We’ve all heard of the numerous benefits of taking time for ourselves, investing in ourselves, and ensuring we get enough sleep at night to lead happier and healthier lives, but what are we doing to protect our brain’s health?
After all, we kind of need our brains to keep working at full capacity, or at least, some level of capacity, for the rest of our lives, don’t we?
So while we are all so busy trying to take care of our physical health, our mental health continues to take a backseat.
But don’t worry, it turns out that there is actually a lot we can do to improve our cognitive functions and ensure our brains stay in good working order for years to come.
While there is no scientific way to prevent or treat Alzheimer’s Disease or Dementia, there are lots of things humans can do to stay “sharp” into their old age, and many studies are now showing that meditation could be the best of them.
Why? Evidence suggests that the calm and focused side of practising meditation improves what researchers call your “neural reserve”. This reserve refers to your brain’s mental efficiency, capacity and flexibility.
In other words, meditation encourages neuroplasticity of the brain.
How Meditation Improves Neuroplasticity
You know the old saying, “if you don’t use it, you lose it”? Well, this saying applies to many areas of our lives, including the function of our brain.
Studies have shown that seniors who remain active in their communities, and who regularly attend social functions, read books, play cards, and do crossword puzzles have better cognitive function than those seniors who hunker down in their rocking chairs waiting for death to knock on the door.
This makes perfect sense, of course, because the more you use your brain, the stronger it becomes.
As we all go through the numerous stages of life, retirement and aging seems to be the slowest time for our brains, and you’ve probably seen many people wither away to nothing when they stopped working.
It’s not just because they stopped physically moving though; it’s also because they stopped challenging their brains with new information and problems.
Daily meditation can ensure that the brain stays awake. It can help to reignite interest and curiosity that may have been lost on people, and if used during youth, can create a lifetime of routine where your brain stays alert and ready to absorb what comes its way.
Not only does meditation make you feel good, but it can help you to create positive thoughts for yourself, work through problems you are having, give you a sense of acceptance over your life, and most of all, it keeps your brain guessing, which helps it to stay active.
Meditation works by keeping the elasticity or flexibility of the brain alive, and when used correctly, can trigger neuroplasticity that helps people stay alert and aware. It even makes some people feel smarter and better able to cope with life’s problems.
How Meditation Helps Keep an Open-mind
As we get older, we tend to settle into our ways, beliefs, routines, feelings, and certainly, our opinions become hard and fast.
If you’ve ever heard an older person complain about the millennials, then you know what we’re talking about.
But according to research, an older person who engages in meditation is more likely to be open to new ways of doing things; they are more likely to be open to hearing the opinions or others, and they are even more likely to adopt new opinions themselves because they are curious about the world around them.
They know that the world keeps on spinning and that things change and evolve over time. Change is not a bad thing, as many of us like to think, but change can be scary for older people who are set in their ways. Meditation is a way for people to work through those feelings and clear their minds to be open to new thoughts about life and the world around them.
There’s no shortage of pills and tricks out there that claim to help make people smarter and faster thinkers, but the real power is already within our own brains; we just need to learn how to unlock it, and meditation can help us do that.
Taking 15 minutes a day to clear our minds and let new thoughts come into our brains can help keep us ticking a lot longer and with more vigor than ever before.
