(NAPSA)—Maintaining better brain health may be easier than you think. The good newsis that there are practical steps you can take to enhance the way your brain functions. Following a few tips will help you remember more, think faster and perform better at work, school and in everydaylife. Memory Speed ProblemSolving Attention Flexibility @ Five Keys Here are five keys to improving brain health: 1.Eat right. Just as your body needs proper nutrients to function, so too does your brain. Fuel your brain by eating lots of fruits and vegetables, which contain antioxidants such as vitamins C and E that help prevent cell damage. Include some good fats such as omega-3 fatty acids in your diet—found in fish and shellfish, they constitute important building blocks in the brain. And make sure you drink plenty of water to flush out toxins and keep your brain hydrated. 2.Exercise your body. Regular physical exercise can help keep your brain fit by promoting increased levels of brain chemicals and moreefficient blood circulation, which is vital to remov- ing cellular waste and delivering nutrients needed by the brain. What’s more, studies have found that physical exercise stimulates the production of new brain cells. 3.Be social. Humans are social creatures and our brains have evolved to seek out social contact. Studies have reported that an active social life appears to delay age-related memoryloss. Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health found that individuals in their 50s and 60s who engage in a great deal of social activity had the slowest rate of memory decline, and researchers at Kaiser Permanente found that women with active social lives were half as likely to suffer from dementia. Exercising and training your brain can help improve your core cognitive abilities and keep your brain functioning at its best. 4.Get good sleep. Sleep plays an important role in memory formation. Your brain uses sleep to process and makesenseof the day, consolidate memories and even generate creative new ideas. Poor sleep can lead to an imbalance in brain chemicals, resulting in depression or cognitive deficits in processing speed, attention, mem- ory and reasoning. A few simple changes inlifestyle, such as getting proper exercise, cutting out caffeine, relaxing before bedtime and drinking in moderation, can often help improve your quality of sleep. 5.Exercise your brain. The best exercises for your brain are new challenges that use different parts of your brain and increase in difficulty as you improve on tasks. For instance, you can learn foreign language and then use it amongnative speakers, or take on a new type of dancing that exercises both the body and the brain. You can also exercise your brain with training programs such as Lumosity.com that are designed specifically to improve brain function. Described as a “gym for the brain,” the site offers personalized training programs and engaging exercises designed to improve core cognitive processes. The site is also available on several mobile application platforms. To learn more, visit www. lumosity.com.
