Stay Connected – Explore the Ways to Keep Your Brain and Body Active

Try new opportunities and challenges!!

We are all wanting to keep our mental and physical faculties working well and for as long as possible. Physical and mental changes can and do occur over our lifespan.  It can be helpful to understand why it is harder to do everything now that we are getting older and then possibly act on the information to learn and develop the ways and means to maintain a healthy lifestyle to remain active and independent. There are many organisations who provide different ways to exercise which enable us to become fitter and maintain movement in one way or other. All have merit, but one important overall factor to consider is whether the program suits your individual needs, physical and mental abilities, health condition and is sufficiently interesting to keep going long term. Choosing the right exercise modality should be a major consideration and worth pursuing. It might take some time, exploration, and persistence.

This newsletter is covering a few aspects relating to the essential connection between brain and body. It only provides some basic information concerning the connection between the two systems. An overriding concern with ageing is the impact of our loss of body control, that may increase the risk of falls and injuries. Moving well can reduce this potential risk.

No weak links. Great teamwork required.  

There are a many necessary connections throughout the body. All the links required between the body and brain enable us to move appropriately and effectively.  These 2 systems need to communicate well and work in unison as both physical and cognitive functions are dependent on each other. The brain and body work well together, however, if there are alterations in either of them, then movement control deteriorates with activities becoming harder and may become less safe to undertake. Exercise has been identified, through research, as one important factor to take into consideration in the overall “big picture” of self-management.

• Any impairment in physical function can compromise the ability to control any movement required.
• Any impairment in cognitive function will severely compromise the ability to respond correctly or quickly to actions required.

New skills can be developed at any point in life.

To keep the body working well, the brain needs to work well. When exercising it is important to have a good foundation. Repetition and persistence are two major keys to achieve successful results. ….but then don’t get stuck and stagnate just doing the same exercise all the time.  NB. It is important to keep going with an activity (possibly longer than maybe expected) until it is mastered. Once basic skills become easy then try exploring new options (physical and mental health components) that can challenge the systems to further improve and / or maintain your abilities. Once a brain network or region is activated in response to a new stimulus the activity can become more efficient and effective. Less neural resources are required with less attention, thought and effort needed to respond to that specific skill, thus making it become more automatic.

New skills and movements can be learnt. You may find yourself out of your “comfort zone” a little bit, especially if it involves more dynamic moves which involve more complex co-ordination and unpredictable activity…….. but this is required to keep maintaining good mental and physical functional levels.

There are different areas in the brain involved with cognitive processing (see attachments for more information).  These areas need different ways to be stimulated to achieve good functional movement…………so when you are ready, please consider taking up some new exercise challenge/ modalities to keep Your Brain and Body Active!

Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.”
– Michael Jordan

“Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.” 
– Henry Ford

“Being challenged in life is inevitable, being defeated is optional.”
– Roger Crawford

“It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.” 
– Albert Einstein