Every aspect of human life depends on the brain. It is the brain that takes the lead in everything we think, say, do, and feel. We can affirm that the brain is the organ of reason, personality, character, and innovative ideas. When our brain is working properly, we do our job correctly. When it is malfunctioning, we are likely to have various problems in our lives. 

There is nothing more complex than the brain. 

Scientists estimate that each of us can have up to 100 billion nerve cells. And each cell is connected to another not by a single connection, but by almost 10,000 individual connections. This means that a person has more connections in the skull than there are stars in the sky. Information in the brain moves at a speed of approximately 430 km/h. Of course, if the brain is healthy and the person is not under the influence of alcohol or drugs. 

Although the brain makes up only 2% of your total body weight, it uses 20-30% of the calories you consume. From breakfast or lunch, almost a third of it goes to feed 2% of your body weight. 

The brain is the most expensive and valuable organ in our body. On average, 85,000 brain cells are lost per day. And your behavior can accelerate or slow down the aging process. Impressive? 

Special brain scans show three indicators: areas where the brain is working well, areas with low activity, and areas of high activity. That is, there is good brain activity (optimal), too low or too high. 

What does directly harm brain activity?

Brain activity directly depends on the health of this organ. A healthy brain makes us happier, healthier, more prosperous, wiser, more creative, and more original. Brain health also affects the innovation process, speeding up or slowing it down. Unhealthy brains make people more likely to get sick, develop less, become poorer, and limit their thoughts and work. 

What can harm your brain? First of all, these are the following factors:

+ brain injury 

+ drugs and alcohol 

+ obesity

+ smoking 

+ high blood pressure

+ diabetes 

+ toxins 

+ lack of physical activity

Many people know that a glass of red wine a day is good for the heart. Yet it is not good and even harmful for the brain. It is obvious how harmful drugs and alcohol are, but the fact that obesity harms brain function is still something people in our country don't know much about. 

Quite a while ago, the journal Nature published experiments showing that physical size and brain activity decrease with weight gain. Our online fitness club boasts members who have lost 6 to 15 kg once they learned about these experiments. 

Smoking restricts blood flow to the brain. Just as it prematurely ages the skin, it prematurely ages the brain. 

High blood pressure: when it rises, blood flow to the brain decreases. Therefore, you should know your blood pressure at all times, and if it is high, you should take it seriously. 

Diabetes, toxins in the environment, lack of physical activity and, as a result, negative thoughts. These are thoughts that come to you automatically and spoil your day, they are the seeds of anxiety disorder and depression.

What can you do to help your brain? 

+ social relations 

+ new training 

+ healthy diet

+ sleeping

+ physical activity

+ health care

+ meditation 

+ gratitude

+ good relationships with people

Incredibly, the people you spend time with play a crucial role in your longevity. Doesn't that sound interesting? If you spend time with people who have healthy habits, you will adopt them too, because people are "contagious" in a good or bad way. If you spend time with people who have unhealthy habits, you are likely to live less. Pay close attention to who you spend your time with.

Learn something new, because while doing so, the brain creates new neural connections. When you stop learning, your brain starts to degrade and seems to disconnect. The OFC is perfect for systematic learning and development. After all, you get a lot of useful information during the courses that increases the number of neural connections and makes your brain more flexible. I'm talking about both theoretical information and exercises for the body, because the body also learns and automatically transfers this knowledge to the brain. 

Proper nutrition is an absolute must. Food is medicine or poison. People consume substances that help them or toxins that cause harm. For example, the American diet is a combination of foods high in carbohydrates, processed sugar, and saturated fat (burgers, chips, coke...). Such a diet not only provokes heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. It causes depression, attention problems, Alzheimer's disease. 

Quality sleep is also essential. In 1900, people slept an average of nine hours, in 2011 it was six hours. Less than seven hours of sleep means less blood flow to the brain. Moreover, with a decrease in the amount of sleep, body weight increases because appetite gets out of control. 

This is why it is so important to be physically healthy. 

Yet worrying is also crucial. There is a good longevity research that showed that the "Don't worry, be happy" generation of children died earlier because they did not take their health seriously enough. 

I hope to arouse a little bit of anxiety in you. Because calmness often leads to passive behavior. Many psychologists try to relax you, but I try to motivate you and increase the level of proper anxiety about your health. 

We think that meditation turns off the brain, calms it down. This is not the case. Meditation activates the front part of the brain, which is the most human, thinking part of the brain. 

Do you know what is the best antidepressant, in my opinion? It's gratitude.! 

I advise you to write down three things you are grateful for every day. Within three weeks, you will notice a significant difference in your level of happiness. Killing the bats in your belfry means refusing to believe any silly thoughts that come to mind.

5 things that will change everything in your life:

• Maybe you've heard of brain flexibility and know that you can change things. This is the best feature of your brain. If you make a wise decision today and start improving your brain, you may notice changes in the next two months. That's impressive, isn't it? After all, a healthy brain makes everything in your life better, starting with your body and ending with your financial situation, relationships, and ability to generate new ideas.
• Don't let your children risk their brains. The brain scans of boxers, wrestlers, and American football players are enough reason for my child to never play these sports. I'm not even talking about the 18-year age limit, because the idea that you are an adult at 18 in terms of neuroscience is nonsense. The brain grows and actively develops until the age of 25. According to one theory, this process can last up to 28 years in men. 
• You need to take the toxic environment around you more seriously. It is important to avoid prolonged exposure to poor environmental conditions. In the brain scans of a firefighter, you can often see an overall low activity. There are no critical changes with lobes, but there is extensive low activity.  
• It is important to be more serious about being overweight. We are not talking about a few kilograms, but about being overweight or close to obesity. This has a direct impact on overall health and the brain condition, which needs healthy, balanced food.
• It is necessary to prevent Alzheimer's disease. Over the next 15 years, the incidence of Alzheimer's disease is expected to double. Prevention of all serious diseases of the body: heart disease, cancer, diabetes, depression and high blood pressure will help to minimize the chances of the disease.

We cannot let our brain health go to waste, because it is us. Our standard of living directly depends on it. Only by reducing the factors of brain disease and increasing the factors of its health and development we will be able to live a better life. Everything is in our hands.

 

Written by Andrii Khomytskyi, founder and coach of Online Fitness Club.