Why “PLAYFUL” Exercise Can Change Your Brain for the Better!
by: Denise Medved
Major health concerns in the USA and around the world have always been heart disease and cancer. Today the number one fear around health is losing brain function as we age.
Most of us have family members and friends with some sort of dementia, including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. It is important to know that there IS something you can do to support your own brain health and improve and maintain vital cognitive function. And it turns out to be simple – and FUN!
Research by leading neuroscientists all over the globe has shown that the primary purpose of the brain is to control the movement of the body – and the best exercise for the brain is PHYSICAL exercise. But what kind of physical exercise actually changes the brain for the better?
When we were children, from birth to late teens or early 20’s, we were physically learning new things and participating in new activities almost daily. We learned to walk, hop, skip, jump, throw a ball, play hopscotch, play on a team, ride a bike, drive a car, play tennis.
At some point, we stopped learning so many new things, and concentrated on doing what we were good at or liked most…and got better at those things by practicing them, which created strong neural pathways, or communications “highways” between the brain and body. But repetitive exercise does not fire nearly as many new brain cells or neurons as learning some new physical activity or game. And memory games like crossword puzzles only strengthen one or two functions of the brain, not ALL of the brain.
So when we were experimenting with new movements and new activities – we were rapidly firing neurons and improving total brain function as we discovered new physical skills.
Basically, we used “play” to develop our brains and make them healthy and quick – without even knowing it. We just thought we were having a good time and laughing at ourselves as we tried new things!
The Ageless Grace® Brain Health exercise program is a cutting-edge system designed to continue developing your brain, no matter what your age. There are 21 simple exercises based on “playfulness” and they help you continue to fire new neurons!
Each one of the 21 tools or exercises is designed to activate all five primary functions of your brain (strategic planning, memory and recall, analytical thinking, creativity and imagination, and kinesthetic learning). In addition to brain stimulation, these tools also help you maintain physical skills that are necessary for quality of life, including balance, flexibility, joint mobility, strength, and agility, to name a few.
They have simple names like Gentle Geometry, Front Row Orchestra and Shake It Up Baby! – so they are easy to remember. They are all done seated – NOT because participants cannot stand, but in order to cause the brain to figure out how to do these activities from a seated position rather than standing – which causes many more neurons to fire. Being seated also happens to allow EVERYONE to participate, whether you are strong and active, or experiencing physical challenges that affect your balance or stamina.
This “silly, playful, creative” Ageless Grace® program can help your brain to maintain cognitive function for the rest of your life. It can improve your brainpower and functionality – and it can prevent the decline of brain function as you age.
It may seem simple and child-like, but the Ageless Grace® Brain Health program and the 21 exercise tools are based on solid neuroscience. They can be fun and give you some great laughs, and help you have quality of life for as long as you live!
Give the Ageless Grace® Brain Health program a try and see what benefits you notice.