I have a friend who laughs and says he is surrounded by dumb people, it started as a joke, but now it’s become more serious as he relays stories of the daft decisions and choices people have made around him. He says it’s almost like they just don’t think any more, on top of this he tells me about how lots of his colleagues are just permanently saying how they can’t concentrate all day, how they struggle to focus, and are just plain forgetful. I thought it’s time to consider brain functioning, because I don’t think many people realise how their brain isn’t functioning as well as it could be doing. You don’t know what you haven’t ever experienced…
The sad thing is that most people until truly pushed won’t do the work to make the body function well and this is because it does takes more work than just booking in for the surgery, or taking a few pills, and then handing over responsibility to someone else. So most people are working on their bodies from the outside, thinking they can eat and drink what they like and their bodies will just keep on functioning and just keep going. Well time to reassess this…you body and brain needs to be cared for…and if you look after it, it will look after you and give you a long and healthy life, but when your memory, concentration, decision making and recall are affected it time to take heed.
When you work to improve your overall body functioning, you inevitably have an impact on your brain, and vice versa…it’s fabulous. Your body will do everything in it’s arsenal to keep your brain and heart functioning over everything else, rationing resources appropriately as well as keeping as much toxicity as you throw at it away from them. If you are suffering from them not functioning properly, guess what…well it’s not good lets put it like that if your body does everything to make sure they will work it will sacrifice other areas of your body for them!
Many people are walking around knowing that their brains aren’t really functioning very well but not really knowing what to do about it. They regularly lose their keys, can’t remember the start of their conversation or what was asked of them, they get to the top of the stairs going to get something only to find they can’t remember what they went for! They forget even where they have put their todo list!! They know their memory isn’t good, but think this is just the norm, but it doesn’t have to be at all, and mostly it’s because their body isn’t being fed the right nutrients, hydrated correctly and isn’t being challenged enough or moved into new learning arenas.
There is a massive amount of scientific research showing that your mind has a very powerful influence on the way you look, how moody you are, your stress levels, and general wellbeing.
So what are bad brain habits, stop now and just scoot to the bottom of the article if you don’t want to know but these are from Daniel Amens books on the brain, and he knows a thing or two about this.
Well apart from…living on fast food and diet fizzy drinks, working ridiculously long hours and being very stressed all the time, rarely getting more than four or five hours of sleep at night, not exercising, and not getting out into the light, not drinking enough water, not eating the right foods….
Physical trauma
Drugs both legal and illegal
Alcohol
Obesity
Hormonal abnormalities
Malnutrition and deficiencies
Chronic inflammation in the body
Low blood flow
Chronic stress
Sleep deprivation
Smoking
Too much caffeine
Too much TV
Violent video games
Dehydration
Lack of exercise
Negative thinking
Excessive texting and social networking on the Internet
“Researchers from the University of Cambridge, England, found that when people made bad decisions with their brains took fourteen years off their life spans. People who drank heavily, smoked, didn’t exercise, and had poor diets at the age of sixty had the same risk of dying as someone with a healthy lifestyle who was seventy-four. The decisions your brain makes can steal or add many years to your life!” Blimey I took this to heart and started to write my own programme that would give me good brain health, and now I plan on tweeking it for my clients if you are interested?
So mostly it’s about eating a good diet…but then you knew that otherwise I wouldn’t be writing it!!
Take daily vitamins, minerals, and fish oils.
Exercise.
Get enough sleep.
Meditate
Relax
As you can see, the way you live day to day is making your brain and body either better or worse. Every day you need to ask yourself which type of brain and body do you want. Do you want the unhealthy brain that makes you struggle with weight problems, bad moods, and health conditions? Or do you want the healthy brain that makes it easier for you to look and feel your best?
The choice is yours.
