Just recently, U.S. News & World Report magazine did an intensive study on how the teenage brain works and functions. Consequently, U.S. News & World Report has uncovered quite a variety of interesting information about the teenage brain and its impact on the teenage body. Recent research has proven that the brain, between the ages of thirteen and nineteen years, works as the most powerful computer on Earth. It builds more neurons during this time than the human adult brain. Therefore, how you maintain your brain and to what lengths you go to exercise it, right now, will have a dramatic impact on how your brain will perform for you as you become an adult. In addition, neurons are quick to lose strength, just like muscles in the human body, if you do not exercise them; it is critical that you take advantage of your teenage years to really stretch that creative mind as far as it possibly can go. Francis Jenson, a neurologist at Children’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, has presented three easy tips, listed below, that you can put into action, today, to keep your brain running in high gear for years beyond its boundaries.

1. Treat your brain to a good night’s sleep every night. Studies show that during sleep, the brain descends into a lowered state of consciousness and it is during that vital time when the brain rejuvenates itself and organizes its short-term and long-term memory banks.

2. Be consistent with a healthy diet. Eat plenty of fruits, green leafy vegetables, and whole grains. The reason for this is because the brain practically runs on healthy fuel. With junk food, the brain will not have as much stamina and energy to expand and exercise beyond its boundaries as it would have with healthy food.

3. Never do any drugs or alcohol. Research show that the path to addiction also runs along the same path to permanent learning and long-term memory. Therefore, once drugs and/or drinking become a habit, they also become a part of how your brain functions, damaging it along the way. In addition, studies have shown that those who begin doing drugs or drinking before the age of fifteen have an elevated risk of failing in school, may have substance abuse conflicts as an adult, and even have a greater risk of being convicted of a crime at some point later in life.

Therefore, follow these three easy tips, brought to you by neurologist Francis Jenson of Children’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, and the U.S. News & World Report magazine, to keep your brain in tip-top shape for the rest of your life. Remember, whatever you do today will dramatically impact on your brain and your abilities for your future and years to come.