Best-selling author Thomas Corley found some curious data in his 5-year study of wealthy people.
He found that:
- 76% of the wealthy engaged in 30 minutes or more of aerobic activity four days a week. 77% of the poor did not.
- 70% of the wealthy ate less than 300 junk food calories a day vs. 3% for poor people.
- Only 13% of the wealthy got drunk in the past 30 days vs. 60% of poor people.
- 89% of the wealthy slept on average 7 hours a night. 53% of the poor people did not get 7 hours of sleep a night.
- 75% of the wealthy avoided fast food restaurants while 69% of the poor ate 3 or more times a week at fast food restaurants.
He then did extensive research to see if these good daily health habits of the wealthy somehow increased cognitive ability, contributing to their success in life.
What he discovered was that many of these daily habits actually increased brain mass and brain function.
In short, these good daily health habits were what made the wealthy smarter, which enabled them to realise financial success in life.
Good brain health habits came first and financial success eventually followed.
Specifically, I found four good daily health habits that improve brain function.
1. Daily Aerobic Activity
20 – 30 minutes of aerobic exercise every day has been proven to stimulate the growth of axon branches on each neuron.
The more we exercise, the more oxygen we take in and the more free radicals are soaked up by this oxygen sponge process.
Since the brain uses 20% of our oxygen reserves, increased oxygen flow into the brain soaks up more free radicals inside the brain, making it cleaner and healthier.
By making aerobic exercise a daily habit, you are keeping your brain alive and healthy.
2. A Good Night’s Sleep
The average adult sleeps 7 1/2 hours a night in five 90-minute sleep cycles.
Five complete sleep cycles a night is optimal. Completing less than four sleep cycles a night negatively affects our health.
Completing at least four sleep cycles the night after learning a new skill or the night after studying for a test locks in the new skill or study material.
If we get less than four complete 90-minute sleep cycles the night after learning a new skill or the night after studying for a test, it is as if we did not practice the skill or did not study at all because it never fully gets transferred to long-term memory.
3. Avoid Junk Food
Junk food and processed food increase the amount of free radicals in our bodies.
Too many free radicals in our blood will damage brain cells.
4. Moderate Consumption of Alcohol
Alcohol is filtered through the liver.
The liver can only filter about two ounces of alcohol an hour.
When alcohol consumption exceeds this amount, it seeps into our blood which then flows to our brain, damaging the dendrites that are part of each brain cell.
When dendrites are damaged, it stops neurons (brain cells) from firing and communicating with other neurons.
This can and does lead to memory loss and may contribute to depression and other mental health problems.
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