You might already know how important it is to exercise to keep your body fit, but a very few of you might have paid attention to exercising your brain. You might have heard the old proverb “use it or lose it”. The proverb perfectly applies to your brain. Brain exercise is a great way to sharpen your mind and boost your intelligence. Brain exercises allow it to adapt the change and grow according to the situations. Brain exercises combined with healthy diet and supplements can create and strengthen the neural pathways and sensory system of your brain.

Here are 5 exercises for you that can keep your brain sharp and efficiently-functional as you grow old with time:

Draw the map of your town using your memory

While you claim that you’re so familiar with your hometown that you can walk its streets with the eyes closed, here is a little challenge for you. This must seems easy but it might make you storm your brain for a while. You might have the major map already in your head, but the real task is to include the smallest details including each house, landmark, lane, or you can even draw trees. When you’re done with your own map, compare it with the real map. You might be surprised on what you might have missed.

Test Your Recall

You might go grocery shopping frequently and this can be a perfect activity to exercise your brain. Just create the list of items you want to buy, memorize the list, and put it back. Now, try to recall the items in the list one by one and see how many items you can remember. It is one of the best mental stimulation.

Try Writing with Non-Dominant Hand

This is an interesting brain exercise suggested by neurologists to keep your brain alive. While using your less-dominant hand can be very difficult to use, but it is a good exercise to enhance your brain activity. Not just writing, you should also try switching your hands while eating or doing something else.

Socialize

According to a study, people who socialize more often have lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s and dementia. Socializing stimulated many parts of the brain and socializing also means playing games or hanging out which involves physical activity and hence it is very beneficial for mental health. Socializing can also bring short-term and long-term benefits for introverts as well.

Meditate

Meditation is probably the best mental exercise out there which teaches us patience, how to focus and concentrate, calmness, and clarity. Meditation is being used from ages to promote mindfulness and mental health effectively. Many medical practitioners and therapists recommend meditation to engage new neural pathways, improve self-observation, and increase mental flexibility. Research also shows that meditation can help improve the immunity and capacity of working memory.

In addition to these mental exercises, a good diet and nutritional supplements are also important for healthy brain. Therefore, you must eat foods rich in nutrients and vitamins to nourish your brain and keep it functional as you age.

Shilajit – The Best Herbal Supplement for Mental Health

Shilajit is one of the finest and most effective herbal supplements that have shown some amazing results on brain health. Here is how Shilajit can benefit your brain health.

Memory & Anxiety

Shilajit is associated with the progressive brain disorders like Alzheimer’s and known to reduce its effects on memory and slow down its progression, a study suggests. Fulvic acid is the primary component of Shilajit that prevents that damaging accumulation of tau protein and can contribute to cognitive health.

According to an animal study, Shilajit was investigated for putative nootropic and anxiolytic activity, and its effect on rat brain monoamines. The results of the study showed that Shilajit has significant nootropic and anxiolytic activity, which is helpful for memory. Thus, Shilajit can help in keeping your memory sharp. It can also keep you from getting anxious by promoting hormones that help you stay calm.

Brain Edema

According to a study, Shilajit can show some amazing results in the treatment of brain edema and recovery from the brain injury.  In this study, traumatic brain trauma was induced in rats by drop of a 250 g weight and these rats were randomly grouped into 5 groups including sham, TBI, TBI-vehicle, TBI-Shi150 group and TBI-Shi250 group. Intraperitoneal injection of Shilajit was given to these rats at 1, 24, 48 and 72 hr after trauma. The results showed significant decrease in brain water and intracranial pressure among the Shilajit treated group and the neurological improvements were also astonishing.