Tips To Boost Your Cognition

If you are looking to boost your cognition, there are plenty of things that you can do to do so successfully. In this article, we will be going over some of the top tips for boosting your cognition even as you age.

Tips To Boost Your Cognition:

1. Exercise.

One of the best ways to boost your cognition is by exercising. The reason why this works has to do with what happens when you exercise. When you spend time exercising, it increases your blood flow throughout your body. Because of this, it is going to improve the blood flow to your brain. By boosting blood flow to the brain, you are going to have a much better ability to achieve optimal brain function which can lead to having a better memory and more.

2. Read Educational Books.

Another good thing that you can do when you are looking to boost your cognition would be to read a lot. However, you should be actively reading. You want to read something that forces you to think. That way, you are forced to use your mind which can help to strengthen your cognition.

3. Work On Various Puzzles.

Puzzles can be a great way to boost cognition at any age. Puzzles require you to really think on your feet and it can keep you mentally sharp as a direct result.

4. Play Strategy Games.

Another excellent activity that you can partake in which will help to improve your cognitive abilities would be to play strategy games. By playing strategy games, it is going to cause you to have to think in advance and really come up with ways to overcome obstacles. This can keep your mind sharp as you age.

5. Always Be Learning.

When you are looking to improve your cognitive function, you want to embrace being a student. You should be embracing learning. By doing this, you are going to force your brain to continue working and it is going to allow you to constantly be strengthening your cognitive muscles.

6. Learn A New Language.

More specifically, you can take on the task of learning a new language which can really force you to think and use your brain in more ways than you normally would. Learning a new language really forces you to retrain your brain and it can help you think in new ways and it can even help you optimize your memory.

In the end, there are plenty of things that you can do to avoid experiencing a significant cognitive decline as you age. By forcing your brain to work in overdrive and by engaging in different things that can make you think, you should be able to avoid a significant cognitive decline even as you age. You want to do things that constantly force you to think outside of the box and to solve problems. Keeping your mind sharp as you age might be difficult but by implementing the tips above, you should be able to do so successfully.

What is Cognition? Meaning and Definition

The term “cognition” has its roots in the Latin term “cognoscere” meaning “to know” and therefore refers to the way knowledge is processed, stored and accessed. Cognition can be considered the sum of all your information collected through experience and learning.

Cognition can be understood as the process through which information is received through the perception, or the sensory experience, experienced information is then processed into knowledge. But, equally important are the personal characteristics that all the mind to make sense of all the information collected and provides us with data needed to make intelligent decisions and understand our world.

Cognitive Processes

One way to get a better understanding of the broad topic of cognition is to view it in terms of some of the individual processes. These are the many different ways that information can be introduced to the stored memory structures and then applied to making decisions. One way is by taking a brain supplement but if you want to learn more read below.

Here are some of the cognitive process:

ATTENTION

Attention is the capacity we have to attune our mental focus and concentration on a specific sensory perception or activity. The higher the quality of the attention the greater the processing and the more thoroughly we will be able to apply the information processed. Attention is a fundamental cognitive function and crucial to accomplishing a wide variety of tasks. As a matter of fact, attention is the cornerstone cognitive function from which all the others cognitive functions are regulated. When attention is not paid to something, the incoming information is very small or non existent.

MEMORY

Memory as a cognitive process describes all the ways information is translated by the brain into something it can understand, filed away and then recovered as needed when relevant to the current situation. There are many different types of memory and are all coded, stored and retrieved in their own ways. Some of these include long-term memory and short-term memory. Procedural memory reminds us to never put the cart before the horse. Audio memory reminds us of what we hear and naming memory, then there are many more.

PERCEPTION

Information comes into the brain through the senses which tell us everything we know about the world around us. Everyone has heard of the 5 primary senses, but there are many others too that allow us to understand who we are and how we operate best in the world. Nociception is the experience of pain, proprioception is the perception of our living body and the perception of our internal organs and systems is called interoception.

LANGUAGE

Language is another cognitive process that allows us to understand the strange sounds and symbols that make up a language and create them back to be understood by those around us. Communications is quite a feat and essential to the transmission of very complex concepts like honesty, sarcasm or the Theory of Relativity.

THOUGHT

This cognitive process is very closely tied into the cognitive process of language and includes certain executive functions like reason, synthesis and problem-solving.

LEARNING

This is the cognitive process that allows us to acquire information and allow this information to update and improve our prior knowledge. Learning is not only critical for education but for creating good habits and rectifying habits that are no longer useful. One definition of learning could be the process of information entering the mind and effecting a change.

Ways To Boost Your Mental Performance

Being able to adapt your mentality and think quickly can make a lot of difference in daily life. The problem is that getting caught in the habits of daily life will diminish mental performance. Fortunately, there are some ways that you can boost your mental performance and sharpen your mind.

Break Out Of Your Routine

Having a set routine can cause a restriction of your mind. People who are open to new experiences and take on new challenges are more likely to have higher cognitive functioning according to a study in the Association for Psychological Science. Many people assume that going out and doing something will be enough, but it has been found that doing something unfamiliar and mentally challenging is better.

To use this method of boosting your mental performance, you should try to do something out of your comfort zone around once a week. This will break your habits, expose you to something new and you might find a new hobby in the process. Doing something with other people can also be helpful as it boosts collaborative thinking.

Get Moving

There are a lot of physical benefits to exercising, but you should not forget about the mental ones. When you have a healthy body, you will have a healthy mind. Research at the University of Minnesota found a direct correlation between cardio-respiratory fitness and improved cognitive abilities. In the study, verbal memory and psychomotor speed were improved.

To boost your mental performance, you need to get moving. If you are not used to exercising, you should start slow to ensure that you stick to this. A bonus for people who do not regularly exercise is that this can be your outside your comfort zone activity for one week.

Get Enough Sleep

The quality and quantity of sleep will play a large role in your mental performance. Getting too little sleep will slow you down, but getting too much sleep is not helpful either. Most adults will need around 7 hours of sleep each night, but everyone is different. If you find yourself waking earlier, you should not force yourself back to sleep to ensure this set number.

The overall quality of your sleep is also important. Getting 7 hours of poor sleep will not help your mental performance and will hinder it as much as getting too little sleep. There are several steps that you can take to improve the quality of your sleep such as having a bedtime routine which slows your body and prepares you for sleep. You also need to ensure that your bedroom is set up for the best possible sleep.

Mental performance can be affected by a range of factors to the amount of sleep you get to the daily routine you stick to. If you want to boost your mental performance, you should try getting out of your comfort zone at least once a week. You also need to stay healthy by getting enough exercise and eating a balanced diet.