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