Coffee and tea, quite rightly, are what spring to mind when we think about cognitive-boosting foods.
But berries have an immediate and long-lasting effect on your brainpower too - and worth keeping in mind to ward off that 3pm afternoon slump (more on this later).
Something as simple as a handful of berries, either whole or blended into a smoothie, can give you a cognitive lift, and is delicious too.
Berries are rich in a type of polyphenols called flavonoids, some of which can cross into the brain and target areas involved in learning and memory, like the hippocampus.
Get through that afternoon slump
There’s plenty of long-term benefits to eating berries, but what about the immediate - right here, right now - effects?
One study on a frozen berry smoothie looked at just that (and there’s multiple others too, from berry powders to juices).
The researchers gave their study participants 400ml frozen fruit smoothie (about 2 glasses), made up from:
75 g whole strawberries
75g blueberries
75g blackberries
75g raspberries
100ml water
40 young and healthy adults were split into two groups: one group drank the smoothie, and the other a placebo.
The researchers tested their mood and cognitive function before drinking the smoothie or placebo, and again at 2, 4, and 6 hours after.
As the day wore on, participants who had the placebo started to slow down, with their mental performance declining as they naturally became more tired towards the end of the day.
Something as simple as a berry smoothie helped to boost and sustain their cognitive performance throughout the day.
Though 300g of fruit is a lot to eat in one sitting, even a little berries each day is still great for your brain function.
And don’t feel like you have to stick to the exact smoothie recipe the researchers used, make it work for you (and your tastebuds).
And it doesn’t have to be a smoothie either.
You could add a handful of mixed berries, like raspberries, strawberries and blueberries, to your breakfast, or as a sweet post-lunch snack.
Chat soon, Emily xx