There are least 12 things you can do to improve your footballing brain

SPORTSMEN and sportswomen, amateur or professional, tend to eat well and exercise in order to have their physical body in peak conditioning. Balance is the secret as overuse and underuse can lead to injury.

With mental problems becoming increasingly aware in sport, sports people should never forget about their most vital of organs – their creative brain which directs our self-talk, self-esteem, problem solving ability, coping ability, reasoning and understanding and our ability to question – qualities which are vital to performing well in our sport.

Here are a dozen tips on how to feed your brain well:

1. Nutrition
Our brain uses 20% of all the energy we put into our body. Our brain thrives on a wide variety and balanced measure of fresh, unprocessed foods such as vegetables, fruit, lean protein (have three portions of oily fish a week), seeds, nuts, wholegrains.
Water is a vital essential, even 1% dehydrated is associated with fuzzy thinking, poor decision making and injury.

2. Sleep
Sleep and rest provide us with physical and mental well being so aiding neurone repair, growth and maintenance for us to control mood regulation.

3. Exercise or conditioning
This enhances blood flow to the brain helping to reduce brain shrinkage and promotes neurogenesis (thinking) and plasticity to promote increased and better performance in your sport. Conditioning produces improved cognition (understanding), learning, mood and self-esteem, reduced stress and risk of depression. Take advice before starting any exercise programme.

4. Mindset or attitude
Develop early a growth mindset as there are no fixed limits to your abilities. The attitude we form in childhood will stick with us and we always have the choice to change our attitude – always a choice. You can change it. Be ‘I Can’, not ‘I Can’t’. Avoid negativity in yourself and avoid negative people.

5. Focus
In the now. No-one can multi-task, none at all. Instead do one thing at a time in the now, that’s focus. Give it your full undivided attention and do it well. Regaining attention and managing distractions is possible if we use our attention like a muscle. In a quiet place, allow your brain to think stress free; think konly about what’s to be done and get it done. Relaxed alertness is the formula for a ‘sporting’ brain, indeed any brain.

6. Healthy or balanced stress
The volume or severity of stress doesn’t harm us; if our belief is whether or not we will sustain harm from stress, this harms us. Stress is not the problem, how we view it or share it with others is the problem. See it; be it. Stay in control by thinking, talking and doing things positively.

7. Mental stretch
Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to form new connections between existing neurons. That’s how our skills get better and our tactics become more visionary. The more curious we are, the more we stimulate our brain plasticity. Start with one small change at a time. Do so by asking lots of questions instead of just speaking in/with answers.
Break your skills/tactics/game plan down into its parts and question, question, question, etc on how to do them better. Make it a daily habit. Use quizzes or cryptic crosswords about your sport to stretch your thinking.

8. Mindfulness
This takes us out of our subconscious (auto-pilot) so we can use our conscious (manual pilot) brain. We are creating ‘room’ for thinking, eg, a new skill which you break into smaller parts for you to learn by thinking, questioning and finding your way to do it. Taking nothing for granted. ‘Feed forward’ more than ‘feedback’.

9. Innovation
The brain has two ways to solve situations – Insight and logic. Mental agility is the ability to alternate quickly between the two. Be childlike, ie, curious in our thinking to improve our creativity, vital to any sports person, eg, How do this? Why? What for? etc. Allow yourself the freedom to explore the unknown and challenge accepted thinking. A simple way to start – take a diffferent route every night to training. Expect the unexpected and be ready.

10. Ability to change
Our brains adapt constantly to changing situations, so we don’t resist change. Change signals growth and renewal opportunity (lke getting a new phone). Don’t be afraid to change, ever. Flexibility is a key to sporting success.

11. Working with others
The outcome of many brains (whole squad) working together is greater than the sum of their parts. Connecting socially is highly motivating and often where team problems are solved. Shake hands, on and after meeting to release oxytocin, the so-called ‘trust’ hormone.

12. Lead, don’t follow
Be a leader in your sport/team. For five leaders you admire, list their leadership values and characteristics. You will find how similar they are – literally the five best ways to bring out the best in others:
(i) Listen (with undivided attention); (ii) Speak (choosing affirming words carefully); (iii) Reflect (take time to pause); (iv) Inquire (stay curious); (v) Connect (follow up to establish trust and empathy with others).

Want to be mentally better at your sport? Go on, feed your brain.
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