You may think a lot about keeping your body healthy. You eat nutritional foods, you exercise and stretch at least a little bit. You try to avoid activities and habits that are bad for your body in general. But, there’s also something to be said for being smart about keeping your brain healthy. Without your brain in good shape, the rest of your body is not going to make that much difference! 

So what are some tips and pieces of advice for brain health? You can eat food that is good for your brain. You can avoid brain damage, for example by staying away from activities where you could get concussions. You can keep your mind sharp with games and puzzles. And, you can research symptoms of issues with your brain so that you know if you ever need help from a professional.



Brain Food



Most people think about eating nutritional food, so their body stays healthy. But you can also think about food that helps your brain stay healthy. The science might be a little sketchy, but most of the essential principles remain true. When you eat certain types of food with specific chemical and vitamin components, your brain operates at a higher level. This literally means that certain foods are brain foods.



Avoiding Damage



Even though you think of your mind as an emotional construct, it is made up of physical matter. And that means your brain can suffer physical damage. If you want to keep your brain healthy, you will avoid brain damage situations such as activities that are likely to give you concussions. If you’re athletic or play a lot of sports, make sure you take all the proper precautions to avoid head injuries. For professional athletes in contact sports, they have to be even more cautious than the rest of us.



Keeping Sharp with Games and Puzzles



If you regularly do brainteasers and puzzles, research has shown that you can keep your brain healthier over time. It’s when you stop exercising your brain muscle that people start losing the ability to think as sharply. Even doing small things like crosswords every once in a while can help keep your brain functioning at a high level for an extended period, even far into old age.



Recognizing Symptoms



You may take all of the steps necessary to try to keep your brain healthy during your lifetime, but ultimately, a gradual degradation may occur, simply because you are getting older. If you make sure that you understand the symptoms of conditions like Alzheimer’s or dementia, there may be things that you can do to alleviate some of the distress that comes along with them. But, if you don’t notice anything changing, then that puts you in a much more difficult position.