If your brain seems foggier than you’d like it to be, maybe it’s time to optimise it.
You do it with your car, your computer (some optimisation happens in the background with that), probably quite a few other things in your life.
So why not optimise your brain?
OK, you can’t just go to Google and download a software patch for your brain.
Or at least not yet…
But there are some other things you can do that will boost and optimise your brain’s performance and give you a nice “upgrade” without too much effort on your part.
Get a decent night’s sleep
You know what it’s like if you’ve not slept well – everything seems way too difficult and awkward.
Sleep is the time that our body uses to process what’s happened during the day and to carry out repairs whilst we’re not doing too many other things.
Getting a good night’s sleep will actually help prepare your brain for the day ahead.
There are lots of things you can do to improve your sleep but these are easy and get the job done:
● Make sure your room isn’t too cool or warm
● Cover up any “always on” lights so your bedroom is as dark as possible
● Don’t drink caffeine too close to bed time
● Don’t rely on alcohol either
● Give your brain some “unwind” time before retiring to bed – just checking your emails or Facebook before bed won’t help you get to sleep
● I like to play myself a meditation track to help me relax
Watch your diet
Despite what the adverts might claim, some foods aren’t good for us.
One of the simplest ways to watch your diet is to only buy foods with a short ingredient list – if I buy processed foods at all, I like to keep the ingredient list to no more than 5 items.
Preferably ones that I’d keep in my kitchen and can pronounce.
Cutting down on sugar is another good idea although don’t simply swap it for artificial sweeteners – they can confuse your body and do more harm than good.
Monitor your chosen diet regime – if it’s not working for you, find one that does.
For instance, if you always feel sleepy in the afternoon after lunch, swap to something that isn’t as laden with carbs.
Diets are very personal things but if you take notice of your body, you’ll be better and your brain will respond as well.
And while we’re talking about diet, avoid the diet-of-the-year that’s always promoted every January.
The weight loss claims are honest but they don’t tell you that the people who’ve lost the weight have been specially selected for the program.
There’s a whole industry out there which revolves around selling us the next-great-diet.
Stick to natural-ish food and your brain will reward you. Thousands of years of evolution will be in your favour.
Learn to relax more often
If you’re constantly wound and coiled up, your brain will get stressed.
And most people don’t perform at their best when they’re stressed – we usually make poorer decisions and our body reacts badly.
Including our brain which can just give up if things get too bad – a nervous breakdown isn’t something you’d volunteer to have.
Much like diet, relaxing is a very personal thing.
Teenagers often relax to music (or what they call music) blaring out at top volume.
But most people prefer gentler ways.
Make yourself a playlist of tracks that help you chill out.
Put it on YouTube so it’s available at the click of a mouse.
And set aside time to listen to it – or use it as background.
Breaking state – going for a walk for instance – is another good way to help you relax.
Maybe combine that with a walking meditation where you consciously notice what’s going on around you.
Or if the weather’s in your favour, stretch out in the park.
Maybe read a book – preferably a real, printed book – to take your mind off things.
Develop the art of the power nap. That’s a short, conscious, break from everything lasting maybe 10 or 20 minutes.
Lots of the top minds over the years have taken power naps so you’ll be in good company.
Pick a way to relax and make sure you actually set aside the time to relax rather than procrastinating on the idea and never getting round to it.
Stretch yourself
Pushing your normal boundaries and comfort zones can feel uncomfortable at first.
But it’s an excellent way to stretch your mind.
Maybe even to the point where your brain aches.
Although brains aren’t muscles, they work in much the same way.
So find ways to exercise your brain.
Some people like puzzles – maybe having several online Scrabble games on the go at the same time.
Other people read books.
Others join groups – there’s probably a Meetup group locally that would help you stretch your brain.
And meeting people in real life is always better than online because it’s easier to focus on what’s happening rather than getting distracted by all the bells and whistles on your phone or PC.
Hypnotise yourself
Hypnosis works with your subconscious mind (the part that’s in control of almost all of your body anyway) and can be an excellent way to boost and optimise your brain performance.
So many things we do are automatic. Which is a benefit because we’d probably occasionally forget to breathe or pump blood round our bodies or all the other things that happen on auto-pilot.
But there are lots of patterns that we run that don’t help us.
Which is where hypnosis comes in handy.
It helps direct our brain – the conscious decision to download a track and play it gives way to the much more powerful subconscious side of what we do.
So the behaviour we want to change, including boosting our brain performance, can be done quicker and easier with hypnosis.
If you’d like lots of freebies that will introduce you to meditation, hypnosis and various other personal development goodies, click this link.
You can then test out various things to see what you get on with best and home in on the ones you like the most.
