Want to train your brain muscles? Try these exercises

These simple activities will help your mind stay fresh and active, says Dr Manoj Kutteri.

An average person thinks about 70,000 thoughts in a day.

And that is a whole set of new chances to uplift your life and stay healthy. But that also counts as reasons enough to take you down and make you questions yourself.

Our brain is very different from other parts of the body.

Even a single thought rolling around in the brain can bring havoc to your physical health.

Mind -- The powerhouse of all your decisions, happiness and strength needs its own stimulation to stay healthy.

Keeping your mind fresh sometimes can be as simple as going out to a garden for a walk but other times it can be a big struggle to even think sane.

Here are five simple exercises meant to stimulate the brain muscles, energise the neurons and make your mind feel fresh.

Do a combined cardio

You have to exercise your body to exercise your mind. And that is a golden rule.

Exercising has multi-fold effects on the brain. It increases the heart rate improving the blood flow to the brain.

It helps in balancing of the hormones, takes out the frustration and helps you un-focus on other aspects of your life.

The biggest treat to keeping your mind fresh is exercising with not just your body but brains.

Instead of going for just a walk or run out in the garden, pick up your bike and go riding around the valley.

It challenges the brain to keep at certain mechanisms like pedaling, maintaining speed, remembering the way, watching the scene unfold in front of you etc while also burning a few calories.

If you are not much of a bicycle person, you can choose to indulge into dance, aerobics, swimming, etc that stimulate not just the senses but neurons too.

Meditation -- open up your mind

Numerous researches have proved that stress can really tear up your brain’s response system and bring physiological ailments.

Stress can weaken your brain power to memorise, respond and sometimes challenge you to maintain regular lifestyle things. But meditation is like a key to all the brain problems.

Meditation has a vibrating effect on the brain; it stimulates the senses and helps make it stronger.

With thorough sessions of mediation, that includes chanting, humming, focusing, listening to calm music etc, one can develop a stronger response system and get headstrong.

It is one of the paths to take to mindfulness, sharp ideas, better sleep and ultimately a feeling of freshness.

Every day, set aside at least 20 minutes to do yoga, pranayam or any similar spiritual practice that intrigues you. Your mind will thank you later.

Cognitive training exercises for healthy brain

Our brain keeps changing its response and performance with time.

It is about what you keep feeding it constantly to help it grow its intellectual capacity.

For the brain, cognitive exercises are the best!

These activities trigger the brain’s plasticity. It can be a game of chess, solving Sudoku, learning a new language, indulging into a new sport, or doing something that is a learning experience.

Break through the regular tasks to indulge into something new and watch how refreshing it feels.

Take up a challenge

Nothing excites a dull mind more than a new challenge.

Setting up a new goal brings a new routine and a new feel. This helps you cut away from the regular bunch of thoughts that you live in to explore and find intriguing facets.

Go out on a self-exploring journey, solo travel, try hand at a new hobby or just follow a 30 days workout routine.

Keeping up with a challenge shall help your brain push its capacity furthermore to help you make it stronger and sharper.

You will either come up with a stronger vigour or find creative ways to avoid the challenge -- both ways your mind wins!

Sleep on it

This is the era of sleep deprived people finding it difficult to keep up with lifestyle.

Sleep is a medicine for the brain.

It rejuvenates, revitalises and energises the brain to perform better.

If you have been struggling long with lost memory power, exhaustion, low communication skills or too much stress -- having a restful night in the comfort of your bed and sleeping it off can be a therapy!

Simply spend 10 hours in your dreamland and you are sure to ignite freshness and beauty of the brain!

Indulge into more physiological and psychological exercises to keep your mind fresh and healthy.

 Lead image -- a still from Sherlock -- published for representational purposes only.

Dr Manoj Kutteri is wellness director at Atmantan Wellness Centre, Pune.