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      5 Daily Brain Exercises


      5 Daily Brain Exercises

      Stay Sharp With These Five Daily Brain Exercises

      Page 1 of 2

      Your brain is capable of some pretty amazing things. It’s constantly changing in response to your habits and lifestyle, and it behaves like a muscle – the more you use it, the stronger it will become. That’s not metaphorical, either: you can “work out” parts of your brain, making them physically grow by forming and strengthening your neural pathways.

      A crucial part of keeping your brain strong and happy is feeding it right. Eat plenty of high-quality fats and foods high in inflammation-fighting antioxidants (A good example is the Bulletproof Diet - check it out for free here). You should also protect your brain from environmental toxins (an issue I discuss at length in my new documentary, MOLDY). Just as important is getting in the habit of activating your neurons every day. Here are some simple brain hacks to keep in mind (no pun intended):

      Take Your Brain For A Morning Walk

      Light is as powerful as a drug, and if you use it right you can enhance your energy and focus. Exposure to blue light increases brain activity and alertness more than drinking a cup of coffee does [1]. Blue light also speeds up reaction time and impacts circadian rhythm – the internal clock that controls your sleep schedule.

      Fortunately, most of us have access to a natural source of blue light. Solar rays are full of it, and the sun is up to 1000 times more powerful than anything you’ll get from a light bulb. For maximum benefit, go for a 15-minute walk outside within 30 minutes of waking up. The big dose of sun will turn your brain on, increase your alertness, and get you ready to start your day.

      Keep It In The Dark At Night

      Blue light is great in the morning and throughout your waking hours, but at night it can cause problems. As you wind down and your body prepares for sleep, you want all those alert parts of the brain to wind down with you. That means minimizing blue light exposure after sunset. The trouble is that laptops, phones, lamps, streetlights, and most other sources of artificial light all emit blue light, suppressing melatonin production and decreasing sleep quality [2, 3].

      Fortunately, you have options. You can eliminate blue light from your computer screen by downloading F.lux, a free program that calculates when the sun sets and automatically replaces blue light in your monitor with harmless red and yellow light. You can also buy a blue-light-blocking screen protector for your smart phone. By minimizing blue light exposure after sunset, you’ll help your brain get the deep, restorative sleep it needs, leaving it supercharged when morning comes around.

      Starve It – But Just For A Short Time

      Another way to improve your brain is through intermittent fasting. If you go for a few hours (say, 16 hours) without eating, all kinds of good things happen. In addition to burning tons of fat while you fast, your brain cells become more resistant to damage from stress [4]. Intermittent fasting also increases autophagy, your brain’s way of cleaning house: it gets rid of old or damaged cells and makes room for fresh new ones [5]. In short, skipping breakfast once in a while can be great for your brain.

      The downside to standard intermittent fasting is that you get hungry to the point of distraction. That’s why I developed Bulletproof Intermittent Fasting. It allows you to turn off your hunger hormones while reaping all the benefits of a fasting state.

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