How to Give Your Brain a Quick Boost
Posted June 16th, 2014
We’re all looking for ways to improve our minds. People do this in many different ways – learning new things, reading, playing games, exercise. These things help in the long term. But what if you are looking for a quick jolt, something to make you more alert, to get you thinking more clearly right now, to bump up your creativity a notch? As it turns out, there are some things you can do to give you brainpower a little boost right now.
1. Take a walk.
Anything that gets your blood pumping and gets more oxygen to your brain will increase your alertness and acuity. It also helps with memory. Studies have also shown that walking even helps with creativity. Researchers compared the problem solving among people who took a walk and those who didn’t, and found that the walkers came up with two times as many creative responses as their more sedentary counterparts.
2. Take a shower.
It’s not clear yet why this helps, but studies have shown it can boost your thinking. Some suggest it’s because showering tends to relax people, which in turn releases dopamine into the blood, a substance that is important to creativity.
3. Drink some coffee.
Some researchers claim that caffeine helps your neurons better conduct electrical impulses, which improves cognitive functioning. Others aren’t so sure. So, coffee may be more beneficial to some than others in terms of boosting their mental functioning, depending on how your body reacts to it.
4. Chew gum.
One experiment showed that chewing gum for just five minutes improved a person’s memory and mental processing speed for 15 to 20 minutes. Researchers attribute this effect to more oxygen getting to the brain during gum chewing. What’s more, MRI images showed that there were actual changes taking place in the brain when people were chewing gum.
As with caffeine, these little practices might help some more than others, so it might be worthwhile experimenting to see how you respond. Compare how you think after walking to when you remain sitting, for example. See what works best for you.
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