Know How To Turbo Your Brain
What ‘brain foods’ can you eat?
Get the iron in
Iron helps the blood to carry more oxygen, and oxygen makes the brain work. If you’re tired, listless, lack appetite or feel depressed, you could be lacking iron.
Rapid growth and the teenage lifestyle are often linked with a lack of iron. Girls are especially susceptible because they also lose iron during menstruation. Iron sources are: red meat, green leaf vegetables, wholegrains, iron fortified cereals, baked potatoes, eggs.
- Thumbs-Up:
Vitamin C (in citrus fruits, berries and green leaf vegetables) helps the body absorb iron. - Thumbs-Down:
Caffeine prevents your body absorbing iron, dehydrates you and stops you sleeping properly.
Brighter after breakfast
Studies link a nutritious breakfast with better maths, memory, verbal reasoning and attention and lower levels of anxiety and hyperactivity.
- Porridge slowly releases energy to the brain to keep you thinking until lunch
- A boiled egg contains phospholipids that enhance memory function
Naturally smart
Ginkgo Biloba and Ginseng have been used for centuries to improve memory and aid concentration. They can also help you deal with stress.
Focus on water
Life is made of water. Your body is 65% water and your brain 75%. As little as 2% dehydration – less than it takes to feel thirsty – can cause concentration to drop by up to 20%. Always have a bottle of water with you.
Get your balance right
How does more oxygen help you?
Work it out
Oxygen is brain fuel. The more you have in your blood, the better your brain works.
Get active
You should do seven hours of exercise a week but a British Heart Foundation study reveals only a third of you does two hours or more.
You can do it!
You don’t have to break sweat but the harder you breathe, the more oxygen you take in and the smarter you get.
Oxygen options
EXERCISE ALONE
- Running
- Swimming
- Cycling
- Flying a kite
- Walking the dog
- Yoga
EXERCISE WITH FRIENDS
- Football
- Netball
- Cycling
- Basketball
- Frisbee
- Tennis
- Beach ball
Exercise boosts your brain but it’s also good for making friends, gaining strength, keeping you supple, team working and losing weight. After exams, you’ll be beach fit too.