10 Smart Ways to Boost Your Brain Power

It has often been said that we only use 10% of our brain's power, but that theory has been debunked. In fact, we use every part of our brain and our brain is active almost all the time. 

Maximizing the power of our brains can be accomplished the same way we maximize the health and strength of our bodies, through exercise and good nutrition. 

Below are examples of brain exercises and tips that can help improve your focus, cognitive reasoning and memory.

1. Boost your brain function with smart foods.

What you put in your body will enter your bloodstream, flow to the brain, and affect the way you think and feel. A diet that is rich in omega-3 is considered to be some of the best brain food for improved memory and attention. Foods high in omega-3 include fish, nuts, vegetable oils, and leafy vegetables like kale, spinach, collards, and broccoli.

Regularly eating smart foods, which include blueberries, salmon, avocados, eggs, caffeine, dark chocolate, yogurt, and green tea, can help your brain function better. As important as it is to consume foods that help your brain, it's also critical to avoid foods that will slow you down and affect your focus and productivity. The foods that will sabotage your productivity include donuts, saturated fats (red meat, butter), turkey, spicy foods, fried foods, and processed foods.

Studies have also shown that certain foods can either help or hinder a workout, which, in turn, can impact long-term memory, reasoning, attention, and problem-solving. Exercise also helps to reduce mental stress, which in turn helps improve our brain function. A study published by neuroscientists working at the University of California, Berkeley, found that long-term stress, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, can trigger changes in brain structure and lead to mental problems such as anxiety, mood disorders, and even learning difficulties later in life.

2. Feed your brain with mental stimulation.

Along with a healthy diet, you can also feed your brain with activities that require mental stimulation, such as puzzles, which challenge your brain to look at how pieces can fit together and word games, which can build your vocabulary. Set yourself up for success by doing puzzles or reading prior to starting tasks or your work day.

Maximizing the power of our brains can be accomplished the same way we maximize the health and strength of our bodies, through exercise and good nutrition.  

3. Get the right level of distraction.

When you need nose-down concentration, it might not sound efficient to head to a coffee shop, but studies show that the noise provided by most coffee spots gives your brain the right amount of the productivity boost it needs to heighten focus and creativity. A number of research has also shown that listening to music can improve our memory, learning and cognitive functions, which includes focus and concentration. 

4. Mental Stimulation through Classical Music 

Research says music can improve your mood by increasing dopamine production in the brain, which affects movement, emotional response, and the ability to feel happy. And one particular genre of music – classical – has long been claimed by researchers to improve visual attention, boost creative reasoning, and enhance critical thinking. But those effects may be temporary improvements on brain abilities. Researchers don’t claim that listening to classical music will improve someone’s intelligence in the long-run, but that there is some evidence that it can temporarily improve spatial intelligence.

5. The Power of Boredom

Your brain exerts a lot of energy during demanding tasks. Once these activities are completed, your brain returns to a resting state where it can recharge. This resting state, or what we describe as boredom, is when your brain can imagine different scenarios and find creative solutions to problems that may be bothering you. It’s because your brain is free to wander and this mindless wandering is what’s needed for you to enhance your creativity and brain power.

6. Focus on one task at a time.

You may be under the impression that you're capable of multitasking, but the truth is, you're basically just splitting your brain's power between each task. Researchers say that multitasking forces your brain to frantically switch from one activity to the next and doesn't allow you to truly concentrate on any of the tasks you're trying to tackle.

The psychiatrist Edward Hallowell defined multitasking as a “mythical activity in which people believe they can perform two or more tasks simultaneously as effectively as one.” 

Most people are terrible at multitasking, and people who do it often are actually worse than those who don't at filtering irrelevant information. Multitasking not only hurts our productivity, it also affects our ability to learn. On the other hand, focusing on one task at a time can boost your efficiency and improve concentration.

7. Spend Time Outdoors

A simple way to fight cognitive decline and keep your brain healthy is to take regular walks in nature, which has been found by researchers to be good for not only our general well-being but also our brain structure. It has long been thought that spending time outdoors benefits our brains only if it's done over longer periods of the time, but a study from 2021 found that even short stays outside can benefit the human brain. That means a walk in the middle of the day can boost your brain health and has been linked to improved attention, lower stress, and better mood. 

8. Meditate.

Just as you exercise to expand your muscles, you can meditate to increase the size of your brain. Meditation, a practice of mindfulness, has many different definitions. One study from 2021 defines it as  “a mind and body practice focused on interactions between the brain, mind, body, and behavior, containing four key elements: a quiet location with little distractions, a comfortable posture, a focus of attention, and an open attitude.”

Researchers say meditating for just a few minutes can help improve your focus and even thicken the prefrontal cortex of your brain, which is responsible for decision-making.

9. Write it down.

Go ahead and continue crafting those to-do lists. Research shows that writing things down won't just help you remember things—the simple act also creates oxygenated blood flow to areas that can help improve memory. 

Writing things down can also help you remember those things more accurately. When you write on paper, your fine motor skills are much more engaged and more areas of your brain are activated than when you type, and researchers have found this may be the reason we remember reading handwritten text better than typed words.

10. Take a nap.

When your brain is sleepy, it's incapable of functioning at full capacity and has to work much harder to process information, especially when it comes to short-term memory recall and concentrating. Researchers have found that sleep deprivation leads to lower alertness and concentration. Without adequate sleep, our cognitive and emotional abilities are impaired and making decisions becomes much more difficult.

If you’re in need of a brain boost but don’t have much time, studies show that regular naps can keep your brain healthy and help slow down brain shrinkage that comes with aging. James Maas, a sleep expert who is a big supporter of people taking naps, told The Globe and Mail: "Nearly 70% of the work force is sleep-deprived, meaning they are accident-prone, their immunity is lower than it should be, and their cognitive processing is bad. People make mistakes, they have accidents and they get sick easier." Naps have been shown to help increase performance, and a 90-minute nap can improve your memory. Below is a breakdown of how long of a nap you need for a variety of activities according to researchers:

1. Need to be more alert and focused? Consider taking a 10- to 20-minute nap, and you could get enhanced alertness and focus for the next two hours.
2. Hoping to be smarter? Consider taking a 60-minute nap. Although it may cause grogginess, it can also help improve memory and learning.
3. Want all the brain power you can get? Try taking a 90-minute nap, which is how long your brain needs to experience a full sleep cycle. You can benefit from increased alertness, memory, learning, creativity, and performance.
4. Need a boost but don't have much time? One study says you should consider sticking with 10 minutes if you need to refresh but don't have a lot of time, as it produces better benefits compared to 5-, 20- or even 30-minute naps.

The Takeaway

Now that your cognitive abilities are sharpened, use your improved memory and brain power to come up with creative new ways to manage and grow your business. 

 

A version of this article was originally published on August 5, 2014.

Photo: Getty Images