some of the more common things that get asked about are being able to learn faster being able to focus more being able to react quicker in conversations and being able to have more control over one's actions now all of these have one thing in common and it’s that your ability to do any of these things well is determined by how fit your brain is we focus a lot of time and energy on physical fitness but almost no one ever talks about mental fitness.
which is why today I want to show you the five most important things you should be doing every day in order to optimize your brain health I saved what I consider it to be the most important of the five for last so make sure you watch the video till thievery end let's jump right into it starting off at number one scientists have known for years that sleep is extremely important for our brain health as we currently understand sleep plays a crucial role in memory formation a study conducted in 2012 found that simply getting a good night's of sleep improved declarative memory also known as the ability to recall facts by a whopping 20% more recently scientists have started to theorize that sleep also plays a housekeeping role in your brain there is an interesting protein released by the neurons in our brain when we are awake called tau when we get a goodnight's sleep our brain will naturally clear away about half of this protein on the other hand.
studies have found that when we don't sleep enough instead of being halved our tau levels double now what's so bad about having like four times higher levels of tau floating around in our brain all the time well study conducted in 2019 found that too much tau is strongly correlated with the loss of synapses in the brain and also neurological and even motor dysfunction higher baseline levels of tau have also been linked to two very scary diseases Alzheimer’s and dementia so try your best to get enough high-quality sleep every single night next up we have diets the saying goes you are what you eat and that's not only true for your body but for your brain and mind as well.
quick disclaimer I am NOT a certified nutritionist or healthcare professional you shouldn't make any serious dietary or lifestyle changes without consulting with your family but I think it's safe to say that there is one food out there that just about everyone should try their best to limit or if possible avoid completely especially if you want to improve your mental health and that is added sugars now sugar inherently isn't a bad thing our brains do run on glucose which is basically sugar but this is usually ingested in the form of grains crabs and fruits the problem is added sugars that are added on top of the sugar that already exists in the foods we eat according to the Centre for Disease Control the average American now consumes 70 grams of added sugars every single day and the research suggests that eating that much extra sugar is terrible thing.
for your brain a study conducted in 2016 found that high sugar diets can reduce memory formation in rats by affecting the hippocampus which plays an important role in short and long term memory formation another study conducted in 2002 found that excess sugar consumption reduced the production of a special protein called B D and F research strongly suggests that low levels of BDNF can lead to memory problems depression dementia and even Alzheimer's the more of the story try your best to stay away from added sugars which fun fact is most commonly consumed in the form of sugary drinks number 3 on our list is learning for quite some time people were under the impression that our brain stopped developing in ourmid-20s but it turns out that your brain can create new neurons and connections until the day you die that is if you continue to learn a study conducted in2013 looked at elders from the age of 60 to 90 years old and found that those who attest to learn a completely new skill like digital photography or quilting saw huge improvement in their overall memory the more unfamiliar and mentally challenging the task is the better the cognitive benefits will be so that means the best types of things to learn are things that you currently have no idea how to do which is why one of the best things to consider learning is a new language a study in 2014 conducted by a dr. Thomas Bock found that learning a second language even if you learn it late into adulthood drastically increases your ability to focus and concentrate on tasks it has also been shown to slow down cognitive decline by up to five years which is why this episode was brought to you today with the help of the guys at lingcod what if I told you that you can learn to speak a language in just three months and get a hundred percent refund on what it would cost well lingo des is a very unique online teaching platform where you can learn English Spanish German or French and they actually have a very special challenge for you today all you have to do is sign up for the lingcod language sprint and deposit fifty five dollars using the link in the description box below and pick a language to learn if you show up to class every single day for three months you will get a full refund a hundred percent of your money back this challenge will start on April 8th 2020 and will end on July 6 2020
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