6 Simple, Easy-to-Do Habits to Keep Your Brain Sharp at all Times

If you’re like most people, chances are that you don’t think about your own brain very much – but when you find yourself stuck doing things that need more “brain power”, you find yourself wondering what you can do. Well, worry no more.

Studies have recently found that your brain can change depending on what you choose to do out of habit. Like the muscles in your body, your brain needs to be used and trained in order for you to be intelligent in one particular area.

Here are a few simple habits you can take up that will help you increase your thinking capacity to do more tasks better:

1. Let your curiosity roam.
Instead of taking things at face value, keep asking questions. From the answer, you can ask another question to explain why the answer is the way that it is. Start questioning things you encounter every day, such as products and services that you come into contact with.

By forcing yourself to do this, you also force your brain to start thinking of answers “outside the box”.

2. Ditch the calculator.
The best and worst part about the calculator is that it makes it too easy for us to figure out sums, products, quotients, and so on, and frees us up to make big transactions faster.

While this is great for a lot of daily transactions and saves up time by clearing out a lot of disputes, a calculator can just as easily be a crutch that could limit you from using your brain to answer simple Math questions.

3. Read a book.
Reading a book is perhaps the best way for you to challenge your mind. Not only does it relieve tension and stress after a long day, but you also train your ability to focus, especially when you’re reading a difficult text.

Using your imagination also lets you train your brain to visualize or “picture out” what you’re reading.

4. Get enough sleep.
Your brain’s processing capacity is at its best when you’ve had the appropriate amount of sleep your body needs. For children, adolescents, and teenagers, that number may be up to nine hours a day, while adults need between seven and eight hours of sleep on average.

Even though you think you can function normally with only four hours of sleep (or even less), not getting enough sleep can have negative effects on your whole body, not just your brain.

At the end of the day, keep in mind that a sharp brain comes from small steps, hard work, and a determination to improve – you don’t need to try to do or be everything at once.

However, you do need to commit yourself to making progress. And that’s what matters.