Thoughts are conscious or unconscious cognitive processes that emerge from the brain. They are one of the most powerful tools that the human being has. Whether they are desired or not, the truth is that our Physical Health It depends in a certain way on everything that goes through our minds on a daily basis. It influences our emotional state, especially as time passes and we age. But to what extent? How can we take care of our brain and, consequently, improve our physical health?
If you go to the bathroom frequently you know that something is wrong with your diet; the same happens if you detect spots on your skin. But what about the brain? What are the signs that your mind needs a little more TLC? The brain, as reported in a recent study published in the National Library of Medicine (NIH) is the command center of the nervous system: it manages thoughts, memory, the movement of our body and emotions. It is the supreme product of biological evolution, so keeping this nuclear organ in a healthy state is the primary goal in the pursuit of health and longevity throughout life.
Mind and body
Do you feel how old you are?
A mature woman exercises
“Both physical performance and cognitive performance are very dependent on attitude. Like aptitude, those who have a winning attitude always have an advantage over those who have a losing attitude”, explains José Luis Trejo, a neuroscientist at the Cajal Institute (CSIC) and vice-president of the Spanish Brain Council.
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When your mind, and therefore your brain is happy, you will be happier and you may be able to better face any thing, challenge, objective or goal that you set for yourself. Just like when you fall in love, your desire to do more things soars, your energy increases and you feel that you can handle everything, your attitude towards any challenge or objective is also essential. While a person’s genes, physical condition and aptitudes play a role, the mental journey of a person with a winning mindset is essential to achieve greater physical well-being. Because brain health depends on good cognitive functions such as resilienceemotional regulation, and many other facets of mental well-being.
Stress clearly reduces our ability to execute
“An optimistic mental attitude allows performance under competitive conditions leading to a higher rate of success, both cognitively and physically (for example, in competitive sport this is often seen or people over 70 who still run like someone of 40, they dance etc…). However, apart from the competitive environment, the range of variation of our execution capacity varies less than we would like with respect to our general capacity”, explains the expert. “Stress, for example, clearly reduces our ability to execute,” adds José Luis Trejo.
A couple of girlfriends chat and drink coffee
On the other hand, Sergey Young, longevity expert, founder of the Longevity Vision Fund and author of The Science and Technology of Growing Young also says that thinking younger helps your body function better. A statement that a study published in the scientific journal Frontiers corroborated in 2018, where it is explained how the people involved in the trials who felt younger than their biological age had more gray matter in the brain, and therefore, more execution capacity and a better physical condition .
Risk factor’s
Warning signs that we should take care of the brain and how to do it
man with stress
There are several signs that show and alert us that we should start taking care of our brain health, and many of these signs, as reflected in the NIH study, are related to mental well-being. For example, if you forget things more often than you would like, have trouble making decisions, don’t see or connect with your family and friends, get frustrated easily, don’t get rest and wake up a lot at night, feel more sensitive than usual, you feel unmotivated, you find it difficult to think, you cannot or find it difficult to concentrate, you feel more stressed for no apparent reason, they are more than enough signs.
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In the end, mental health is not an isolated area, it is brain health. Fortunately, there are always things we can do to better support our brain biology and cognitive performance. “Our lifestyle determines the level of health and level of performance of any brain within the range that is genetically determined. In other words, within this range, those brains that lead a healthy lifestyle (moderate exercise, adequate diet, absence of stress, absence of toxins, etc.) will have better execution and be more successful”, asserts José Luis Trejo.
“Instead, that brain will perform tasks and perform in all kinds of competition, including your level of health, at the lower end of the range determined by your genetics, when you’re sedentary, eat a poor diet, use substances or have a pessimistic attitude”, he concludes.