When you take a class in psychology, you develop an understanding of what they mean by the ‘average’ person. The ‘average’ person is a composite developed by putting together statistics involving millions. There are exceptions to every ‘average’ endorsement.
Therefore if you know someone who smoked all their lives, drank and ate whatever they want and never exercised, but lived into their 90s and beyond or if you know a man who did everything exactly the way the textbooks say they should be done and he died before his 50th birthday, then you understand the idea of those exceptions.
Exceptions can make it difficult to look objectively at your own life, your own habits or even your own thought patterns because despite what you read or hear, you know about the exceptions. Right wrong or indifferent, the point of exercising, eating healthy and living a fit lifestyle are good for people no matter where they fall on the exception chain.
Your brain is a part of your fitness, because how you see things, you feel things and how you think about things are very important to your overall levels of personal fitness. If you exercise regularly and eat a healthy diet, but focus only on the negative aspects (such as negative self-talk) your brain is going to have problems too.
Now there is a lot of research continuing into Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other brain disorders. We know a lot, but there is so much we do not know. We know the brain can be integral in getting well from a devastating illness. Holistic medicine invokes the use of positive and powerful thinking alongside physical treatment. We know that even when we’re feeling bad and things are going wrong, a positive outlook can mean the difference between total defeat and overcoming a challenge.
Current research supports that exercise and nutrition keep our brains fit. Current research supports that a healthy mental outlook is not something that a person just has; it’s something they develop – just like their musculature, their cardiovascular system and their immune systems. You can strengthen your brain, improving its fitness and health by performing the following on a regular basis:
· Go Back To School – You don’t have to go after a degree if you aren’t interested, but taking classes stimulates the brain. Study a subject you’ve always been curious about or have interest in whether it’s photography, history or project management. Studies done at the University of Michigan demonstrate that older adults and young adults a like show increased responsiveness to challenging tasks – learning – being key among those.
· Play Mental Games – No, not the types of mind games you see on T.V. performed by criminals. Games and puzzles are excellent workouts for the brain. Crossword puzzles, Scrabble, Word Whomp and Sodoku all offer a mental challenge and stimulating exercise to get the brain going. Logic problems and puzzles are also ideal for generating mental exercise.
· Pop Quizzes – Play with your kids and grandkids. Challenge them to name as many animals as they can in under a minute, you do the same. Research in the United Kingdom indicates that healthy adults name anywhere from 20 to 25 animals in 60 seconds.
· Stop Smoking – Smoking includes a variety of unpleasant side effects and according to the Mayo Clinic Women’s Healthsource; smokers are at twice the risk of non-smokers for Alzheimer’s.
· Do the Math – As much as math is an annoying subject, performing quick mental math functions such as simple addition, subtraction, multiplication and division is a healthy exercise for brain function.
· Reading Aloud – All that reading you do for your children is an excellent mental activity, because the mental process for reading is faster than the translation to audible speech.
· Exercise Regularly – Yep, exercising regularly such as walking three to four times a week for 30 minutes at a time can reduce the chances for developing dementia.
· Relax – Stress is bad for the physical body because of the increased hormone levels, digestion suppression and elevated heart rate and blood pressure. It’s also bad for the brain because the chemicals the brain produces in response to stress can kill brain cells. Making sure to get plenty of sleep and practicing deep, regular breathing even under stress can minimize the effects of stress on the mind and the body.