Life, to put it mildly, can be stressful. It is often difficult to take care of your mental health among noise and haste.
Even relatively small, simple changes in our daily life or way of thinking can have a significant, positive impact on mental health and well -being both in the short -term and in the long run.
Live well daily with tips and recommendations for nutrition, fitness and mental health that come to your mailbox every Thursday.
Here are seven of our best brain tips to help you live a healthier and happier life in 2024.
- Stop and listen to the birds. Go out for a walk and enjoy the views and sounds of birds. Or ask your smart column to turn on the bird songs.
Studies constantly prove that interaction with nature is related to improving the health of the body and brain. Our feathered friends are a special source of these healing advantages. They are almost everywhere and ensure that nature. And even if they are hidden on trees or in the undergrowth, we can still enjoy their songs.
Another study showed that listening to short - only six minutes - audio recordings of bird singing can reduce anxiety, depression and paranoia in healthy participants.
2. Take care of your teeth and gums. New data indicates that what is happening in the mouth can affect what is happening in the brain. More studies need to be conducted, but it can be assumed that the health of the oral cavity can be a modified risk factor for dementia.
3. Direct your inner Betty White. Do exercise, eat foods rich in fiber, remain socially active and do complex things. These are some of the habits of "Superigers". They are Betty White in the world, ”says Emily Rogali, a cognitive neurobiologist from Finberg Medical School at Northwestern University.
The Rogalski was part of a research group that invented the term "super -elder" 15 years ago. He describes people over 80 whose memory is as good as those who are 20-30 years younger, if not better.
The fact that researchers learn from "super -starters" can allow us to discover new protective factors in lifestyle, genetics and resistance to common changes that occur with aging. The formation of a supervisor is probably partially related to the genetic lottery, but our choice of lifestyle - food, exercise, social relationships and taking new challenges - can also affect our cognitive health with age.
4. Do a five -minute breathing exercise. Practice cyclic sighs for five minutes a day. Slowly inhale through your nose to start dilating your lungs. Breathe again to fill the lungs as much as possible. Now slowly and completely exhale the air through your mouth.
Breathing exercises allow us to deliberately slow down their breathing. And studies show that this can improve not only mood but also physiology, causing a more relaxed physical condition. Cyclic sighs have proven to be particularly effective among various breathing exercises and better meditation with awareness, a recent study reports.
5. Take steps to reduce inflammation. Prolonged exposure to inflammatory agents in the blood can destroy the barrier between the body and the brain, causing neurotasis and changing key neural chains, researchers say. In people prone to depression, inflammation can be a trigger of disorder.
Patients with depression should seek the advice of your doctor or therapist. And regular use of anti -inflammatory drugs can be risky. But there are things that anyone can do to reduce inflammation in the body without drug treatment.
Your doctor may prescribe a blood test for C-reactive protein to measure inflammation. It has been repeatedly proven that exercise has anti -inflammatory effect. Try to reduce the amount of carbohydrates or adhere to the Mediterranean diet rich in vegetables. Talk to your doctor if you have a sleep that increases the risk of systemic inflammation and depression.
6. Hug or hold hands. By hugging, touched or gently squeezing our hand, we can take advantage of the force of social touch.
The social touch is so important to our well -being that our skin has special cells that recognize it. The skin is endowed with the ability to distinguish between touches that allows us to feel the pressure, texture and vibration of objects. But our skin also has sensors known as C-taktyl fibers or afferents, which are especially sensitive to the social touches of people and the affection of a loved one.
Studies show that social touch is important for our mental well -being and can reduce stress and pain, helping us to make a connection with each other.
7. Allow your mind to travel. A shower is a great place to allow your mind to travel. Among the fog and foam, a good shower can relax not only the body but also the mind by releasing streams of consciousness, clarity and creativity. This is called the "soul effect", but it can also occur outside the shower. Many of our best thoughts do not arise at work or at school, but during everyday life with ideas that ripen in the background.
In the 2019 study, 98 professional writers and 87 physicists recorded their most creative idea every day, as well as what they did and what they thought when she was sleeping. Although most ideas arose at work, 20 percent of the most significant ideas came during other classes - while washing dishes or showering.
