I’m on a mission to get everyone looking after their brain as routinely as they look after their teeth. Here’s eight easy ways to keep your brain young.
2. Create challenge Your brain has an amazing ability to adapt and change across your lifespan. This flexibility, called neuroplasticity, also allows your brain to compensate for aging, injury and disease. In the context of brain health, the aim is not to eliminate stress but to identify your individual stress sweet spot where stress is optimal for you. Where you subjectively experience stimulation, arousal, alertness, engagement and even fun. Operating within your optimal zone gives your brain the opportunity to adapt and build resilience by remodeling its own neural architecture.
As we get older, we don’t need less sleep, but we may have trouble sleeping due to shifts in melatonin release and changes in circadian rhythm. Melatonin nudges us toward an earlier bedtime by reaching its peak earlier in the evening while our circadian clock wakes us up earlier in the morning. Continually refusing to synchronize your sleep habits with changed sleep rhythms will push you further and further into sleep debt.