Integral to sound physical, emotional, cognitive and spiritual wellbeing is the health and state of our brains.

The brain is vital for quality of life and the most complex organ in our body. It regulates and sustains functions like breathing and swallowing, performing everyday tasks, memory, reasoning, personality and emotion. It transmits sensory information, influences our logic, our creativity, our movement, decision making, planning and speech.

Here are five things that can assist in optimal brain function.

1. Physical Activity

Your brain benefits from the type of physical activity that gets your heart rate up in a multitude of ways. Exercise creates new brain cells and can help fight age-related mental decline and degenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s, dementia and other memory disorders, common in old age.