the care and maintenance of your brain. exercise is good for your brain
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Get Moving, Feed Your Brain and Let It Rest
The care and maintenance of your brain
Get Moving, Get Smarter
Exercise is good for your brain
Good Reasons to Get MovingMakes your brain
work more efficientlyYou will do better in
class and on testsIt reduces your risk
for strokes and Alzheimer’s as you get older and makes you smarter right now.
Good Reasons to Get Moving In one study, elementary
school kids jogged 2 to 3 times a week for 30 minutes. After 12 weeks, their test scores improved, and when they stopped the exercise program, their scores went back to their previous lower levels. It doesn’t even take that much exercise to get good brain benefits.
Good Reasons to Get MovingBetter food and oxygen
delivery to the brainMore blood vessels
means more oxygenOxygen mops up free
radicals which are badChanging position
increases blood flow to your brain. In fact, standing up increases blood flow to your brain up to 30%!
Brain Get Moving StrategiesMove every 10 minutes or so
when doing homework-get a burst of oxygen!
Play sports.Play active video gamesWalk your dog/play with a petMow the lawn or vacuum or
clean your room (your parents will love it)
Ride your bike to a friend’s house
Swim, dance, throw a ball… Just get going! It’s the smart
move.
Feed Your BrainIt’s an energy hog!
Feed Your Brain: A Few FactsAlthough it only weighs
around 3 pounds, the brain uses nearly 25% of the body’s resources.
Does that mean the other organs think its an energy hog? Maybe the other organs don’t mind so much. After all, without your brain you aren’t human, or even alive.
Feed Your Brain: More FactsThinking is more difficult
when you are hungryYour brain needs enough
glucose to take care of all of the vital things it does plus have enough energy to deal with more complex functions.
Skipping breakfast reduces fluency and problem solving ability.
Feed Your Brain: Some StrategiesIf you want to do better in
school, eat something in the morning.
Try something with protein and complex carbohydrates because they give you a more constant and long-lasting level of energy than a sugary cereal or donut.
A snack at 10-minute break might be just what you need to be more focused in your 5th period class.
Let Your Brain RestYour brain can’t function well without enough sleep
Sleep and Your BrainScientists don’t know
exactly why we sleepThey do know that going
without sleep for too long will actually make you slip into a coma and die.
Your brain does important work while you sleep…It goes through all of the many things you learned and experienced throughout the day and consolidates, deletes and stores those memories.
Sleep and Your BrainMany studies show that we remember more of
what we learn when we get enough sleep
Sleep and Your BrainUnfortunately, most
teenagers don’t get nearly enough sleep. One of the best ways for you to improve in school is to get the sleep your brain needs (9-11 hours for someone your age).
Sleep StrategiesTurn off your electronics.
(Light from your computer or video game screen tricks your body into thinking that it isn’t time to sleep.)
Turn off your phone. If it wakes you every time you get a text, you won’t get enough sleep in a row (it’s called REM sleep and it is vital for healthy brain function.)
Reduce caffeine during the day