as though they have entered a world that is far beyond their understanding. With billions of brain cells, countless neural connections, and scientific terms that seem impossible to pronounce, it is easy to assume that brain health is something only neuroscientists, doctors, and researchers can understand. As a result, many people give little thought to caring for the very organ that controls every thought they think, every emotion they feel, every decision they make, and every action they take.
The good news is that fostering and maximizing brain health may be much simpler than you think.
If you want to foster and maximize brain health, do what is good for your brain and avoid what is bad for your brain.
According to Dr. Amen, there are many practical ways to help your brain function at its best, such as the following:
Great nutrition. Everything your brain does depends on the nutrients you give it. A diet rich in vegetables, fruits, healthy fats, quality protein, and other nutrient-dense foods provides the fuel your brain needs to think clearly, remember information, maintain emotional balance, and function efficiently throughout the day. The healthier the food you consistently eat, the better equipped your brain is to perform at its best.
Adequate sleep (7–9 hours). Your brain needs quality sleep just as much as your body does. While you sleep, your brain restores itself, strengthens memories, clears away waste products, and prepares for another day of thinking, learning, and decision-making. Consistently getting seven to nine hours of restful sleep is one of the simplest and most effective ways to support good brain health.
Maintain stable blood sugar. Your brain requires a steady supply of energy to function properly. Large swings in blood sugar caused by eating too much sugar or highly processed foods can interfere with concentration, mood, energy, and mental clarity. Maintaining stable blood sugar helps your brain work more consistently from morning until night.
Continual new learning. Your brain thrives when it is challenged. Reading, learning a new skill, taking up a hobby, learning a language, or mastering something unfamiliar encourages your brain to develop new neural connections. Continuing to learn throughout life helps keep your brain active and healthy.
Exercise, especially coordination exercises. Exercise is one of the best things you can do for your brain. It increases blood flow to the brain, delivering the oxygen and nutrients brain cells need to function properly. It also stimulates the release of chemicals that support the growth, repair, and survival of brain cells while strengthening the connections between them. As a result, regular exercise can improve memory, learning, concentration, mood, and overall brain function. Dr. Amen places special emphasis on coordination exercises because they require multiple areas of the brain to communicate and work together simultaneously, strengthening neural pathways and improving the brain’s efficiency.
Manage your stress. Stress is an unavoidable part of life, but chronic stress can negatively affect memory, attention, sleep, emotional health, and overall brain function. Developing healthy ways to manage stress helps protect your brain from the damaging effects of prolonged stress.
Gratitude. Gratitude does more than make you feel positive—it changes what your brain repeatedly focuses on. When you intentionally look for what is good instead of dwelling on what is wrong, you interrupt the brain’s natural tendency to become preoccupied with negative experiences. Repeatedly practicing gratitude helps shift the brain away from chronic stress and negative thinking while reinforcing healthier thought patterns that support emotional well-being and overall brain health.
Kill the ANTs (Automatic Negative Thoughts). Dr. Amen teaches that ANTs are negative thoughts that automatically enter the mind and often go unchallenged. Left unchecked, these habitual thought patterns can negatively affect emotions, behavior, relationships, and brain health. Learning to identify and replace ANTs with rational thinking patterns is an important part of improving brain function. Meditation and hypnosis may also be helpful tools for some individuals.
Supplements (multi-vitamin, fish oil, etc.). Appropriate nutritional supplements can help support brain health by supplying nutrients that some people may not receive in sufficient amounts through diet alone. Dr. Amen commonly discusses supplements such as a quality multivitamin and fish oil as part of a comprehensive approach to brain health. Find out more about the supplements Dr. Amen recommends for brain health at his subsidiary website, brainMD, by clicking here.
Brain type specific interventions. Based on decades of brain imaging research, Dr. Amen teaches that not all brains function in the same way. Different patterns of brain activity may respond better to different treatment strategies. Understanding an individual’s brain type can help guide more personalized approaches to improving brain health. Dr. Amen has developed a free brain type assessment to enable you to discover your own brain type and learn more about it. You can find the quiz and get a brain health assessment by clicking here.
Emotional support. Healthy relationships play an important role in brain health. Supportive family members, friends, counselors, local church families, and other trusted people can help reduce stress, increase resilience, and improve emotional well-being, all of which benefit the brain.
Assertiveness to advocate for your own health. Taking responsibility for your healthcare means asking questions, seeking appropriate evaluations, following treatment recommendations, and making informed decisions. Being an active participant in your own healthcare can help protect both your brain and your overall health.
Brain rehabilitation if trauma is present. Concussions and other brain injuries should never be ignored. When brain trauma has occurred, appropriate rehabilitation can help improve recovery and maximize long-term brain function.
Calorie restriction. Consistently consuming more calories than your body needs can contribute to obesity, insulin resistance, inflammation, and other metabolic problems that are associated with poorer brain health and an increased risk of cognitive decline. Maintaining a healthy calorie intake helps support normal brain metabolism, reduces unnecessary metabolic stress on the brain, and promotes healthier brain function over the long term.
Treat any emotional or brain problems. Emotional and brain-related conditions should not simply be accepted as something you must live with. Problems such as depression, anxiety, attention disorders, traumatic brain injuries, and other brain conditions deserve proper evaluation and treatment because addressing them may significantly improve both quality of life and brain function.
According to Dr. Amen, here are several things you should AVOID for good brain health:
Poor nutrition. Just as healthy food helps your brain function well, unhealthy food works against it. Diets high in processed foods, refined carbohydrates, sugar, and unhealthy fats fail to provide the nutrients your brain needs to perform at its best. Over time, poor nutrition can affect memory, concentration, mood, energy, and overall brain function.
Drug and alcohol abuse. Alcohol and recreational drugs can have a direct negative effect on the brain. Substance abuse can impair thinking, memory, judgment, decision-making, and emotional stability while increasing the risk of long-term damage to brain cells and brain function.
Chronic stress. While short-term stress is a normal part of life, chronic stress keeps the brain in a constant state of high alert. Persistently elevated stress hormones can damage brain cells, weaken connections in areas responsible for learning and memory, impair concentration and decision-making, and increase the risk of anxiety and depression. Over time, chronic stress can literally change how the brain functions, making stress management an important part of protecting long-term brain health.
Smoking and excessive caffeine. Smoking damages blood vessels, reduces oxygen delivery, and exposes the brain to harmful chemicals that negatively affect brain health. Excessive caffeine can contribute to anxiety, nervousness, poor sleep, and other problems that interfere with healthy brain function.
Sleep deprivation and sleep apnea. Sleep is when your brain performs many of its most important maintenance functions. During healthy sleep, it consolidates memories, repairs and restores brain cells, clears away metabolic waste, and resets the brain for another day of thinking and learning. Regular sleep deprivation—or repeatedly having your sleep interrupted by untreated sleep apnea—prevents these essential processes from occurring normally. Over time, this can impair memory, attention, learning, judgment, emotional control, and increase the risk of long-term cognitive decline.
Physical trauma. The brain is vulnerable to injury. Falls, vehicle accidents, sports injuries, and other blows to the head can have lasting effects on brain function. Taking reasonable precautions to protect your head and seeking prompt medical attention after a head injury are important steps in protecting long-term brain health.
Dehydration. Even mild dehydration can affect how well your brain works. Because the brain depends on adequate hydration to function efficiently, not drinking enough water may contribute to fatigue, headaches, poor concentration, slower thinking, and reduced mental performance.
Lack of exercise. A sedentary lifestyle deprives the brain of the many benefits that regular physical activity provides. Without exercise, the brain receives less of the blood flow, oxygen, and other physiological benefits that help support healthy brain function.
Overweight and obesity. Excess body fat affects far more than your appearance, it also affects your brain. Being overweight or obese is associated with increased inflammation throughout the body, insulin resistance, reduced blood flow to the brain, and a greater risk of conditions such as hypertension, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes, all of which can impair brain function. Brain imaging has also shown that excess body weight is associated with reduced activity in areas of the brain involved in attention, planning, reasoning, and self-control. Maintaining a healthy weight helps protect both your physical health and your brain.
Diabetes, heart disease, and hypertension. These medical conditions can damage blood vessels and reduce healthy blood flow to the brain. Because the brain depends on a healthy circulatory system, properly preventing, managing, and treating these conditions is important for protecting long-term brain function.
Low thyroid and low testosterone. Hormonal imbalances can affect far more than physical health. Low thyroid function and low testosterone may contribute to fatigue, poor concentration, low motivation, memory problems, and reduced mental performance. Appropriate medical evaluation and treatment may help improve both overall health and brain function.
Too much screen time. Spending excessive time in front of a computer or television can negatively affect the brain itself. Prolonged screen use can contribute to mental fatigue, reduce attention span, overstimulate the brain with a constant stream of rapidly changing information, and interfere with the brain’s normal periods of rest and recovery. Excessive screen time—particularly when it extends into the evening—can also suppress melatonin production, disrupt healthy sleep, and deprive the brain of the restorative processes that occur during sleep.
Negative thinking patterns. Dr. Amen teaches that every thought you think affects your brain. When you repeatedly think fearful, anxious, angry, hopeless, or other negative thoughts, your brain repeatedly activates the same neural pathways associated with those thoughts and emotions. Over time, those pathways become stronger and more automatic, making negative thinking easier and more habitual. This can contribute to ongoing stress, anxiety, depression, poor decision-making, and other problems that interfere with healthy brain function.
Low vitamin D levels. Vitamin D helps support normal brain development, nerve cell function, communication between brain cells, and regulation of inflammation within the brain. Low vitamin D levels have been associated with an increased risk of memory problems, depression, cognitive decline, and dementia. If a deficiency is present, working with your healthcare provider to restore healthy vitamin D levels may help support better brain function and long-term brain health.
High or very low cholesterol levels. Cholesterol plays an important role in brain health, so both excessively high and abnormally low levels can be harmful. High cholesterol can contribute to plaque buildup in blood vessels, restricting blood flow and reducing the oxygen and nutrients the brain needs to function properly. Extremely low cholesterol can also create problems because cholesterol is an essential component of brain cells, helping maintain healthy cell membranes, nerve function, and the production of hormones important to brain health. The goal is not simply to lower cholesterol, but to maintain healthy levels that support optimal brain function.
Depression. Depression does more than affect how you feel—it changes how your brain functions. Brain imaging has shown that depression can alter activity in regions of the brain responsible for mood, thinking, memory, motivation, attention, and decision-making. Left untreated, depression can become chronic, making it increasingly difficult for the brain to function as it should. Recognizing depression as a brain health issue and seeking appropriate treatment can help restore healthier brain function while improving emotional well-being and overall quality of life.
Cancer chemotherapy. While chemotherapy is often essential for treating cancer and saving lives, many chemotherapy drugs can also affect healthy brain cells. Some people experience what is commonly called “chemo brain,” which may include problems with memory, concentration, mental processing speed, word retrieval, organization, and clear thinking during or after treatment. These cognitive changes can range from mild to significant and may last for months or, in some cases, longer. Anyone experiencing these symptoms should discuss them with their healthcare team so appropriate evaluation and strategies for recovery can be considered.
Environmental toxins. The brain is especially vulnerable to toxic substances in the environment. Exposure to heavy metals such as lead and mercury, pesticides, industrial chemicals, air pollution, mold toxins, and other environmental contaminants can damage brain cells, increase inflammation, interfere with normal brain chemistry, and impair memory, attention, mood, and cognitive function. Although it is impossible to avoid every environmental toxin, minimizing unnecessary exposure whenever possible is an important step in protecting long-term brain health.
The beneficial thing about Dr. Amen’s simple approach is that it reminds us brain health is not reserved for scientists, physicians, or researchers. Every day, through the choices we make, we have opportunities either to help our brains or to harm them. The encouraging news is that many of those choices are well within our control, making better brain health an achievable goal for virtually anyone willing to take those simple steps.
Scotty
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