When you are young, you brain is constantly challenged.  Your first step, your first word, school, and work all helps our brain to develop.  As we get older though, we encounter less of these challenges and can lose some of our cognitive abilitiles.  There are five key areas you need to focus on: healthy eating, exercise, stimulate your brain, and reduce stress.  Lets look at these in detail.

Healthy eating can help out your brain in many ways.  Getting the right nutrients helps your brain to work better.  Eating properly also helps give the brain the energy to function properly.  Studies have also shown that poor nutrition can impair memory and cognitive abilities.

Exercise specifically regular exercise can help your cognitive abilities.  Consistently working out helps increase blood flow and oxygen to the brain.  It also helps you to focus on goals and targets which also will help you with your other daily challenges.  Little or no exercise also causes the brain to become sluggish.

Stimulating your brain is a good way to help it grow.  The brain flourishes when presented with new challenges and creates new neural pathways to store these new skills.  Try doing something as simple as crossword puzzles each and every day.  They are free if you use printable crossword puzzles that you can find online.  If you want an even greater challenge try using a free online crossword maker to make puzzles of your own.  Use the puzzles that you create to challenge your friends as well.

Reducing stress is also a key to improving your brain health.  Taking a walk, getting a dog, or going on a vacation are simple ways to reduce the stress in your life.  For those of you that think a little stress is good, just remember that too much stress can be toxic - be sure to take some time for yourself.

If you focus on the four above topics, you will have a strong and healthy brain.  Neglecting even one of them can have serious consequences - make an attempt to take care of your brain each day.