Exercise improves your brain function. In fact it was shown that 40 minutes a day of exercise can increase the IQ of elementary kids by 3.8 points. College students got better grades and those of us working were 15 percent more efficient at our jobs, thus decreasing our work time and increasing income.
Think about that, by having our kid’s exercise we can increase their brain power and help them do better in school. Instead of arguing about more homework time, you get to tell them to go outside and play.
With exercise having so many great side effects why aren’t we getting more of it?
- Only 25% of kids get 30 minutes of exercise a day
- From the ages of 12 – 21 only 1 in 2 participate in any vigorous activity
- CDC found that fewer than two in 10 Americans get the recommended levels of exercise, and more than a quarter of U.S. adults do not devote any time to physical activity.
So how can you make sure that your child is getting exercise and thus the benefit of improved brain function?
Lead by Example
Your kids learn not only from what you say, but also from what you do. If you are not exercising and are just sitting around on the couch, why will your kid go exercise when you tell them to? When you lead by example they begin to ask questions about what you are doing and will see that it is just a part of life. If you value exercise your kids will value exercise. (click to Tweet Quote)
Sign Them up for a Sport
This is a great way to get them moving. Just make sure that they are getting actual exercise during the sport. For example if practice is just batting practice then they still need to get some cardiovascular exercise in as well. A great sport to get them doing lots of running is soccer.
Require Outside Play Time/Limit Electronics
By encouraging your child and their friends to play outside it builds exercise in with their play time. If they don’t want to organize an impromptu neighborhood baseball game they can still try one of these: tag, mother may I, red light green light, bikes, scooters, skateboards – really the options are endless just get them moving. The less TV the more brain power they will have!
Be an Active Family
It helps if the entire family is active together, you get quality time and everyone gets exercise. As a family we take walks at night after dinner, my husband and son play baseball, basketball, hockey and many others outside, we all go swimming or sometimes bowling. Make sure that all your family activities don’t revolve around eating, movies and other sedentary activities.
Don’t put your kids (or your own) brain function at risk. Something as simple as a walk around the block can improve brain function. Get started tonight, go take a walk!
Inforgraphic from OnlineCollegeCourses.com
Brain can change instantly according to how the mind relates to it. Brain is endlessly adaptable. Other organs of the body also respond to positive and negative thinking, but their response must come through the brain first; it functions as command central for the rest of the body. Beliefs, expectations, likes and dislikes that you hold inside are creating change at the level of brain circuitry. Form a better relationship with your brain is to realize that you have a relationship. Once you realize this, you can choose to pay attention to the relationship and nurture it.Thinking your brain into better functioning is the most efficient way to improve it. The best way to relate to your brain is to inspire it. Approach your brain as if it had great untapped potential.
Take care of stress. Avoid dulling routine. Do something creative every day. Read poetry, spiritual material or anything else that makes you feel uplifted. Take time to be in nature. Bond with another person who is heartwarming. Pay attention to being happy. Make sure you take time every day by yourself to relax, meditate and self-reflect. Deal with negative emotions like anger and anxiety. Focus on activity that makes you feel fulfilled. Give of yourself. Follow a personal vision. Attach yourself to a cause that is bigger than you are. Take the risk to love and be loved. Music lessons and exercises could be used to improve certain brain skills. Being happier and more active help the brain more effective and compensating for pathological processes.
Brain fitness has basic principles: variety and curiosity. When anything you do becomes second nature, you need to make a change.
Games are a wonderful way to tease and challenge your brain. Suduko, crosswords and electronic games can all improve your brain’s speed and memory. These games rely on logic, word skills, math and more. These games are also fun. You’ll get benefit more by doing these games a little bit every day — spend 15 minutes or so, not hours. Daily meditation is perhaps the single greatest thing you can do for your mind/body health. Meditation not only relaxes you, it gives your brain a workout. By creating a different mental state, you engage your brain in new and interesting ways while increasing your brain fitness.
Your brain needs you to eat healthy fats. Focus on nuts such as walnuts, vegetables like spinach, celery and carrot, fruits like avocado, berries, apple and banana, tubers like sweet potato and beets. Eat more of these foods and less precessed food and meat.
Stories are a way that we solidify memories, interpret events and share moments. Practice telling your stories, both new and old, so that they are interesting, compelling and fun. Some basic storytelling techniques will go a long way in keeping people’s interest both in you and in what you have to say.
Television and computers can stand in the way of relationships, life and more. Turn off your TV and computer, and spend more time living and exercising your mind and body. Physical exercise is great brain exercise too. By moving your body, your brain has to learn new muscle skills, estimate distance and practice balance. Choose a variety of exercises to challenge your brain.
Books are portable, free from libraries and filled with infinite interesting characters, information and facts. Branch out from familiar reading topics. If you usually read history books, try a contemporary novel. Read foreign authors, the classics and random books. Not only will your brain get a workout by imagining different time periods, cultures and peoples, you will also have interesting stories to tell about your reading, what it makes you think of and the connections you draw between modern life and the words.
Learning a new skill works multiple areas of the brain. Your memory comes into play, you learn new movements and you associate things differently. Reading Shakespeare, learning to cook and building an airplane out of toothpicks all will challenge your brain and give you something to think about.
We love our routines. We have hobbies and pastimes that we could do for hours on end. But the more something is ‘second nature,’ the less our brains have to work to do it. To really help your brain stay young, challenge it. Change routes to the grocery store, use your opposite hand to open doors. All this will force your brain to wake up from habits and pay attention again.