11 Bad Habits That Damage Your Brain By rjoachim | January 11, 2023 Sleep is a major contributor to your brain’s health. Lack of sleep can create issues within the brain, such as a decreased attention span, memory damage, and adrenal fatigue. If your body is always on and never has time to rest and recover your body will slowly burn out. Some researchers equate lack of sleep to being intoxicated and suggest that getting 5 hours or less of sleep equals 4-5 drinks of alcohol. The brain impairment from lack of sleep is severe and will affect your bodily functions almost immediately. Over time, lack of sleep begins to affect every organ in your body. Sleep deprivation can influence your mental and emotional health drastically. It causes your stress response to be in fight or flight mode more often, which rewires your brain to try and overcompensate. Eating a diet high in sodium has led to issues in the brain. High sodium diets can lead to high blood pressure, increasing your risk of having a stroke. Diets high in sugar can also lead to issues in the brain such as memory loss, sugar addiction, dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease. Sugar and salt cause inflammation in the brain, which is the root cause of every disease that starts in the body. Eating a nutrient-rich diet loaded with fresh fruits and vegetables along with consistent physical activity will help combat these potential bad habits that negatively affect the brain. A diet high In sugar – Sugary drinks, candies, and saturated fatty foods like donuts and cakes can cause inflammation in the brain, leading to a greater chance of developing dementia and other diseases. Hearing impairment – Certain studies suggest that your hearing ability is linked closely to your brain health. Not only are our brains constantly overstimulated with devices, tv shows, music, concerts, loud mechanical noises etc. but our ears are tapped out as well. People with hearing loss are 2x as more likely to develop dementia. Loneliness – People later in life usually report feeling a greater sense of loneliness as their children grow up and leave the house. Friends, family, and partners sometimes pass away, leaving them alone, affecting their social development. A lack of social interaction combined with hopelessness and loneliness increases the likelihood of developing dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Negative thinking – Chronically thinking the glass is half empty can do a lot more than just bum you out. Over time this way of thinking changes your brain. Grudge-Alcohol and drug use have long been known to cause brain damage and kidney damage. Alcoholism and recreational drug use can result in brain damage or other diseases that continue to damage the body even long after you have stopped drinking or doing drugs. holding, pessimistic thinking has been linked to cognitive decline and memory functions in people 55 years and older. Sitting while driving, sitting at work, sitting on the couch watching tv, those hours accumulate into a lot of time spent sedentary. In most cases, the lack of being inactive and spent indoors drains your brain of key developmental functions. Another habit that most people think challenges their brain but hinders it is multitasking. Multitasking is bad for our brains and negatively affects our productivity. Focusing on one task at one time is better for your brain as multitasking increases cortisol production, which is the stress hormone responsible for fight or flight scenarios. https://spermidinelife.us/blogs/news/bad-habits-for-brain-health Posted in Health & Wellness