Brain fitness, unlike certain kinds of physical fitness, does not require a personal trainer, a Pilates reformer, a jogging track, a mountain bike or a swimming pool. It does, however demand patterns of behavior, habits, and lifestyle accommodations. The Four Fs (Fun, Focus, Feeding and Freshness) optimize brain fitness when they become part of one’s daily schedule, travel plans, work and family dynamics, and even friendships. Let’s consider a few situations in which brain fitness might be maximized or minimized by the choices that one makes.
Scenario I: Carol wants to help out her daughter, who is a single mother, by taking care of her school-age children every afternoon after school. This means that Carol must give up her Prayer-Walking group in the afternoons and the nap that she had come to count on. She also starts eating more fast food because she runs through the hamburger drive-in window while ferrying the kids around to soccer and dance lessons. She gains five pounds and begins snapping at the kids, losing small items and locks her car keys in the car at the soccer field. Diagnosis: Loss of fun, freshness, and feeding.
Solution: Carol and her daughter should develop a mutually beneficial schedule. The kids might stay with Carol only on Tuesdays and Thursdays when they have soccer practice and lessons, and go to an after-school program that is paid for by a federal grant on the other days. Carol might begin using the crock pot on these evenings, setting up a healthy soup or stew that they can all enjoy at 6 p.m. This would enable Carol to do her walking group a few afternoons each week or she could ask some of the other mothers and grandmothers who wait at the soccer field to begin walking together during practice time. Prescription: Compromise and Planning
Scenario 2: Doug’s wife has recently passed away after a long illness during which he was the primary caregiver. He is feeling tired, forgetful and listless. Disinterested in food, Doug loses five pounds and begins having insomnia, something new for him. Concerned by the changes that they see in their dad, Doug’s children encourage him to retire and get some rest. Diagnosis: Lack of focus, freshness, fun and feeding.
Solution: Doug may want to explore working part-time. He needs to use his brain in ways that are both familiar and novel. He might even want to work part-time in a related field that would put him in new social contexts that allow him to “give back” without becoming a care-giver again. Altruism is associated with more healthy brains and social connections. Beginning a fitness routine that will make him more tired at night and get him outside, such as adopting a dog from a shelter might stimulate his appetite and expose him to sunshine, an important tool in fighting depression. Prescription: Balance of work and play. Stimulation with a mission.
Ten Strategies to Stimulate Brain Fitness
As summer begins, here are a few strategies to incorporate the critical “Four F’s” into a nanny’s day.
• Rent a foreign film on DVD and watch it with English sub-titles, building novelty and fun. Eat fresh frozen red grapes for an anti-oxidant brain feed.
• Invite some friends to walk through a local farmers market and buy local produce to make roasted vegetable sandwiches. The stroll, sights and meal address freshness, feeding and focus. Choose the darkest color vegetables and roast with garlic and olive oil. Pull your treasures in a red wagon for playful, child-like fun.
• Volunteer to tutor at a local after-school program and introduce the kids to brain games such as crossword puzzles or sudoku. Altruism keeps the brain fit with focus. If you can, bring small prizes such as peppermints, cinnamon or dark chocolate pieces, all associated as mood foods.
• Pet therapy boosts mood and increases restful sleep. Walking a rescued pet can help to increase healthy appetite and induce restful sleep. Staying attuned to a pet’s needs keeps one sharp. Taking a pet to a dog park or walking trail where one can interact with others who share a love for animals is a plus as well. The payoff? Fun, Feeding, Focus and Freshness for the brain.
• Create a brain-friendly palette in the home’s sleeping, eating and entertaining areas. Place sunny yellow lemons in a blue dish. Arrange an inexpensive bunch of cut mums or sunflowers in a jar. Simmer cinnamon in a scent pot. The limbic system will filter these sensory experiences and register them as Fresh and Fun.
• Dip an ounce of good quality ( 60 percent or more) dark chocolate into a cup of coffee while playing a vocabulary game such as www.freerice.com on the laptop. Feeding and Focus accomplished in one delicious moment. This website keeps one’s verbal skills fit and donates grains of rice to the UN Food Bank, an opportunity for altruism that the brain also relishes.
• Sprinkle sheets with a lavender scent to promote sleep and turn computers, lamps and digital clocks away from the pillow so that the light doesn’t interfere with deep sleep. Freshness is brain fitness.
• Send a hand-written note to a friend or colleague who has done something kind or who needs some attention. Include a description of how that person has impacted your life. Writing details enhances Focus. Use a purple fine tip pen to write. This color adds Fun to the simple task.
• Organize a recipe file, tools or even shoes into a new grouping using colors, tags, and labels. Donate items that are no longer used. Focus and Fitness combine to make this task worthwhile.
• Tune the computer to www.pandora.com and listen to a different style of music or look for an artist whom you once admired. What memories and feelings do the songs elicit? Focus, Freshness, and Fun combine and Feeding tags along when one adds a brain fitness snack of walnuts and dried cranberries.
Brain fitness, pardon the pun ... is really a state of mind. It is about being mindful of making fun, focus, freshness and feeding a part of every day in as many experiences as one can. Challenging oneself to make brain-healthy choices can enhance cognitive and emotional strengths and bolster weak areas. Research suggests that one’s creativity, happiness and thinking can be stronger and more sustained through careful application of fun, focus, freshness and feeding and it makes sense. Why settle for a day of frustrating set-backs when life could be more peaceful and satisfying? I’m sipping my blueberry smoothie right now and heading for bed with a lavender eye patch. There’s no telling what tomorrow may hold and I want to be prepared!
Dr. Linda Karges-Bone, author, professor and media influencer is always thinking about ways to take care of our brains. You can find out more about her work at www.educationinsite.com
