Use it or lose it – your brain on exercise

In the seminal book Aging With Grace: What the Nun Study Teaches Us About Leading Longer, Healthier, and More Meaningful Lives the researchers demonstrated that the brain is like other organs. It’s a case of use it or lose it. In order to keep your brain young as you age you need to exercise your brain.

Common in our society today are the brain exercises designed to give our mental faculties the boost they need. There are games, activities and all other cranial calisthenics that claim to be helpful in maintaining our brains functioning superbly.

These exercises are not just for those who have mental problems, they are good for everyone who wants to keep his/her mind healthy and improve his/her brains. From senior citizens to the younger generations, these activities help to keep them all mentally fit.

Studies have proved that people who have exercised their brains regularly have improved their memory as well as their focus. The best brain exercises are those that use both hemispheres of the brain:

• Cross Crawls
  Cross crawls is a type of exercise that is based on the principle that our nervous system works homolaterally. This means that the left portion of our brain controls the movement of the right portion of our body, and so on for the other half.
  The principles of kinesiology are also applied in this exercise wherein rhythmic movements are suggested so that the brain’s lateralization can be improved further. You can do this simply by touching your right hand or elbow to your left knee. Do this for several times, and after one side, you may proceed with the other side, doing the same steps. A version of this is alternatively tapping each knee with the opposite hand.
  This exercise, when performed by babies, are believed to realign the brain circuits in order for the left half of the brain to be able to connect with the left part of the body, and vice versa.
  For the adults, on the other hand, when this exercise is done there is an integration of the different functions and tasks of the brain. This is the reason why this exercise is mostly recommended for people suffering from dyslexia. Aside from this, this exercise is also good for strengthening your immune system’s responses.
• Lazy Eights
  Another exercise which can benefit both the left and right hemispheres of the brain is the “lazy eights.” This is done by drawing the number “8” on a piece of paper using your right hand for two minutes. After the right hand, you may proceed to draw the same sign using your left hand.
  This should be done daily, and the result is that you will have better concentration and your hand-and-eye coordination will improve. Aside from these, another benefit is that you would feel a reduction of stress and an enhancement of your mood.
  You may also do the “Rhythmic Eights” wherein instead of using paper and pencil, you can just create an imaginary eight in the air with your hands. This should be sufficient to coordinate the two sides of your brain as well. Another version of this draws tiny figure eights with your nose or large ones with your hips. All these rhythmic figure eight exercises help with homolateral crossover or the balancing of the brain hemispheres.

Try Different Exercises for A Change

Since there are already a lot of exercises designed to improve your mental functioning, it would be a better idea if you would alter your exercises so that your brain will not get used to just one routine.

By varying your brain work out, you are also able to exercise as many parts of your brain as possible. There are puzzles, crosswords, soduko and other brain games available; you just have to look for those which best fits you. Exercise your brain, better your brain’s performance.

Learning new skills especially another language, a new hobby, or going back to school for fun all help improve your brain functioning.

An important aspect of keeping your brain young is socialization and having a happy attitude toward life. To this end thinking games like bridge, and chess help a lot. Also looking after plants or pets keep your brain motivated and young.

Finally I wish to prescribe laughter. When you laugh a deep belly laugh you produce plenty of endorphins and serotonin and improve your immune system.

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