- Research shows a link between certain lifestyle factors and good brain health.
- Paying close attention to these lifestyle habits can ensure a longer, healthier life and a lower risk of degenerative diseases and mental illness.
- Included in these lifestyle behaviors are exercise, sleep, and diet.
Our brain controls what we think, how we learn and remember, and the way we move and speak. Simply put, it works like a big computer, as explained by the National Institutes of Health. “But the brain can do much more than a machine can: humans think and experience emotions with their brain, and it is the root of human intelligence,” he adds.
So it goes without saying that maintaining a healthy brain throughout life is critical to living well longer, as well as having good mental health. In fact, studies show that your mental well-being is strongly associated with your brain health and could potentially be a protective factor in the onset of neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer’s.
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So how do you ensure healthy brain health? It keeps your mind active, feeds it plenty of healthy and nutritious foods, and reduces risk factors that can damage the brain. In other words, your lifestyle choices can make or break your brain health.
There’s an easy way to remember this, says clinical psychologist Dr. Colinda Linde, chair of the South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG).
“There’s a SEEDS model, and this particular model is implicated in actual brain health. So it protects you not only from anxiety and depression, but also from things like dementia, which I think is important,” he said. Linde, who spoke at a Discovery event. on exercise and mental health this month.
The five SEEDS
The acronym was coined by Dr. John Arden, director of Kaiser Permanente’s mental health training programs in Northern California and the author of 15 books on neuroscience, psychotherapy, and mindfulness. In one of his books, Brain Bible, Arden explains that several characteristics that scientists have identified in the last 30 or 40 years are key to health and happiness.
In Brain Bible, Arden takes the top five that have a strong body of scientific studies supporting them as healthy behaviors to “live with more pleasure, less depression, less anxiety, and less chance of getting dementia later in life.” she said in an interview with Good Therapy.
These five factors are embodied in the mnemonic SEEDS. Arden said:
“If you are planting SEEDS now and nurturing them throughout your life, chances are you will feel much better about yourself and everyone around you; people will want to be around you, you will get sick less often and have symptoms of dementia much later than other people.
The five SEEDS factors are as follows:
yes – social connectivity
We have social brain networks that need to be nurtured and nurtured throughout life, Arden explains, and people who don’t have good-quality social relationships tend to be more depressed, more anxious, get sick more often, and show symptoms of dementia much earlier. What others.
me – exercise
Without regular exercise, we do not have biochemical processes that improve the body and brain. As a result, our brains get bogged down, says Arden. On the other hand, a brief burst of exercise on a regular basis, even if it’s just 30 minutes a day, can lead to positive biochemical processes that improve the brain, including the birth of new neurons in the brain. “It’s the best antidepressant and the best anti-anxiety drug we have,” Arden said.
a south african study published this month showed that just 30 minutes of physical activity a day could reduce the chances of developing depression, especially among women.
me – education
Exercising your brain with new knowledge is critical to keeping your brain healthy, Matthew Solan, executive editor of Harvard Men’s Health Watch, previously wrote. Arden explains that if we’re not learning something new regularly, we’re not building an infrastructure of brain connectivity. “The more connectivity you have, the richer your thoughts, and we call that cognitive reserve later in life… Learning a lot throughout your life goes a long way in developing your brain,” she said.
D – diet
An unhealthy diet high in fat and sugar is bad for the brain. This is because the food you eat affects neurons, the main cells of the brain.
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Arden explained: “Our body makes these brain chemicals based on the foods we eat or don’t eat. Each of these neurotransmitters has a precursor amino acid, and if you want to deprive your brain of these chemicals, you can have a bad one or skip it.” breakfast, or eating simple carbohydrates, or fried foods, or whatever, but it will end up making your brain incapable of learning and thinking positive thoughts. So diet is absolutely critical.”
yes – sleep
Sleep is restful, while chronic lack of sleep is bad for the brain. Neuroscientists have shown time and time again that a lack of sleep can harm your physical and mental health and increase your risk of developing diseases later in life.
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“Having good hygiene and good sleep practices is critical for mental health and for not developing dementia later on, but most importantly for not having too much anxiety the next day or too much depression,” Arden said.
The most important of the five
If these SEEDS factors aren’t met, they can be “degrading to the brain,” Arden said. While these five lifestyle behaviors protect your brain in terms of mental health and the organ itself, there is one you should pay special attention to, Linde said.
“There is one that is way above the rest, and that is exercise,” he said. “Exercise not only enables neuroplasticity more than anything else, and when you get older, you need more of that, [but] it helps the actual organ… It’s important and it really protects the brain, so remember that.”
