A healthy and well-nourished mind and body are essential to success. Amidst the chaos of school, work, and personal responsibilities, our schedules can become very busy at times. Even so, taking the time to establish a holistic approach to your health—both physical and mental—can make all the difference in your nutrition, cognitive function, and learning! Remember, nothing is more important than your health and well-being. Hence, for many of us, it’s definitely worth evaluating our diet and daily routine, and making some changes to further fuel our brilliance! If you’re interested in incorporating methods to improve your cognitive function and learning, this article is for you!

Part I: Body

1. Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Also known as omega-3s or “healthy fats,” omega-3 fatty acids are polyunsaturated fats that perform important functions in your body and are essential nutrients for health and survival. Not only do they provide our body with the energy we need in calories, but they are also a vital part of our cell membranes, help all our cells function properly, and support the health of our many body systems. 

Furthermore, omega-3s support our heart health, namely by lowering your triglycerides. Triglycerides, a type of lipid, are the predominant form of fat in the body and circulate in the blood. They originate from dietary sources, particularly butter, oils, and fats consumed. When we have too many triglycerides in our blood (a condition called hypertriglyceridemia), our risk of atherosclerosis—the thickening or hardening of our arteries—is increased. This may also increase our risk of heart disease and stroke. Omega-3s are a significant player in keeping our triglyceride levels under control, and lowering our blood pressure (Information from Cleveland Clinic). Omega-3 fatty acids are recognised as "healthy fats" due to their essential role in promoting heart health, reducing inflammation, supporting brain function, and contributing to overall well-being.

Research shows that ingesting omega-3 fatty acids can increase your learning, memory, well-being, as well as your brain’s blood flow. By increasing our consumption of omega-3s in our diet, we can improve our brain cognition and cardiovascular and endocrine systems (and more!).

The main three types of omega-3 fatty acids include EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid), DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), and ALA (alpha-linolenic acid), the former two being “marine omega-3” found in fish, and the latter found in plants. The best food sources of omega-3s we can incorporate into our daily diet include certain types of fish (e.g. mackerel, salmon, herring, anchovy, tuna), ground flaxseed, walnuts, and edamame.

That being said, please keep in mind that a diet with omega-3s differs from person to person, so be sure to do your research and if necessary, consult a doctor, before making any major dietary changes!

2. Brain-Boosting Superfoods

On top of omega-3 fatty acids, there are a variety of superfoods known for their cognitive benefits that we can include in our diet! A superfood is a nutrient-rich food considered to be especially beneficial for health and well-being due to its high content of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, or other beneficial compounds.

Research from Harvard shows that foods such as green, leafy vegetables (e.g. kale, spinach, collards, broccoli), fatty fish (examples mentioned in 1. Omega-3 Fatty Acids), berries (e.g. strawberries, blueberries), tea and coffee, and nuts (e.g. walnuts, also mentioned above) are associated with a slowed cognitive decline, lower blood levels of beta-amyloid, improved memory, higher concentration and mental function, and more. Beta-amyloid is a protein fragment that accumulates in the brain, forming plaques linked to Alzheimer's disease. Consuming omega-3 fatty acids, found in foods like fish, may reduce beta-amyloid buildup, potentially lowering Alzheimer's risk.

There are many fun ways to increase our absorption of these foods, such as through delicious meals, snacks, and smoothies! For example, it takes no more than 2 minutes to make a “brain power smoothie” with blueberries, avocado, banana, chia seeds, and pomegranate juice, all ingredients that can improve our brain health. Feel free to also refer to this article for 30 different healthy superfood recipes that can help our concentration, energy, and sleep levels!

3. Sleep and Hydration

Although these seem like common habits, research from Narrative Research shows that only 16% of Canadians felt they get a full 7 nights of restful sleep per week, with one-third of Canadians only getting 3 nights or less. Additionally, according to Newswire.ca, over 56% of the Canadians that were surveyed admitted to drinking less than the suggested amount of water.

A lack of sleep and dehydration have far more severe consequences than we may realise. A lack of sleep can cause type 2 diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and depression, while dehydration can cause fatigue, dizziness, confusion, heart rate, body temperature, and problems with blood pressure. Extreme dehydration can even cause kidney and brain damage, heat stroke, and death.

All-nighters are often glorified and seem like a good last-minute solution to complete our outstanding tasks, but speaking from personal experience, managing your time efficiently and ensuring that you get sufficient sleep every night results in better quality of work and less pressure! The recommended number of hours of sleep for teenagers ranges from 8 to 10, while that for adults ranges from 7 to 9.

As for hydration, the adequate daily water intake for men is 15.5 cups while that for women is 11.5 cups. Ensuring that you fulfil these numbers every day can have a larger benefit and impact on your brain cognition, learning, and general health than you realise!

4. Regular Physical Exercise

Not only does physical exercise improve our mental health by reducing anxiety, depression, and negative mood, but research by the National Library of Medicine also states that it improves our self-esteem and cognitive function, and alleviates symptoms of social withdrawal. 

Exercises such as aerobic exercises, including jogging, swimming, cycling, dancing, walking, and even gardening can increase blood circulation in the brain and improve our moods, which reduces anxiety and depression levels. You can also incorporate types of anaerobic exercise such as yoga and Pilates into your routine for variety and added benefits to your health!

Part II: Mind

1. Mindful Meditation and Journaling Practices

Although we often push things like meditating and journaling off our to-do list because we have “more important things to do,” it’s actually argued that “the busier you are, the more you need mindfulness.” 

Taking time off of your busy schedule for yourself, and only yourself, helps maintain mental health and prevents burnout amidst the chaos of career and/or academic pursuits. Meditation and journaling are very common and well-known techniques for achieving this—and for good reason! Even if you are already under stress, tools like meditation and journaling are effective strategies to manage and alleviate your pressure and help improve your emotional well-being!

Popular meditation techniques for beginners to try include:

• breathing meditations

• mindfulness meditations

• focus meditations

• movement/walking meditations

• guided meditations, and

• mantra meditations!

Although it seems daunting, a good place to start would be to simply take a seat, set a timer (such as 5-10 minutes, especially for beginners), rest in a comfortable position, and focus on slowly breathing in and out. Your attention will soon leave your breathing and wander to different areas of your life. Notice where your thoughts have gone, and try to return them to breathing. Once you feel calm enough and ready to stop, take a moment and pay attention to your environment, how your body feels, and your thoughts and emotions (feel free to refer to this Mindful article for more tips, tricks, and information!).

Moreover, not only can journaling boost our long-term memory, illuminate patterns, and give our brains time for reflection, but it can also serve as a powerful tool for self-reflection and enhance our emotional intelligence as well as our self-talk.

Daily journaling, visual journaling, free writing journaling (also known as stream of consciousness), gratitude journaling, and bullet journaling are all refreshing ways to start your journey towards mindfulness!

Personally, I find gratitude journaling and free writing to be the easiest ways to start! With the former, you can simply choose to list a few things, places, and/or people that you are grateful for. You can even format some of your entries as thank-you notes (and share them with the people you are grateful for, if you’d like)! Or, with the latter, you can just let your brain take the front seat and actively note down all the thoughts that flow through your mind. This is also a good way to monitor your own conscious thoughts and self-talk! (All journaling information used is found in this BetterUp article. Feel free to visit for even more information for beginners.)

2. Mind-Boosting Hobbies

There are many mentally engaging and stimulating hobbies that can provide a way of escape and relaxation while increasing our levels of intelligence! By taking at least some time every 24 hours to try a new activity and practising it regularly, we can build healthy habits for our minds and even our bodies!

Some easy examples of mind-boosting activities include learning a new instrument, knitting, exercising, reading, meditating and journaling (more information in 1. Mindful Meditation and Journaling Practices), gardening, learning a new language, trying new cooking recipes weekly, writing or blogging, colouring, sewing, and more.

These can stimulate our minds, all the while fostering our creativity and cognitive growth!

3. Digital Detox

Finally, in this new year, it’s a resolution for many of us to start limiting our screen time and ensuring that we pay more attention to what’s happening around us than to whatever piece of entertainment pops up on our phones and keeps us occupied for hours on end.

A quick Google search can show us a long list of research articles that explain the impact of excessive screen time not only on our eyesight, but our mental health and brain function. To keep our minds and bodies healthy and well-nourished, it is time we strike a healthy digital and electronic balance!

This means tracking our own screen time and habits, perhaps making our phones less appealing, ensuring we spend a certain amount of time screen-free and using offline methods of relaxation, switching off our phones before bed, or even placing them in a different room entirely. 

The recommended recreational screen time for children over the age of 5 is less than 2 hours a day, while that for teenagers and adults is 2 hours and 3 hours respectively.

If you feel trapped by a social media addiction, take more drastic measures to restrict the time you spend on apps like Instagram, FaceBook, or TikTok, such as deactivating your accounts, or even deleting the apps themselves. It may help you a) see how different your daily life is without it, b) test how long you can go without scrolling on the app, and c) notice all the things in your environment and in nature that you didn’t before!

Conclusion

With all these strategies in mind, it’s time to take responsibility for our own well-being and make ourselves as physically, mentally, and emotionally healthy as we can in 2024!