You know that having a healthy brain is vital to sports and fitness performance.
And, more importantly, it’s needed for happiness and fulfillment in life. That’s just the way it works.
And, we both know it takes more than doing a crossword puzzle or practicing memorizing a deck of cards. There are proven methods and strategies.
You know how important things like mindset, focus, clarity, determination, distraction control, and flow are to overall success: mental, physical or financial. A well-functioning brain creates more opportunity for success in each aspect of life.
It’s incredibly challenging to reach the pinnacle of success (in sports or life) when your brain doesn’t function at the highest level. If you are new to the coaching/training industry, you are discovering that people who have improved brain function and performance are better able to follow directions, implement plans and stay the course. If you are experienced in this field, you’ve seen this for years.
Here are 10 things you can do starting now to improve brain function, clarity, focus, power, and overall health.
1. Do something new
When you experience something new that stimulates your brain! This creates new neural pathways, increasing your intelligence level, and even reduces the likelihood of dementia. Whatever you are doing now in your daily routine, figure out a way to do it differently. Stimulation can be this simple. 2. Exercise regularly
OBVIOUSLY, right? It’s been proven that regular exercise helps to increase brain function and enhances neurogenesis. This means that every time you exercise you are creating new brain cells! And you thought it was just so you can do awesome selfies on Instagram.
3. Train your memory
How often do you hear people say “I wish I had a better memory!” Yet few people anything about it. Discipline yourself to memorize phone numbers and other important numbers (passport, credit card, insurance, driving license) you will start to see a marked improvement in your memory. Because of our modern world, we actually have something called “digital amnesia”. Basically, because we don’t have to memorize/remember as much, we simply don’t.
4. Be curious
Instead of taking everything at face value, get into the habit of questioning everyday things/products, services that you come into contact with. When you are curious and questioning everything, you force your brain to innovate and create new ideas and possible alternatives and solutions.
5. Think positive
Stress and anxiety kill existing brain neurons and also stop new neurons from being created. Research has shown that positive thinking, especially in the future tense, speeds up the creation of cells and dramatically reduces stress and anxiety.
6. Eat healthy
Our diets have a HUGE impact on brain function. Our brains consume over 20% of all nutrients & oxygen that we consumed – so remember to feed your brain with the good stuff! (i.e. fresh fruit and veg & plenty of OMEGA 3 oils found in oily fish). The Brain Fitness Coach Certification has an entire training module dedicated to brain foods.
7. Read a book (Well, a lot of books)
Reading relieves tension and stress (brain-cell killers) because it’s a form of escapism. No matter how much you want to “hustle”, you still need to escape. Research has also shown that using your imagination is a great way to train your brain because you force your mind to picture what you are imagining. Reading is a great way to trigger your imagination.
8. Get enough quality sleep
Sleep is like a mini detox for the brain. Quality/deep sleep actually washes the brain. This is when your body regenerates cells and removes all the toxins that have built up during the day. The Sleep Science Coach Certification teaches this in great detail and gives you the outline for a successful business model, too.
9. Ditch the GPS
Yes, just give it a try one out of 10 trips. Gone are the days of map reading. GPS may have made our lives easier, it has also made our brains lazier and less efficient at the same time. Go back to the old school and use a map to navigate every now and then (this exercises the part of your brain responsible for understanding spatial relationships).
10. Ban the calculator
Remember back in elementary school when we were taught to use our brains to do simple sums like times tables? It’s incredible how we now rely on devices like smart-phones and laptops to calculate really simple equations. Resist the urge to work things out using an external device – and use the device you were born with – your brain.
If this type of science and personal development is interesting to you, and you’d like to create a successful business coaching others on these topics, take a moment to review the following courses:
You know that having a healthy brain is vital to sports and fitness performance.
