THE IMPORTANCE OF MENTAL FITNESS

Did you know, like our muscles, our mind also needs training and proper nutrition to work at its optimum level? Mental fitness is equally important to physical fitness!

WHAT IS MENTAL FITNESS?

It refers to how healthy and strong our mind is to be better prepared to handle life’s hurdles. It ultimately refers to the mind’s state of well being. Mental fitness refers to exercising the mind by challenging our mind.

The human mind is capable of so much, yet mental health is overlooked. It literally runs us and is responsible for the modern world we live in — the human mind invented cell phones, cars, airplanes and more.

Taking care of your mental health is each individual’s own responsibility, just like how we should be responsible for our physical well-being. The mind is complicated and there is a strong connection between the mind and body.

TREAT YOUR BRAIN LIKE IT'S A MUSCLE

The brain is NOT a muscle, but it’s LIKE a muscle. It is important to treat it like one because if it doesn’t “work out” regularly like our bodies, then it loses its “tone.”

Dr Rahul Jandial, a neurosurgeon and a neuroscientist, calls it neurofitness (training our brain). He suggests it can help prevent the detrimental effects of the ageing brain.

TRAIN YOUR BRAIN AND BOOST YOUR BRAINPOWER

• exercise every day for at least 30 minutes — enough has been said about how good exercise is for our overall physical AND MENTAL wellbeing. Think of the ENDORPHINS released in the brain after exercise — feel-good neurotransmitters that eliminate pain perception. They are our happy chemicals.

• read and learn a lot — continuously strive to learn and educate yourself to keep your brain working by challenging it to delve deeper into other topics

• challenge your memory — multiply numbers (do math), count backwards, spell words backwards, use your left hand (as suggested by Dr Rahul Jadial), do brain games like crossword puzzles and sudoku are all examples of challenging the brain to work

• relax — stress hormones like cortisol are harmful to the brain especially affecting our memory. Meditate often and go out into nature.

• find new hobbies — new activities like learning a language or an instrument force your brain to jump into something it’s not used to. This challenges the brain to work hard

• converse and socialize — have conversations with people which will work the brain by having you analyze, think and shake it out of automated daily tasks like scrolling Instagram.

SUMMARY

We do not understand now but brain games and other ways of challenging the brain are crucial in preventing or easing the detrimental effects of ageing like cognitive decline.

We cannot prevent dementia or other mechanisms of cognitive decline because the reasons for it are unknown but we can try to have better brain health and help ourselves feel better, stronger and emotionally stable — be ready to take on anything that comes our way by staying fit both physically and mentally.