Five Ways to Help Your Brain

Here are five non medication and inexpensive ways to help your brain work well:

1. Eat a healthy diet.  We forget that the food we eat breaks down to become the chemicals that provide fuel for our brains, but it is true.  Feed your brain well. It needs fuel when you wake up like fruit and cereal, a mid morning snack, lunch with protein, a mid afternoon snack that has additional protein, and dinner with protein and healthy carbs like vegetables.

2.  Get some exercise that you can enjoy and look forward to.  During these dark winter months it is great to get outdoors for a walk in the middle of the day even for 1/2 hour.  You may find it lifts your spirits and is great for your brain (and the rest of your body too).

3.  Ask your doctor if it is okay for you to take Omega 3 Fatty Acids, like fish oil or flaxseed oil.  Eating fish like salmon and tuna is good as well.

4.  Get lots of sleep. Establish a good sleep routine. For example take a hot shower or bath at bedtime, and have a glass of warm milk with a little honey in it.  Read a book or listen to music.  However watching TV or being on the computer in the last few hours before trying to go to sleep has been found to make your brain stay awake, so no screens before bed.  

5.  Learn to meditate.  There have been many health benefits found in meditation.  In addition you can train your brain through meditation to focus where you want to focus not where it wants to go.  There are many ways to learn to meditate.  Transcendental Meditation is one way (www.tm.org), and Mindfulness Meditation is another (www.eomega.org).