“Keeping your brain healthy is essential for living a long and full life. The goal of brain fitness is to maintain brain health while avoiding or combating cognitive diseases,” says Dr Sachin Kandhari, Senior Neurosurgeon and Managing Director, IBS Hospital, New Delhi.
“Exercising regularly, having a balanced diet, cutting down smoking and alcohol consumption, reducing the stress and anxiety levels, maintaining well social connections with family and peer groups by being socially active, and taking a good quality sleep of atleast 7-8 hrs, are few healthy habits without which the brain can suffer,” Dr Kandhari adds.
A healthy lifestyle is a cure for many ailments. Intentionally and sometimes unintentionally we indulge ourselves in unhealthy practices.
Another important aspect of a healthy human body is controlling the medical risks. Dr. Varun Reddy Gundluru, Consultant Neurologist, Yashoda Hospitals Hyderabad says, “Maintaining good blood pressure control, controlling blood sugars and cholesterol levels, reducing smoking and alcohol intake, and having regular medical checkups also determine brain health to a great extent.”
Dr Varun Reddy Gundluru also focuses on mental fitness. He suggests doing activities that stimulate the brain. “Puzzle solving, thinking about complex scenarios and utilising the power of the brain keeps us mentally fit. Mental fitness reduces our chance of getting dementia also,” he advises and adds that having a social life is as important as anything else.