8 Efficient Ways to Increase Your Brain Power

by Unbounded Brain

“You have powers you never dreamed of. You can do things you never thought you could do. There are no limitations in what you can do except the limitations of your own mind.” ~ Darwin P. Kingsley

Back in time, the common belief was that intelligence was a genetic trait, along with eye color, body shape, or height. As a genetic attribute, the human brain’s capacity was believed to remain constant throughout a person’s lifetime.

Recent studies revealed the plastic nature of the brain. This means that our brain has the capacity to reshape itself by forming new neural connections. Therefore, our general intelligence — IQ, memory, focus, etc. — is not a permanent set, but a work in progress. In other words, we can upgrade our minds throughout our lives and the good news is there is no limit to it.
I will share some practices that helped me find a natural language to communicate to my brain and convince it to work in my favor.

Effective BREATHING Technique to Increase Brain Power

Recent studies showed a direct connection between nasal breathing and mental function. It was revealed that nasal inhalation directly impacts those brain areas involved in memory and emotions, improving their functioning.

Alternate Nostril Breathing, part of yoga Pranayama (breathing) exercises, is a powerful breathing technique that energizes, balances, and enhances brain function. This practice is believed to harmonize the two brain hemispheres by providing equal amounts of oxygen and thus leading to physical, mental, and emotional stability.

Breathing through the right nostril reinforces the left side of the brain while breathing through the left nostril enhances the function of the right side of the brain.
After 5 minutes of breathing like this, you will feel recharged and energized for the whole day.

Follow these simple steps to perform Alternate Nostril Breathing:

1. Sit down in a comfortable position. Relax your muscles and allow your mind and body to settle.

2. Close the right nostril with the right thumb, inhale slowly through the left nostril, then close it with the ring finger. Pause for a few moments. Exhale slowly through the right nostril.

3. Now inhale through the right nostril, then close it with the thumb. Pause for a few seconds. Exhale through the left nostril. Then, inhale through the left nostril. After a brief pause, move to the right nostril.

4. Repeat this pattern seven to twelve times.

After about 2 weeks of practice, the results will amaze you.

Mindfulness Meditation

Mindfulness is a type of meditation in which you focus on being intensely aware of what you’re sensing and feeling at the moment, without interpretation or judgment.

Scientifically proven mindfulness benefits

Researchers found that focusing on our present experiences and accepting them without judgment helps us be happy and peaceful. Studies show that mindfulness reduces stress, anxiety, and job burnout, and increases concentration, mental clarity, emotional intelligence, and general health.
Here are 5 science-backed mindfulness benefits.

How to practice mindfulness meditation

Find a comfortable position. You can lie down on your back or sit with your back straight.
Breathe through your nose, focussing on your breath moving in and out of your body. If physical sensations or thoughts interrupt your meditation, note the experience and then return your attention to your breath.
Focus your attention slowly and consciously on each part of your body, from head to toe. Be aware of any emotions, sensations, or thoughts associated with each part of your body.

Keep a mindfulness journal or workbook

A mindfulness workbook can guide you through simple practices that enable you to experience mindfulness as a daily practice. It will help you track your moods, guide your meditation practice and habits, organize your daily tasks, and choose your feelings and areas of focus consciously. A mindful journal enables you to acknowledge a certain feeling, and then let it go.

FOODS That Boost Your Brain Power

The food we consume daily is used by the brain to nourish its cellular activities. What we eat is directly affecting the brain’s structure and function and implicitly, our overall state.
I will share some foods which always boost my energy when I need a quick ‘mental pick-me-up’.
Known as ‘brain foods’, they are rich in nutrients that increase mental energy levels and improve brain function.

Blueberries

Blueberries are a powerful source of vitamin C and flavonoids, with anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. Studies have shown that blueberries increase the blood flow to the brain, improving cognitive function and working memory.

Salmon

If you love seafood, I have great news for you! Seafood contains precious nutrients for your gray matter. More than any of them, salmon is the most powerful brain-friendly food. It contains Omega-3 fats and vitamin D, two nutrients that help keep your brain healthy and strong, improve memory, focus, learning, and reasoning skills.

Dark Chocolate

As we know, ‘Nine of ten people love chocolate, and the tenth is always lying…’ Chocolate lovers have reasons to be happy! This tasty food is on top 10 brain foods, for good. But not all chocolate on the market is recommended. If it’s processed, it loses its health benefits.
According to new research, dark chocolate (with a minimum of 70% cocoa) increases blood flow to both the brain and heart and contains nutrients that improve memory, focus, and brain processing speed.

Avocados

The fruit of avocados contains good mono-saturated fats, vitamin K, and folate. It protects the brain against stroke, and it also enhances memory and concentration.

Celery

Celery is a nutrient-dense vegetable, with very few calories. It’s rich in compounds that nourish neurons, and it’s considered a strong brain-boosting food.

Honey

Honey is rich in potassium, and it’s also known to be a high tryptophan food. It is a real fuel source for the brain, boosting its functionality. Honey helps relieve stress and relax the nervous system, enhancing memory, focus, and cognitive skills.

Bananas

Rich in potassium and magnesium, banana helps the brain sustain important cognitive functions like memory and concentration. It also contains tryptophan, which supports the brain to produce the ‘happy chemicals’ responsible for your well-being state.

Nuts

Nuts (which are shaped like the human brain) contain magnesium, zinc, selenium, vitamin B-complex, vitamin E, and Omega-3 fatty acid. It nourishes and protects the brain, boosting its function. At the same time, vitamin E helps prevent cognitive decline.

Upgrade Your Brain with Brain-Boosting EXERCISES

As we grow older, our mind tends to get lazy and stuck in old patterns. But don’t panic, this is not the end. Because of its “plastic” quality, our brain is able to change and develop throughout life, if well exercised. Just as with training at a fitness center, the brain may have its own set of exercises to challenge, stretch, and strengthen it.
Done regularly, these brain exercises help us tap into the infinite potential of our mind and we’ll do things we never thoughts possible.

So, “don’t let for tomorrow what you can do today”… Now is a perfect time to start. Just give it a try.

Here you find a great selection of brain-building games.
Happy gaming!

ESSENTIAL OILS for Brain Stimulation and Mental Clarity

Smell is the only sense which is directly connected to the brain. Inhaled through the nose, the scents go straight to those areas in the brain that regulate breathing, blood pressure, stress levels, memory, and hormones. This process is the basis of essential oil’s important physical and psychological effects.

Scientists discovered that a compound (sesquiterpenes) found in some essential oils such as Sandalwood, Frankincense, Cedarwood, Vetiver, and Patchouli can enhance the amount of oxygen in the brain. High brain oxygenation stimulates the activity in the hypothalamus and limbic system, increasing cognitive skills and mental performance.

Here are a few essential oils that can help you focus and stay on track.

Cedarwood essential oil is both relaxing and energizing for the brain. It contains the highest amount of sesquiterpenes, a hydrocarbon group that stimulates the limbic system, increasing mental focus and helping us overcome stress.

Vetiver essential oil is proven to increase brain performance and mental focus. It balances the endocrine system and promotes both cognitive clarity and relaxation.

Rosemary essential oil is known as being cognitive support, by stimulating memory and focus. It is recommended for long study sessions, driving long distances, and basically, for any activity that requires intensive brain activity.

Patchouli essential oil can relax and balance the mind, by increasing the dopamine and norepinephrine levels in the brain — two main neurotransmitters responsible for the overall state of well-being.

Sandalwood essential oil increases mental health, the well-being state, and it helps you achieve brain clarity and focus. Recent studies revealed the positive effect of sandalwood oil on concentration and mental awareness.

Frankincense essential oils help improve focus, concentration, and memory. It is also a remedy against irritability, hyperactivity, and restlessness.

Peppermint essential oil helps relieve stress, anxiety, and fatigue. At the same time, it improves concentration and increases mental energy.

A Powerful Essential Oils Recipe for Brain Energy

6 drops of Cedarwood essential oil
7 drops of Peppermint essential oil
6 drops of Frankincense essential oil
10 drops of Rosemary essential oil
6 drops of Vetiver essential oil

For a topical application, you can add 7 teaspoons of carrier oil, such as argan, coconut, jojoba, or sweet almond.

How to use essential oils

1. In a diffuser
Put a few drops of essential oil in a diffuser. You can use it during meditation, or in the morning, to start your day fresh and positive.

2. In the bathtub
Fill the bathtub with warm water, then put 5–6 drops of essential oil in the water. The essential oils are not soluble in water; hence you must mix them with a carrier oil.

3. In the shower
Put a few drops of essential oil on the bath sponge. While showering, gently rub your body with the sponge. The heat of the shower will release the vapors of the oil.

4. Inhale it directly
You can inhale the oil directly from the bottle. Or, you can use a tissue. Put a few drops of essential oil on a tissue (it can be a scarf, a handkerchief, or just a cotton pad) and take it with you wherever you go.

FRESH AIR for a Stronger Brain

Because of the way our life is organized today, we spend most of our time in front of a computer than outdoors. Scientists revealed that the overuse of computers can cause the breakdown of cognitive abilities, and brain damage’s gray and white matter (Yuan 2011, Hong 2013 and Weng 2013).

Nowadays, we tend to underestimate the huge benefits of spending time outdoors. Yet overall health of our body and brain highly depends upon the amount of oxygen breathed. Fresh air provides us with a big supply of oxygen, which is one of the most important elements required to sustain life. Oxygen plays a crucial role in the energy metabolism of all living organisms and is highly needed by our brain and by every cell of our body in order to function properly.

Our brain alone needs twenty percent of the body’s oxygen to work. Therefore, the more oxygen we breathe in, the greater our brain’s clarity and power will be. Also, the level of serotonin our body produces is seriously affected by the amount of oxygen we inhale. Most of the brain cells are directly or indirectly influenced by serotonin. This ‘happiness hormone’ can affect our mood, appetite, social behavior, sleep, memory, and cognitive functions.

It is known that many creative people who made a difference in the fields of science, arts, literature, religion, or politics used long walks for exercise, deep thinking, and problem-solving.

No matter how busy your life is, it’s worth taking some time to walk outside in nature. If you live in the city, the parks are always a good option. A walk outside will always refresh your brain, by providing it with a steady amount of oxygen. This will help improve your mental health and mood, making you more creative and open-minded. Practiced regularly, outdoor walks can strengthen your brain, and improve your memory and cognitive functions.

Powerful AFFIRMATIONS to Rewire Your Brain

“Change your thoughts and you change your world.” — Norman Vincent Peale

Recent studies in neuroscience showed that we are able to improve our state of mind and health by changing our thinking patterns. The question is: what are we nourishing our minds with on a sustained basis?

Our brain processes all the information it receives in an undifferentiated manner. It does not distinguish between ‘good’ and ‘bad’, taking in the message in a linear way, exactly as it comes. If we tell ourselves “My problems will never end…”, our mind will focus on problems and this thought pattern will get stuck in our inner world, changing our whole life over time. For this reason, we must carefully watch over our words. Here affirmations come into play.

An ‘affirmation’ is a sentence, a word, or a phrase that we repeat regularly, making an assertion that something is true and we believe it. Practiced in a proper way, affirmations can help us reset our beliefs and mindset. Their strength lies in their capacity to transform our outside world by first changing our inside one.

Scientists have found that, by repeating a sentence or a word many times, new neural pathways are activated in the brain. A neural pathway is a group of nerve cells connected together that carry information through the nervous system. In other words, by changing our thought patterns we can rewire our brain and make it work for us.

Every positive affirmation should be repeated between 30 and 50 times a day.
An affirmation must always be in the present tense and it cannot contain negations such as “don’t” or “can’t”. Also, in order to work properly, they shouldn’t be too long.

I will share with you some affirmations that helped me turn on my brain and convince it to better serve my purposes.

Identify yourself with the thing you want

The best way to get something is to see yourself as part of that thing. In other words, try not to look at it as being somewhere outside, but rather as a piece inside yourself that should only be activated.
The affirmations containing the phrase “I am” are proved to be very powerful.
The following phrases can help you put a positive program into your brain. Choose the one that suits you best.

I am always infinite knowledge.
I am always connected to the Universal Mind.
I am always a genius.
I am one with the Infinite Mind.
My brain is connected to an infinite source of knowledge.

One-word affirmations

One-word affirmations can be very strong. Repeated many times in a day, like a mantra, they can completely change your thought patterns and, consequently, your life.
Sometimes, when you make a declaration, e.g. ‘I am infinite knowledge’, your rational brain might attempt to interfere and come up with negative suggestions such as ‘No, you’re not, you only want to be’.
When you say just one word, e.g. ‘peace’, you declare nothing. Therefore, there is no conflict between your mind and emotions. That unique word will become your main line, and you’ll end up mentally identifying yourself with it.
Choose one word that embodies your desire, such as ‘genius’, ‘knowledge’, ‘brainpower’, ‘intelligence’, etc., and turn it into your daily affirmation.

How to use the positive affirmations

There’s no such thing as a ‘set of rules when it comes to affirmations. But something is sure: the more you repeat them, the stronger their effect will be.

There are several ways to practice affirmations. Pick up the one which suits you best.

Repeat them out loud

Your affirmation should be your first thought when you wake up, and the last one before you sleep. Take a few minutes in the morning to speak the affirmation out loud and slowly. It should be repeated at least 25 times. The same in the evening.
While you say the words, picture your brain filled with white light. See the shining light flowing into your brain continuously.
Repeat it a few times during the day, whenever you can.
After a month or two, you’ll start feeling the changes. And this will improve over time.

Write them down

For those people who strongly believe in the Latin saying ‘Spoken words fly away, written words remain’, pen and paper are effective tools to implement their affirmations.
Write your affirmation several times every day on a piece of paper or in a notebook. Make it a part of your daily routine. The idea is to do it for as long as possible.

Originally published in Medium.com