10 effective no cost ways to avert brain fatigue

Is this you? Getting in your car and driving to a Starbucks, secretly hiding your stash of Red Bull from others, or keeping a 5-hour energy bottle discretely within easy reach.

If you recognize yourself here then you’re a regular when it comes to brain fatigue.

Signs may vary and possibly be mistaken for “senior moments,” but they really are indicators of your brain cells slowing down, like a tank of gas running on empty.

Some of the warning signs are when you —

Can’t remember what you where going to say
Don’t know why you left where you were to come where you are now
As you write, your thought flow fades into nothingness
You know you are suppose to do something but you can’t remember what it is
You’re usual clarity of thought is temporarily replaced by a mental fog

Turning to your usual quick pick-me-ups seems to put your back on track. You may not realize it but you are relying on only one way to re-energize your brain cells. Unfortunately, the effect is only temporary and eventually your brain cells will want even more stimulation to keep up their high performance.

Here are 10 effective way to keep brain fatigue from setting in.

Get More Sleep – Just like the rest of the cells in you body that need downtime to rest and rejuvenate, so do your brain cells. It’s recommended to get 7 to 8 hours every night. If you can’t do that, try for 6 hours with two 20 minute powers naps during the day.

Drink Water – Do not drink juice, coffee, tea, colas or anything else that contains water. Your body has to work at filtering out the water it needs to deliver brain cell nutrients and clear out the toxins. So, make it easy on your brain cells and give them pure, unadulterated water to start with.

Stop What You’re Doing – Don’t try to push through to get the mental results you are accustomed to. Your brain cells are telling you they’re overworked and want a break. Taking a break by getting up from what you are doing and walking away is the best thing you can do. The break allows your brain cells to get caught up with the processing of information and produce thoughts you can use.

Exercise – New research is showing the great value of exercise for increased brain performance and long term brain health. It’s all about increasing the amount of oxygen circulating to your brain cells. You don’t have to invest in a gym membership, a quick walk in the morning or evening will suffice. And, you really don’t have any excuses with access to YouTube with Zumba videos where no one will see you.

Take a Shower – There’s seems to be something magical about taking showers. Research shows that people get some of their best ideas while in the shower. It might be because the water is stimulating the skull, back of neck and spinal cord along with other parts of the body in releasing stress and tension. Other options include a good soak in a bath or hot tub or even better a great massage.

Change the music – If you’re listening to music while you work, change what you hear. If you’re listing to something slow and melodic switch to something upbeat and louder. Reverse and slow down if you like your music pulsating. Your auditory system feeds right into your brain. Your brain cells entrain to the continuous sounds they hear by slowing down or speeding up to match the musical beats they process. Either way the brain gets bored or tired from trying to keep pace.

Switch Brain Function – If you’re writing switch to reading or vice versa. When you’re writing you are trying to pull out all the ideas in your brain and organized them into a coherent body of information. When you’re reading, you are taking someone else’s coherent body of information and learning the meaning of it and placing it into your brain to be compared to everything else you already know. Taking a break from one activates another part of the brain while the first part rests.

Engage – Many times you’re wrapped up in your own thoughts and hit a dead end. Talking to someone else, either a friend in a non-related conversation or masterminding with a group of associates can perk up your brain cells with new thoughts and ideas.

Snack Healthy – Your stomach isn’t the only one letting you know it needs to be fed. Your brain runs on nutrients. It needs some fat, some protein and some glucose. However, like anything else, if you give it low quality fuel (aka “Junk Food”) you get low quality output. If you want to stave off fatigue, then fill up on fresh, unprocessed and organic when possible nuts, berries, fruits and vegetables.

Laugh and Have Fun – You may be among those who are so committed to projects that you forget to laugh and have fun. Good fun and silly laughs are good for your soul and your brain cells. Your brain cells are designed to make you laugh and it’s often the feature that is least used. The World’s Funniest Home Videos are a great place to start. Better, yet make a real effort to go out and enjoy yourself with something that’s on your fun list. You do have a fun list don’t you?

While you might be missing the taste of a Grande Latter, you now have 10 effective ways to avert brain fagigue that don’t cost a dime.