No, I’m not talking about some supernatural power of picking things up with your mind and throwing them across the room.
All my gym rats out there may have previously heard the expression, “Do you even lift bro?” Whether you’re a gym rat or not, you probably understand the importance of exercising and eating healthy foods.
Exercising can help you build muscle and replace fat, keep healthy joints, build strength and efficiency in cardiopulmonary function and so much more. Keeping your body in tip top shape so that it performs at a high level means that you eat right, exercise, and even go to the doctor for regular checkups.
When we talk about exercising and taking care of our bodies though, we often forget about the health of one of the most important parts of our bodies — our minds.
When it comes to your mind, do you even lift bro? Are you doing the things you should be doing to care for your mind like you would care for your body? That’s an important question for anyone to consider, but I especially want to point out that as an entrepreneur, your mind is as important — if not more — as your business plan. Your mind is your money!
We know that the average person doesn’t go to a mental health professional for a regular checkup or for any type of preventative screening. In our society, it just doesn’t work like that.
We also know that all too frequently, most of us wait until we aren’t feeling so great, mentally, to start doing the things we should already be doing to take care of our mental health.
If we treated our minds like we treat our muscles— because that’s more akin to what we should be doing — how would that look? What are some of the things that we could do every day to keep our minds healthy too?
Let’s take a look at some of the things you can do to keep your mind in great shape.
Daily mind exercise.
Exercising your mind so that it stays healthy and strong, can play an important part in keeping your mind sharp. You can do things like test your memory, learn something new, or read a book. Challenge your mind with mental exercises like you would challenge your body with physical ones.
Eat for a healthy mind.
In the gym world, we know that getting your dream bod requires about 80% of the right diet and 20% of the right workout. But diet is also important to keeping a healthy mind.
Finding foods that promote brain health is another great way to keep your mind healthy. According to research omega-3 is great for brain health, so fish would be a great brain food. Other foods that are good for the brain are coffee, broccoli, liver, dark chocolate, and nuts. Do a little research to find brain foods that you like and work them into your diet.
Keep your mind out of harms way.
Just like you would protect your body from dangerous situations that could potentially harm it — for instance putting sun block on to go to the beach — you should do the same for your mind. Protect your mind from negativity and too much stress. Don’t allow yourself to get mentally exhausted dealing with things that are detrimental to keeping your mind operating at its best.
Give your mind a break.
After giving your muscles a good pounding in the gym, rest and recovery is paramount to your muscles actually growing. Just like your body needs rest, your brain needs it too. Give yourself a break. Allow yourself time to rest and do absolutely nothing. Find something that brings you peace, like meditation, and completely remove yourself from the world for a few minutes a day. This will get you re-centered and help you feel mentally fresh afterward.
Mental health checkups.
Taking care of your body means going to the doctor for regular wellness exams and health screenings. Unfortunately, it’s not very common for people, in the United States, to go to mental health professionals for a mental health checkup or a mental wellness exam. It would be great though, to implement something like this into your regular routine of caring for your mind. Just like in physical health, having a mental health professional perform regular screenings could help you stay mentally healthy.