Don’t Forget About Your Brain

When you think about taking care of your health and wellbeing, does that include your brain?

Unfortunately, our brain health often gets overlooked because we can’t see our brains. No one has ever looked in the mirror and said, “Wow, I sure do have a beautiful brain!” or “My brain is looking mighty sharp today.” The truth is we shouldn’t overlook our brain because it is crucial to our overall health and wellbeing.

Did you know...
Here are some brain facts from the Cleveland Clinic.

The brain works 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Even when you sleep, it doesn’t.
The brain generates enough electricity to power a light bulb.
When you learn something new, the structure of your brain changes. It continues to grow and change throughout life. The more you use it, the better it gets.
The brain creates thoughts, drives emotions, stores memories and controls your movement and behaviors.
Whenever you dream, think, see or move, tiny chemical and electrical signals race along billions of “highways” between neurons. In fact, neurons create and send more messages than all of the phones in the world.
Due to its “neuroplasticity,” the brain is able to adapt and respond to changes and compensate for injuries and diseases. Neuroplasticity allows your brain to be jump-started, fine-tuned and remodeled throughout your adult life.
Our brains have very big jobs to do so it’s important that we take really good care of them if we want it to stay healthy and function properly now and in the future.

Importance of Good Blood Flow for Brain Health

Our brain drives our behaviors. So having good blood flow to our brains is critical in making the right choices and decisions. Good blood flow helps nutrients and oxygen to get to the brain so it can function well. When this happens, we’re sharper, more focused and can think more clearly. In turn, we have more energy to follow through with the right behaviors that are going to get us to where we want to go.

On the other hand, when we have low blood flow to the brain, it decreases our brain’s ability to make the right choices and decisions. Since our brain feels foggy, we may find it hard to resist something that’s bad for it.

For example, if you get less than 6 hours of sleep, you might feel like skipping your morning workout because you’ll be too tired. For lunch, you might turn to comfort food which may include a piece of chocolate cake because at that moment you’ll think it will make you feel better. Of course, it won’t. Instead, it will spike your glucose level and then decrease your blood flow even more. You’ll feel moody and irritable and won’t have the energy to finish that big presentation you were working on. Then, you’ll get upset with yourself because you’re under a tight deadline. You’ll start to feel stressed and…you get the picture?

One behavior that decreases blood flow to the brain can lead to another negative behavior, which can lead to another negative behavior and on and on. It can have a domino effect!

Blood Flow Robbers

Anything that decreases blood flow to your brain, hurts your brain. According to Dr. Daniel G. Amen, double board-certified psychiatrist and brain health expert, here are some behaviors and conditions that he describes as “blood flow robbers.”

Being sedentary or exercising less than twice a week
Getting less than 6 hours of sleep each night
Drinking more than 2 cups of caffeinated beverages a day
Smoking
Excessive alcohol use
Having a history of cardiovascular disease
High LDL cholesterol
Having hypertension or prehypertension
History of a stroke
Pre-diabetes or diabetes
Sleep Apnea

To support your brain health, it's important to take care of your wellbeing through healthy habits. Be sure to get treated for any condition that impacts blood flow to your brain. Not only will you increase your brain function and improve your brain health, but you’ll be better able to achieve your goals and live the life you truly desire.