improvement pill here some of the more common things that get asked about are
being able to learn faster being able to focus more being able to react quicker
in conversations and being able to have more control over one's actions now all
of these have one thing in common and it's that your ability to do any of
these things well is determined by how fit your brain is we focus a lot of time
and energy on physical fitness but almost no one ever talks about mental
fitness which is why today I want to show you the five most important things
you should be doing every day in order to optimize your brain health
I saved what I consider it to be the most important of the five for last so
make sure you watch the video till the very end let's jump right into it
starting off at number one scientists have known for years that sleep is
extremely important for our brain health as we currently understand sleep plays a
crucial role in memory formation a study conducted in 2012 found that simply
getting a good night's of sleep improved declarative memory also known as the
ability to recall facts by a whopping 20% more recently scientists have
started to theorize that sleep also plays a housekeeping role in your brain
there is an interesting protein released by the neurons in our brain when we are
awake called tau when we get a good night's sleep our brain will naturally
clear away about half of this protein on the other hand studies have found that
when we don't sleep enough instead of being halved our tau levels double now
what's so bad about having like four times higher levels of tau floating
around in our brain all the time well a study conducted in 2019 found that too
much tau is strongly correlated with the loss of synapses in the brain and also
neurological and even motor dysfunction higher baseline levels of tau have also
been linked to two very scary diseases Alzheimer's and dementia so try your
best to get enough high-quality sleep every single night
next up we have diets the saying goes you are what you eat and that's not only
true for your body but for your brain and mind as well quick disclaimer I am
NOT a certified nutritionist or healthcare professional you shouldn't
make any serious dietary or lifestyle changes without consulting with your
family but I think it's safe to say that there
is one food out there that just about everyone should try their best to limit
or if possible avoid completely especially if you want to improve your
mental health and that is added sugars now sugar inherently isn't a bad thing
our brains do run on glucose which is basically sugar but this is usually
ingested in the form of grains carbs and fruits the problem is added sugars
sugars that are added on top of the sugar that already exists in the foods
we eat according to the Center for Disease Control the average American now
consumes 70 grams of added sugars every single day and the research suggests
that eating that much extra sugar is a terrible terrible thing for your brain a
study conducted in 2016 found that high sugar diets can reduce
memory formation in rats by affecting the hippocampus which plays an important
role in short and long term memory formation another study conducted in
2002 found that excess sugar consumption reduced the production of a special
protein called B D and F research strongly suggests that low levels of
BDNF can lead to memory problems depression dementia and even Alzheimer's
the more of the story try your best to stay away from added sugars which fun
fact is most commonly consumed in the form of sugary drinks number 3 on our
list is learning for quite some time people were under the impression that
our brain stopped developing in our mid-20s but it turns out that your brain
can create new neurons and connections until the day you die that is if you
continue to learn a study conducted in 2013 looked at elders from the age of 60
to 90 years old and found that those who attest to learn a completely new skill
like digital photography or quilting saw a huge improvement in their overall
memory the more unfamiliar and mentally challenging the task is the better the
cognitive benefits will be so that means the best types of things to learn are
things that you currently have no idea how to do which is why one of the best
things to consider learning is a new language a study in 2014
conducted by a dr. Thomas Bock found that learning a second
language even if you learn it late into adulthood drastically increases your
ability to focus and concentrate on tasks it has also been shown to slow
down cognitive decline by up to five years which is why this episode was
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the video the fourth thing you should be doing if you want to optimize your
brains mental health is exercise now exercise is one of the more important
things on this list because it actually does quite a lot of things that in turn
will improve your overall mental health it's long been known that regular
exercise improves your sleep quality which as we now know is pretty important
exercise also causes the lissa BDNF which again will help protect
you from dementia Alzheimer's and has also been shown to slow down the natural
deterioration of your brain as you get older not only that but exercise also
improves your overall mood when you exercise regularly your body releases a
variety of feel-good endorphins lowering stress and reducing anxiety the better
your mood is the easier it is for you to focus and get things done on top of that
recent studies have also started to point to the fact that exercise can
affect your actual brain size a study conducted in 2017 at the Western Sydney
University found that regular exercise led to a significant increase in the
size of the hippocampus which plays a crucial role in learning and memory
other studies also suggest that exercise can lead to growth in the prefrontal
cortex and the medial temporal lobe which also play very important roles in
long-term memory and interestingly enough self-control which in theory
should help you build and break habits easier these are only some of the
numerous benefits that exercise can bring to the table the point is if you
want to improve your mental health you definitely need to be exercising and it
doesn't have to be intense to our workouts at the gym every single day
studies have found that simply doing some light exercise like jogging for 30
minutes a day can provide you with almost all of the benefits I listed
above and finally number five on the list and the one thing that I considered
to be the most important in regards to optimizing your mental health
drum roll meditation now I know I know talk about meditation a lot on the
channel but oh my there are just so many benefits a study conducted in 2012 used
fMRI scans to look at the brains of people while they were learning how to
meditate for the first time over a period of eight weeks they discovered
that meditation drastically reduced the amount of activity in the amygdala even
randomly throughout the day this is the part of your brain that is responsible
for negative emotions such as fear anger anxiety and even sadness which means
that meditating can drastically improve your ability to control your negative
emotions and like we discussed before when you are in a good mood it is
significantly easier to study and focus and also to stop your
from turning to your bad habits and this is only one of the many reasons why
meditation is good for your brain health because another study conducted in 2011
published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences compared
the brains of regular meditation practitioners with the brains of those
who are completely new to it the focus of this study was on the default mode
Network also known as the DM n which is the part of the brain that is most
active when you are not focused it is the same part of your brain that is
responsible for the random thoughts that pop into your head when you're
daydreaming in class or when you're trying to fall asleep at night the study
found that those who practice meditation regularly have less activity in their
DMN throughout the day and this is actually a good thing because it means
that people who practice meditation are more focused on what's happening in
front of them as compared to having their mind wander around and to top all
of this off an interview was conducted in 2015 where Harvard neuroscientist
Sarah Lazar stated that regular meditation leads to significant growth
in three very important regions of the brain the first being the left
hippocampus which again plays a huge role in your learning ability your
memory and your ability to control your emotions the second being a region
called the temporal Pareto Junction which deals with your ability to
empathize with others and something called perspective-taking which is
basically being able to perceive hypothetical situations accurately in
your mind this is important because it allows you to plan and execute things
more effectively the third and final region of your brain that meditation has
been shown to grow is called the pons which is responsible for some of our
major senses such as our ability to taste to hear motor control balance and
even our facial expressions so in a way meditation will improve almost all of
your overall senses all in all research suggests that meditation is one of the
healthiest things that you can be doing for your mind especially if your main
concern is about focus or self-control and these are the five things you should
be doing in order to optimize your brain's health sleep cutting out sugars
exercising learning and meditation let me
in the comments down below which one of these five he wants a start or work on
today and besides that guys stay tuned