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"HEALTHY LIVING" and "ACTIVE LEARNING" for INDIVIDUALS , FAMILIES, and "WELLNESS WORK SITES".
Showing posts with label exercise. Show all posts
Showing posts with label exercise. Show all posts

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Exercise Brain Growth (video)


Maximize Learning at School or Work!

Watch this video showing how exercise grows new brain cells.  See how exercise improves our mood, vigor, and productivity while it decreases tension, depression, aggression, and fatigue.  Exercise increases our capacity to learn by increasing attention, motivation and memory. At the cellular level it increases neurotransmitters (e.g., dopamine, serotonin, nor-epinephrin) and neurotrophins like BDNF (Miracle-Gro for the brain) which helps brain cells wire together needed to learn.  Exercise increases vascular flow providing more oxygen and glucose to the brain while helping remove cellular breakdown products.

Dr. John Ratey, clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, author of SPARK answers many questions (e.g., how much to exercise, what kind of exercise works best, why obesity slows learning, how to slow cognitive decline, how the heart influences brain function, and much more).

Monday, December 12, 2011

14 Safe Ways to Change Your Brain




Enhance Your Health Too! 



Jam-packed with wellness ways to optimize your body-brain, with interesting links to articles, studies, and app… even a "Come On Man" funny video clip.  Thanks Kaitlyn for this handy article.

Monday, October 17, 2011

TODAY’S Wellness QUEST (1)


Whip Couch Potato Laze


Wellness QUEST:  Go ahead -- lounge around, relaxing in your love seat; then take time to lunge around, plunging yourself into robust activity. Move eagerly to whip your couch potato tiredness. Go from vegetating, passively going to seed, to generating higher energy with exercise. Shift from watching great ‘action movies’ to actively making great moves of your own!  Exercise today staying well within your fitness and comfort zone… then post your results and celebrate! 

Health Joke:  His best activity was compressing springs, chair and bed springs.  Unknown

Inspirational Quote: Live for today. Yesterday’s history and tomorrow’s a mystery. Unknown

Special Note:  Be safe.  Stay well within your level of fitness and comfort zone.  If you haven’t been exercising, consult with a fitness specialist or health care provider before getting started, especially if you are out of shape, over 40, or have a medical condition.  Slow down or stop if you feel any discomfort. 


Share and Care:  Share what you did completing your Wellness QUEST activity on our Facebook Page.  Care for other people’s well-being by sharing your post with them, or better yet, getting them involved.


Wellness Winners:  Qualify for a special prize drawn during the next week by posting your completed Wellness QUEST activity on our Facebook Page.  If the time you submit your “Like’ is closest to the predetermined times we choose for the week – you will become our weekly Wellness Winner receiving the perpetual, desk-top Health Care-toons Calendar by cartoonist Ed Fischer and Jeff Haebig, Ph.D. 

Thanks for springing to action, when you are feeling sluggish.  






Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Get a Virtual Workout! (videos)


JOIN IN and Exercise Your Muscles

Live Health Club website helps you target muscles and watch strengthening exercises. Choose your gender, then select exercises rated from beginner to intermediate. Take care as you
follow along, adapting each exercise to your current fitness level.
Always seek advice from your health provider before beginning, if you are out of shape, over 40, or have a physical condition.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Brain-Based Education & Exercise


Research - Exercise is Vital!

Eric Jensen, reports in the Phi Delta Kappan, a comprehensive review of the body and brain’s role in learning. Notice the studies linking
cognition and exercise, validating the key role Physical Education and sports play on academic excellence. Read more of Eric Jensen’s in depth articles on his BrainBased Jensen Learning Blog.

Monday, June 28, 2010

Nourish – Protect – Renew Your Brain


Enjoy this vast brain website

The Franklin Institute has amassed a comprehensive website revealing the awe-inspiring human brain. Start with the
Brain Food Pyramid showing the role of fats, proteins, carbohydrates, micronutrients and diet needed for optimal brain health. Protect the Brain section is outstanding as is
Brain Renewal citing the importance of exercise, stress and sleep.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Aerobics to Weights


Nurse Researcher Offers Exercise Tips

David A. Boley at John Hopkins University School of Nursing has interesting things to say about physical fitness. According to a
Newswise article, he believes “We have a tendency to focus too much on aerobic exercise,” adding that, “evidence shows that resistance exercises alter the cellular structure of muscle in a way that aerobic exercise doesn’t.”

How does your exercise program shape up? Do you include cardiovascular (aerobics), flexibility, strength and balance training?

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Skirt Alzheimer’s


Cut the risk of dementia in half with exercise

RealAge reports moderately intense exercise twice a week for 20 to 30 minutes has been shown to cut Alzheimer’s disease by as much as 60%. Blood vessel health and the brain’s ability to repair damage are the suspected benefits. The Brain Pills article is also of interest.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Let's Walk the Talk on Obesity


Let’s replace lip service
with ‘hip service’!

Dr. Delos Cosgrove, CEO of the Cleveland Clinic, reported in the February 18, 2010 issue of FORTUNE magazine that, “Obesity accounts for 10% of the cost of health care in the U.S. — we will never be able to control the cost of health care until we begin to control the epidemic of obesity. Two-thirds of the U.S. is overweight, and one-third is obese. We are the fattest nation in the world. Our rate of obesity is going up so much that probably half the U.S. will be obese in the next 20 years. We have to do something, and there are plenty of things we can do.”

How about insisting on Daily Physical Education with a fitness focus in our preschools and beyond? Let’s replace lip service with ‘hip service’!

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Get High without Chemicals

Wellness Quest for Your Best! Sing, exercise, laugh and enjoy other natural ways to perk yourself up. Body-brain ‘feel good’ chemicals you create can last longer, without nasty hangovers.

Health Benefits: Natural endorphin chemicals produced in the body and brain can produce feelings of peaceful calm and euphoria, while easing physical pain.

Quote: "Let us endeavor to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry." Mark Twain

Humor: “Why did you get drunk in the first place?” “I didn’t get drunk in the first place… it was the last place.” Author Unknown

Post Script: Feelings of blissful euphoria can result from soothing massage, brisk aerobic exercise, helping people, meditation and other natural acts.

Quest Link: 20 Natural Ways to Get High: Part 1 by
LiveLighter.org

Take Steps: How to Get a Natural High on
eHow.com

Video: Emotional Sobriety by Tian Dayton on
YouTube.com

Note: The cartoon is taken from Health Care-toons Calendar by Jeff Haebig and cartoonist Ed Fischer.
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Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Exercise and Children


Children need at least sixty minutes of physical activity every day

Medline Plus, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institute of Health offers a collection of evidence-based, documented articles on popular health topics.
This article on Exercise and Children points to the need for Daily Physical Education in our schools. 4,299 additional articles relating to exercise are posted on this comprehensive Medline Plus website

Monday, January 18, 2010

Exercise May Aid Cognitive Function


Moderate exercise proves key to reducing cognitive impairment during aging

Charles Bankhead writing for MedPage Today, reports “Almost any amount of moderate physical activity in mid- or late life reduced the odds of mild cognitive impairment by 30% to 40% in an ongoing cohort study by Yonas E. Geda, MD, of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. For more information regarding this study, and for more studies on Exercise and Fitness focused on body brain function, visit MedPage Today.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

America on Drugs


Is our health care system costing us our health?

Craig Stellpflug’s article, Misguided Trust – America on Drugs, presents a bleak picture of health care in America. Emphasis on drugs, rather than on healthy lifestyle is costly. America’s health care costs will soar to $4.1 trillion annually. We spend more for health care than any other country, yet we are only 34th in the world for infant mortality and 42nd for life expectancy.

Craig presents other startling statistics, then ends his article, encouraging us to eat quality food, exercise daily and find positive ways to focus on positive things and creative hobbies. Check out Craig on his Healing Pathways website.
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Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Feldenkrais Fitness Comfort

Can a fitness exercise program feel this good?

Sara Reistad-Long writing for ThatsFit.com relates her first experience with Feldenkrais, a series of ‘awareness through movement’ exercise routines developed by Moshe Feldenkrais who studied ways our bodies can function with greater ease and skill.

More articles appear on Feldendrais.com. I have experienced Feldenkrais and need to return to this revitalizing practice.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Jump Start Your Brain


Ten techniques to keep your aging brain fit

Ken Currier’s writing for Stuff Your Brain Likes website, has briefly outlined what we can do to keep our brain vibrant throughout life. His article is a good reminder of brain plasticity – its remarkable ability to refresh itself throughout life, given well chosen exercise and nutrition.
Note: The Health Care-toon shown above is taken from the Health Care-toon Calendar, 365 Ways to Look and Feel Great by cartoonist Ed Fischer and Jeff Haebig. Visit WellnessQuest.com for a daily Health Cartoon and related wellness ideas.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

HPERD Boosts Learning Success

Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance are Key

Create ideal learning states shown to grow and speed body brain cells and systems responsible for enhanced learning. Exercise and relaxation are key, along with a healthy diet and wholesome living practices. Read these Body-BrainBoogie postings -- then take daily action creating new dendrite delight adding new receptor sites and more vibrant energy information bytes, making your hippocampus hop, synapses sing and cerebellum ring!

Friday, September 18, 2009

Train Your Brain with Exercise


Make yourself smarter with aerobic workouts

Jean Lawrence writing for WebMD summarizes current research showing how exercise combats ADHD naturally, calms hyperactivity, grows new brain cells with added BDNF, releases pleasure chemicals key to memory and motivation, and helps remedy depression, fatigue and stress. Dr. John Ratey is quoted, “Exercise is really for the brain, not the body.” No wonder daily physical education in school is key to maximizing learning potential.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Body and Brain Cell Dance (video)

Show brain cells working best through movement and exercise

Follow a sequence of gestures showing how movement and exercise help produce new neurons (neurogenesis), extend neural networks (dendrites and receptors sites), generate more genetic expression, produce more myelin on axons for faster body-brain transmission and make synapses smile.


Get a leg-up on current research with more detailed body-brain cell dances coming soon. Make this science come alive movin' and groovin' along!

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Pedometer Walking Programs

Top 10 Pedometer Walking Programs are suggested

Wendy Bumgardner writing for About.com has done her homework, describing free and fee online walking programs that use pedometers and journaling to keep on track. Assistance is provided, helping people choose the right pedometer.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Neuro Physical Education

Connecting brain science to gym class with upcoming videos

Neuro-education connects brain science to learning. Advances in brain imaging suggest how the body-brain learns best. Most striking is how movement and exercise is essential to attention, focus, learning skills, memory, and motivation. We will soon break this down, using video to shake, rattle n’ show how the body is integral to enhanced brain function.
Learning problems related to sensory and motor system development will receive special attention. Natural movement-based remedies for anxiety, depression, and excess stress will be featured as well.

Rather than talking about this, we will add ‘hip to lip’ making this science come alive with spirited movement. Our goal – helping people of all ages and learning styles achieve their vibrant living and learning potential joyously. Stay posted, interactive Body-BrainBoogie videos are soon to follow.