Everything we do begins in the brain. Preventing falls begins in the brain. Knowing that, a healthy brain is essential for an independent life. Unfortunately we are stuck in our homes and most of us are not engaging the brain as much as needed.
"The brain needs two things to be healthy; activation and fuel". I'm sure you are intimately familiar with the "use it or lose it" principle but that applies to the entire nervous system, not just the muscles.
Here are 5 easy brain teasers that improve working memory : Brain Teasers
The hippocampus is a region of the brain responsible for our ability to learn and to remember. As the incidence of Alzheimer's continues to rise, people are scrambling for ways to keep their brain sharp. The good news is that exercise increases blood flow to the hippocampus which can help sustain new neurons.
Check out this link and the study that demonstrated that walking reduced Alzheimers by 48%.
Get out, get walking.
Grab a spiky ball and roll it on your body! See how you feel. Try standing up or touching your toes. Then roll only one side. Retest. Roll the other side and retest. See which one makes you better.
If it was easier to move, keep doing it! The increased sensory input will wake up your brain and your movement, flexibility, strength and/or balance will improve.
Give it a try!!!
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Dr. Cobb of Z-Health built a brain-based system around movement and I have to agree with him; a lot of problems can be solved simply by moving. Besides, we were made to move. Our nervous systems were built to perform and survival of the fittest begins with movement. Let's move that body!
A body at rest tends to stay at rest so we have to make a conscious effort to move. Personally, I always feel better once I get going. 99% of working out is showing up for the session! That’s where my training can help you! In neurology, little things add up to big things. It’s the same with movement; little movements add up to big things.
Let’s do ankle circles today. These are awesome for foot and ankle mobility. which is essential in any fall prevention program because the ankle is the first joint to come in contact with an uneven surface. The more flexible the ankle, the less likely a person is to get injured. If the ankle is used to bending and twisting in all directions, there is less risk of injury if ankle is twisted during life activities.
Brain-based ankle circles are different. These are not the regular, boring ankle circles that you do without paying any attention to what you’re doing. You know what I mean, when the instructor says, “let’s do some ankle circles” and you sit there and look around the room. That's the WRONG WAY TO DO ankle circles.
I want you to stay engaged.Activate your brain. In order to do that, you have to pay attention to what you’re doing AND how you're doing it! The brain loves stimulation so it helps if movements are novel (new) and somewhat challenging.
Follow along with me and let’s do some ankle circles. 3 in each direction. 3 different foot positions.
The brain controls everything we do; all our thoughts and actions begin in the brain. The brain's response to stressful times, like we've been living since Covid, is a tensed, forward-flexed posture with hormones of the sympathetic nervous system running rampant. Prolonged exposure to cortisol and adrenaline has a detrimental effect your brain, body and bodily functions. The longer we're in this fight/flight mode, the worse effects on our nervous system.
We need to calm down however that is often easier said than done. To counterbalance the sympathetic nervous system, the parasympathetic nervous system which is our "rest and digest hormone system" needs to be consciously activated. There are simple ways to activate areas of the brainstem that activate this calming, necessary balance in our life.
The vagus nerve is the focus for calming the brain and body down. I wrote a blog about humming as a way to activate the vagus nerve and calm the nervous system down. There are breathing drills to stimulate this system and here is one of my favorite ways to activate areas of the brain to calm you down.
The tongue is powerful connection to the brain. Where you place your tongue can have a significant impact on your balance and tension level. Swallowing activates nerves surrounding the vagus nerve and because neurons that wire together fire together, swallowing activates the vagus nerve.
Another benefit of swallowing is the activation of the insular cortex. This is the fifth lobe of the brain and is involved in emotional connections to physical body, aka how you 'feel' in your own body. Times of stress can leave you feeling 'disconnected' from your body, from your life. This is when you need to activate your insular cortex.
Swallow. Trust me.
Smiling activates the nerve next door to your balance nerve. Smiling can improve your balance which is probably needing some activation as well.
If you want to know more about the insular cortex and the power of smiling, my book will be ready soon!
Follow along with me! Cheesy grain and swallow.
Be safe. Stay engaged.
