How to Increase Brain Power: 15 Ways to Boost Your Brain Health

To increase brain power and efficiency, you must implement certain changes to your lifestyle and make it more conducive to the development of cognitive faculties. Usually, that includes changing your habits and diet, as well as avoiding influences detrimental to cognition.

We’ve consulted our experts for more specific tips on increasing brain power, as well as to gain a better understanding of what it entails. In this article, we will share their insights on boosting and maintaining brain health.

So, let’s get started.

15 Proven Ways to Increase Brain Power

The following 15 ways will help you keep your brain healthy and boost its general functionality, efficiency, processing speed, and ability to memorize.

#1. Perform Brain Exercises

how to increase brain power - board games

The brain may not be a muscle, but it functions similarly to one—the more you exercise it, the better it becomes at thinking, processing, and memorizing.

Here are five brain exercises to help you increase brain power and memory:

• Board games. Aside from being an excellent way to bond with friends and family, board games do wonders for your brain. They force you to strategize, think outside the box, and come up with quick solutions, improving your brain’s overall efficiency.
• Card games. Similarly to board games, card games engage your cognition, boost your working memory, and improve mental agility.
• IQ tests. IQ tests aren’t useful only for measuring your intelligence—they can also be used to exercise your cognitive skills. A well-designed practice IQ test, like ours, engages your mental faculties and simultaneously increases your IQ and brain power.
• Memory games. A typical example of a memory game is matching pairs, which requires superb focus and boosts your working memory. However, if you’re looking for something more stimulating, our website has plenty of unique games to offer.
• Jigsaw puzzles. Solving a jigsaw puzzle improves your visual-spatial intelligence and your cognition, resulting in better performance overall.

#2. Maintain a Healthy Diet

an image of a healthy food

Your brain needs food just as much as any other part of your body. In particular, it needs sugar—its main source of energy, which it uses in copious amounts.

However, sugar doesn’t necessarily mean chocolate and sweets. Instead, you should consume it from healthier sources, such as fruit, whole grains, and vegetables.

Aside from foods with natural sugar, you should incorporate the following brain-boosting foods into your diet:

• Fish and eggs rich in omega-3 fats
• Olive oil
• Dark chocolate
• Turmeric
• Green tea

#3. Fix Your Sleep Schedule

an image of a person sleeping to answer how to increase brain power

It’s no secret that insomnia and sleep disorders affect your ability to think clearly and make sound decisions. After all, sleep is crucial for your brain’s health, as it’s during this time that the brain removes dead neurons and flushes out toxins that build up during the day.

As a result, health professionals recommend getting between seven and nine hours of sleep each night. That way, the brain has enough time to cycle through all sleep stages properly and get enough rest.

Of course, it’s not always possible to get the recommended amount of sleep, and that’s okay—your cognition won’t suffer if you miss one or two nights. But try not to consistently sleep less than seven hours, especially if you want your brain to remain in top shape.

#4. Engage in Mentally Stimulating Activities

an image of a chess board

Your brain needs stimulation to develop; otherwise, it’s likely to stagnate and lose some of its agility. That’s why you should take up activities that challenge it, introduce it to new ways of thinking, and help it reach its full potential.

For instance, chess is an excellent example of a mentally stimulating activity that boosts your IQ and forces you to think outside the box. In addition, it develops both your visual-spatial and logical-mathematical intelligence, as well as your decision-making ability.

If chess isn’t up your alley, a simple activity such as reading could be a great alternative. Reading improves your creativity, introduces you to new perspectives, and stimulates your working memory, increasing your overall brain power.

#5. Enrich Your Vocabulary

an image of a vocabulary that helps how to increase brain power

Another benefit of reading is that it enriches your vocabulary, introducing you to new words and phrases as well as new meanings of those you already know. In turn, a rich vocabulary leads to smoother communication, improved problem-solving skills, new ways of thinking, and better cognition.

In other words, the larger your vocabulary, the more developed your thinking. This is a statement that holds true in the majority of cases, as expanding your vocabulary stimulates your mind and improves your brain’s health and power.

#6. Learn a New Skill

an image of a man working on a laptop and reading books

Learning new skills creates new pathways in your brain, improving neuroplasticity and brain connectivity. As a result, your mind becomes more agile and open to new ways of thinking, and your brain becomes more resilient to damage and aging.

One of the best skills to learn when trying to increase your brain power is playing an instrument. In a way, it functions as a workout for the complete brain—it engages your working memory and auditory processing and demands your full and undivided attention.

In addition, playing an instrument stimulates both brain hemispheres and increases connectivity between them. Consequently, your brain becomes quicker and more efficient.

#7. Listen to Classical Music

an image of musical notes and music for how to increase brain power

Whether you’re a fan or not, classical music can help you unlock your brain’s full potential and, in particular, focus on a specific task. Some scientists claim this effect results from a cognitive boost the listener receives, while others speculate it has more to do with improved mood and mental state.

Whatever the case, the conclusion remains the same: classical music is the key to increasing your brain power for studying. It’s especially helpful if you play it while you’re performing a particular cognitive task.

That’s not to say classical is the only type of music beneficial to your brain. Generally speaking, any new and experimental sounds can tickle your curiosity and stimulate your mind.

However, if you’re doing a task that requires focus, it’s best to stick to classical and instrumental genres, as songs with lyrics can be distracting.

#8. Meditate

an image of a person meditation on a bench outside

Outwardly, meditation may seem like a simple activity that can’t possibly make much of a difference for your brain. But in reality, meditation improves concentration, helps you memorize better, and boosts your overall brain power.

And how can all of this be achieved just by breathing deeply for several minutes a day? Well, meditation actually increases the blood supply to the brain almost as much as one jogging session does. As a result, your thinking becomes clearer and more efficient.

#9. Practice Tai Chi

an image of a woman practicing Tai Chi to answer how to increase brain power

Tai chi, often described as “moving meditation,” combines the benefits of meditation and exercise to deliver a significant boost to your cognition.

Like most aerobic exercises, tai chi increases blood flow to your brain and may strengthen areas of the hippocampus, part of the brain responsible for memory and thinking. In addition, its slow and deliberate movements boost focus and improve attention span.

Since tai chi isn't a high-intensity workout, it’s an excellent choice for older people who want to stay active and improve their cognition. In fact, considering that it can slow cognitive decline, it’s particularly useful for those with a high risk of dementia or those experiencing mild levels of cognitive impairment.

#10. Take Your Vitamins

an image of a person taking vitamins

To increase brain power and protect neurons from damage and inflammation, you should ensure your vitamin intake is sufficient. For instance, vitamins E, B6, B12, C, and D are particularly important and commonly found in fruits, vegetables, seeds, nuts, and fish

If your intake isn’t high enough and you can’t increase it with food, an alternative is to take vitamin supplements. However, it’s always advisable to consult a professional before opting for this route.

#11. Get Some Sunlight

an image of the sunlight and how to increase brain power from it

A natural way to maintain a healthy vitamin D level is by exposing yourself to sunlight for at least ten minutes a day. Namely, when the sun hits your skin, the UVB rays transform cholesterol into vitamin D, which maintains cognitive function and has neuroprotective properties.

Aside from producing vitamin D, sunlight boosts your mental health, relieves stress, and improves mood. As a result, your thinking becomes much clearer, and your mind becomes lighter.

#12. Practice Mental Hygiene

an image of a person writing on a book outside

When you’re feeling anxious, depressed, or stressed in general, your brain can’t operate at its full potential. In fact, these conditions, along with disorders such as ADHD and OCD, can cause brain fog, making you confused, forgetful, and unfocused.

That’s why it’s important to practice mental hygiene—to minimize the negative effects of mental disorders or prevent them altogether. Typically, mental hygiene involves facing and expressing your feelings, journaling, focusing on positivity, and expressing gratitude for what you have.

If these activities aren’t helpful enough, therapy is a good option, too—it can teach you to view problems from a new angle and adopt a more positive approach to life.

#13. Socialize

an image of people laughing and looking at how to increase brain power

Another way to boost your mental health and practice mental hygiene is through socializing, which usually relieves stress and anxiety and helps you feel more relaxed and content. Although this is mostly true for extroverts, introverts can benefit from socializing as well, especially when it’s with close friends and family.

In addition, socializing directly benefits cognition, particularly by increasing brain power and boosting memory. After all, as you talk to your friends, your brain needs to quickly process new information, store it in working memory, formulate responses, and extract data from long-term memory.

All this happens within seconds, yet it’s a rather complex process that’s only possible because the brain is as sophisticated as it is.

#14. Avoid Excessive Alcohol Consumption

an image of people drinking beer

When consumed too frequently, alcohol can actually damage your brain and lead to impaired cognition, alcohol-related dementia, or even stroke.

Research has found that alcohol may cause neurodegeneration, or, in other words, damage and death of brain cells, which results in the loss of certain functions. Although that may not be obvious at first, drinking excessively for years can result in forgetfulness, difficulty processing information, and impaired thinking overall.

#15. Change Your Routine

an image of a planner and how to increase brain power from it

When you go through the same motions day in and day out, your brain isn’t stimulated as much as necessary and begins to stagnate. As a result, your cognitive functions start to deteriorate, and your brain switches to autopilot instead of using its full potential.

To avoid this scenario, you should introduce changes to your routine once in a while to keep your brain engaged. That doesn’t have to be anything extreme—even just visiting a new cafe can be stimulating enough.

Test Your Current Brain Power

In a nutshell, brain power refers to your intellectual ability, and as such, it can be measured on an IQ test. If you’re curious about yours, our professionally designed and highly accurate IQ test will show you which areas you excel at and which could use improvement.

And here’s another idea—you can use IQtest.net to track your progress. Test yourself now, then implement some of the lifestyle changes suggested above, or train your cognition using our brain games. After a few months, you can retake the test and see whether your score has improved.

That way, you’ll have a visual representation of your progress as well as an additional motivator to keep going.

Take this free test to get accurate results

Discover your IQ score by taking our online IQ test and embark on your self-development journey today!

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Final Thoughts

The more powerful your brain is, the less likely you are to struggle with problem-solving, decision-making, or age-related cognitive decline. That’s why it’s crucial to pay attention to your brain’s needs and treat it with particular care.

And our tips for increasing brain power can help with that. It may not be easy to implement all the necessary lifestyle changes, but as you’ll soon realize, it’s more than worth it.