Geniuses are usually people with a very high IQ. However, the IQ test is only one way of measuring human intelligence and it isn’t exactly a measure of raw brain power. The brain is responsible for a wide variety of functions which all require different kinds of abilities. For instance, combat sports might look like it requires the body more than the brain.
The body definitely has to be in great shape but the brain also has to be sharp. Opponents are constantly analyzing the other fighter, forecasting the next move, evaluating the defense, and coming up with a plan to overcome these hurdles. Just like how you can train a muscle to get stronger and bigger, you can train the brain to get better at certain tasks or improve overall as a unit. Here are 7 things that will give you mental performance gains.
Exercise changes the chemistry and the physiology of the brain itself. Research has found that regular exercise helps improve the memory and learning abilities of the brain. Participants in the study only spent 1 hour a day, two days a week, walking briskly. Just this little bit of exercise is enough to help the brain develop in a better way and can also help protect people from a wide range of mental illnesses and brain-related diseases.
Just like how you gain weight if you eat more calories than you burn off and lose muscle mass if you don’t eat enough protein, the brain is also made up of tissue and if you don’t give it the fuel it needs, performance suffers. We need a range of nutrients to improve brain function including fat, essential oil, vitamins, minerals, water, and many other things. Some of the best foods you can eat to improve brain function include fish, leafy greens, nuts, and fruits. These foods contain a lot of very high-quality nutrients that are excellent for our health and specifically for our brain.
Nootropics are a range of drugs that are designed specifically to enhance mental performance. In some cases these are available over the counter, in other cases, you will need a prescription. You can find nootropics for all kinds of purposes and using a great resource to learn about all the different kinds should be your first step. Generally, drugs that improve memory, focus, and mental processing speed are the most popular. These functions of the brain have a big impact on many things that we do in our regular lives. People facing specific problems such as ADHD can get nootropics that help with that particular weakness in the brain.
People meditate for different reasons but one benefit that they all experience is the mental benefit. People not only find freedom from mental problems but the actual performance of the brain improves as well. They can remember better, they can speak better, they can think more clearly and their mind is in a better state. Medical research has confirmed that meditating for just 20 minutes a day can help improve and optimize brain activity.
Sleep is critical for your overall health and especially important for brain health. Specifically, getting at least 6 hours of quality sleep where you are able to reach the REM stage is vital for good brain health. People who have sporadic sleeping patterns or get poor sleep are far more likely to develop mental health issues and experience poorer brain performance.
Writing by hand using a pen/pencil and paper has a direct impact on our brain. Not only is it improving hand-to-eye coordination but it is actually changing and improving the way the brain works. Writing requires a lot of different parts of the brain which means more neural connections are made when you write, thus, improving the overall performance of the brain and especially the areas responsible for memory and learning.
Just like writing, playing a sport, or participating in any physically demanding exercise engages different parts of the brain. This increases the amount of electrical activity taking place in the brain and helps develop different parts of the organ.
Playing sports has a big impact on your alertness and your perception. It is also a great way to boost blood flow to the brain which also improves the neural connection formations happening. Our nervous system is an extension of the brain and as the entire body is engaged when playing, it is developing that area of the brain as well.
Some of these activities will have a quick impact, such as nootropics, and others will take a bit more time, such as exercise. Improving any part of the body takes time and the brain is no exception. While you are providing the brain with the resources it needs to improve, you also need to protect it from things that could potentially harm this organ. Stress, drug abuse, and poor health all have a negative impact.
