Mind, body and soul

Taking care of your mind is just as important as taking care of your body – the secret to feeling healthy on the outside is feeling healthy on the inside!

The brain is the central unit of the nervous system of all animals. Controlling both involuntary actions (such as heart rate, respiration and digestion) and consciously controlled activities (such as thought, reason and abstraction). The brain, therefore, closely rivals the heart as the most critical organ in the human body. So how do you go about taking care of something so significant?

  1. Drink plenty of water! The body is made up of 60-70% water. Blood is mostly water and our muscles, lungs and brain all contain a significant amount of H?O. Drinking water is said to keep the mind alert and increase concentration levels.
  2. Avoid too much alcohol! Alcohol harms the dendrites (the branched ends of nerve cells that bring messages into the brain cells) causing damage to the way the cells in the brain communicate. This often leads to slower reactions and an upset of balance (that’s being a bit drunk to me and you).
  3. Get plenty of sleep! It’s advised that you get 7.5 – 8 hours of sleep per night because without sleep, the body loses co-ordination and thinking logically proves to be more difficult. While the body sleeps the brain remains active (as proven by the process of dreaming) but, sleep allows the brain to process and arrange thoughts in the mind.
  4. Exercise your brain! With today’s technology being so advanced it’s easy to practise daily exercises in order to keep the brain active:
    • Try investing in a ‘Nintendo DS’. It may appear that a games console is better suited to the younger generation but with games such as ‘Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training’ available, a console of this nature can be a great help towards caring for your brain.
    • Train your brain online: www.brain-training-game.comKeeping the mind active will help to keep your mental health happy, avoiding mental illnesses such as; depression, bipolar disorder and increased levels of anxiety.

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