Brain Health and Sleep

Brain health affects our ability to live a meaningful life. You can support your brain health through healthy lifestyle choices and by actively engaging your brain. Quality sleep is an essential part of overall wellbeing, as it promotes both physical and mental recovery.

Healthy Lifestyle Choices Also Promote Brain Health

Exercise Your Brain Actively Throughout Life

Restorative Sleep is the Foundation of Wellbeing

Tips for a Good Night’s Sleep

Self-Care and Self-Assessment

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Healthy Lifestyle Choices Also Promote Brain Health

Brain health includes memory, learning, thinking, attention, communication skills, and the ability to perceive and understand the environment. You can enhance your brain health through a healthy lifestyle, such as:

• healthy nutrition
• physical activity
• social interaction
• brain exercises
• managing risk factors for cardiovascular diseases (weight, blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar)

By taking all five of these areas into account, you can improve your cognitive ability and prevent cognitive decline. At the same time, you reduce the risk of other illnesses.

Known risk factors influencing the development of dementia include diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity, lack of exercise, depression, smoking, alcohol use, education level, hearing and vision problems, head injuries, social isolation, and air pollution.

Managing and treating cardiovascular disease risk factors is also crucial for brain health. Risk factors for cardiovascular diseases (including cerebrovascular disorders) include genetic predisposition, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and lifestyle factors such as smoking, overweight, the quality and quantity of dietary fats, excessive consumption of red meat, and alcohol use.

By adopting a healthy lifestyle, you can prevent cardiovascular diseases while improving your brain health and increasing your chances of living a meaningful life for as long as possible.

Exercise Your Brain Actively Throughout Life

By engaging our brains in a variety of ways, we can maintain and even improve their functionality at any age. For example, it’s important to find new activities that keep the brain engaged after retirement.

Brain training, also known as cognitive exercises, can involve problem-solving, learning new skills, or playing games. There are also computer games, online training programs, and mobile apps designed for brain training that offer both mental stimulation and entertainment.

However, cognitive training should not involve too much stress, such as performance pressure or time constraints. You can stimulate your brain and maintain its health by participating in courses, reading books, visiting museums, attending theatre and concerts, or being active in various associations.

Restorative Sleep is the Foundation of Wellbeing

Sleep is essential for both body and mind. During sleep, the body recovers from physical exertion, the brain processes daily events, and energy stores are replenished. Sleep strengthens the immune system and supports mental wellbeing.

The average adult requires 7.9 hours of sleep per night, but individual needs may range between 6 to 9 hours. Children need more sleep; for instance, a 1-year-old requires about 11.7 hours per night. Sleep needs decrease as children grow and reach adult levels by around 16 years of age.

Good sleep quality requires a balance between sleep and wakefulness as well as sufficient time for recovery. Sleep is quality time for both body and mind, helping to maintain health, energy, and a positive mood. Establishing calming bedtime routines, such as dimming the lights and avoiding stimulating activities, supports the ability to fall asleep. The bedroom should be kept calm, cool, and dark for optimal rest.

Maintaining a consistent daily rhythm helps keep both body and mind in balance. Going to bed and waking up at the same time each day supports the body’s natural sleep cycle. Healthy lifestyle choices, such as avoiding fatty foods in the evening, improve sleep quality. Physical activity also promotes overall endurance and helps with sleep onset, particularly if done in the morning or afternoon. In the winter, exposure to bright light in the morning can help maintain a regular sleep-wake cycle.

By ensuring sufficient sleep, calming bedtime routines, and a regular daily rhythm, you support both physical and mental recovery and wellbeing.

Tips for a Good Night’s Sleep

1. Relax in the evening and create a bedtime routine. Go to bed only when you feel tired. If you have worries or thoughts running through your mind, write them down and return to them the next day.
2. Use your bed only for sleeping. Avoid watching TV, scrolling on your phone, or working in bed. Keep such devices out of the bedroom.
3. If you can’t fall asleep within 15 minutes, get up and go to another room. Keep the lights off. Do something calming or even boring and return to bed only when you feel sleepy.
4. Wake up at the same time every morning, regardless of how much sleep you’ve had. Make sure to allow enough time for sleep during the night.
5. Avoid daytime naps. Stay active throughout the day: exercise, go outdoors, eat well, and socialise to prepare your body for rest in the evening.