“I think the most important thing is to keep active and to hope that your mind stays active.”—Jane Goodall
We are made to be doing. We need to be active both physically and intellectually. “Use it or lose it”, as the saying goes. Both our bodies and our minds require stimulation on a regular basis.
In exercise science, we differentiate between “physical activity” and “exercise”. I suspect it is similar in the neurosciences. Physical activity is defined as any muscle movement that is above the resting state—in other words, any energy expended above one’s basal metabolic activity. Exercise is planned physical activity that is intended for the purposes of improving one’s health, performance, or body composition.
From an intellectual standpoint, we can look at neural activity as basic neural functioning and cognitive exercise. Thus, cognitive exercise would be planned activities that are intended to improve brain function. Such “brain training” is as important to long-term health as regular muscle training and aerobic exercise.
It is important that we consider the following as part of a regular routine:
- physical exercise that overloads the cardiorespiratory endurance, muscle strength, muscle endurance, as well as improves/maintains flexibility and a healthy body composition;
- cognitive training through regular reading and challenging neural exercises, such as crosswords, puzzles, testing recall, etc.; and
- activities that challenge neuromotor skills.
The first two items on this list, probably, need little prompting. After all, we are well-aware that we need to keep our bodies and minds sharp. (Now, whether we actually follow through….)
I want to take a bit more time to emphasize the challenging of our neuromotor skills. In categorizing “fitness”, we exercise scientist define two categories: health-related (i.e., cardiorespiratory endurance, muscle endurance, muscle strength, flexibility, and body composition) and motor skill-related (balance, coordination, agility, speed, power, and reaction time). The latter of these are often reserved for athletes, as they are considered “sports-related”. I contend, however, that these all the more important as we age. Consider, for example, the increased risk or falling with aging. Seems to me that motor skill-related is quite more important health-related fitness when it comes to effective movement strategies as we get older.
Motor skill-related fitness—neuromotor skill—requires a higher level of coordination between the nervous system and the muscle (thus, we highlight coordination, balance, reaction time, etc.). Neuromotor skill training requires overload of the motor and sensory structures of the nervous system as well as the cognitive function and basic physiological function. It requires a higher level of complexity to one’s plans for Physical and Intellectual well-centeredness.
As we set our goals for coming new year, consider adding a greater level of challenge to your routine. Obviously, I suggest you read (at least 30 minutes a day), but challenge your mind more than you might typically.
- read a textbook or sources that are out of your current knowledge base;
- do math problems;
- devote some time regularly to doing challenging mental activities (puzzles, crosswords, play trivia games, etc.);
- learn a foreign language or to play a musical instrument; and/or
- any thing that challenges recall (e.g., write your memoires, recreate your family tree, etc.
Physical exercise is, likewise important. Step it up a bit (within your physical abilities, of course):
- add greater instability to the exercises you perform (e.g., move up from machines to free-weight exercise, do exercises from a split or single-legged stance, etc.);
- perform more complex body movements (in a controlled fashion);
- incorporate physioballs and stability balls in your exercise;
- get off the cardio machines and get outside; and/or
- play a sport.
More importantly, this year, do things to challenge your motor skills:
- dance (practice actual choreographed steps—waltz, two-step, whatever);
- take art classes (drawing, painting, pottery, etc.) and/or take up a hobby to refine your fine-motor skills (knitting, needlepoint, carving, etc.);
- do some good old-fashioned cone-drills for agility (it doesn’t have to be at NFL combine speed—just require your body to have to change direction quickly and accurately, trying to get better over time);
- perform complex novel movements that require thinking about what you are doing (like jumping rope);
- learn a new sport; and/or
- just do things that challenge your mind and body simultaneously.
Don’t just go through the motions of “exercising” and “reading” and step up the challenges. Carpe momento!