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episode #45

Are you Challenging Your Brain?

May 13, 2021 in Podcast

Intro

As you age it’s important to understand that you can generate new brain cells – learning new things, gaining skills, being in unpredictable situations or challenges can trigger neuroplasticity and neurogenesis. More importantly, doing so has a range of other important benefits, including improving mood, increasing memory formation, and preventing the decline associated with aging. Different areas of the brain can be challenged by different tasks. Prefrontal is improved by puzzles, chess, or meditation. Temporal lobes can be improved by memory games and musical instruments. Parietal lobes by logic games and/or juggling. Cerebellum is improved by yoga, dancing, and coordination games like tennis. Pick one thing that you have been wanting to do and commit 10-20 minutes per day to do it. Find a Creative Hobby. Don’t focus on the amount of time you practice at first, but rather aim for consistency. Devote what time you can, but be firm with your commitment. Create Artwork – Painting, mosaics, or pottery are options Learn an Instrument – I have been taking piano and devote 20 minutes per day with one 30 minute lesson a week. Learn a new language – Take a class or do it at home (i.e. Rosetta Stone) Getting weekly lessons will also help your progress and keep you on track. *If you love the Get Lean Eat Clean Podcast, we’d love for you to subscribe, rate, and give a review on iTunes. Until next time!

0 (1s): Hello, and welcome to the get lean and eat clean podcast. My name is Brian grin. I'm a certified health coach, trainer and author. And this podcast is for middle-aged men and women looking to optimize their health and get their bodies back to what it once was 10 to 15 years ago. I will give you simple, actionable items to get long-term sustainable results. Thanks for listening and enjoy the show. 2 (33s): All right, welcome to the Gatling, eat clean podcast. My name is Brian grin, and thanks so much for listening. I'm excited to talk about today's topic. This is regarding our brain and mental health. Probably something that doesn't get talked a lot about, especially people in the health and wellness space, probably 80% at least is talked about, you know, what you should eat when you should eat, which is, you know, what I talk about for the majority of my, my podcasts and my clients as well. But what about enhancing the brain and learning new things in order to increase brain cells? Because we know that as we age, we can do that. We can learn new things, we can gain skills, we can be an unpredictable challenges or situations that can trigger what's called neuroplasticity and neurogenesis. 2 (1m 22s): So it also can have other host of benefits such as improving mood, increasing memory formation, preventing the decline associated with aging. So I know a lot of people that listen to this podcast middle-aged or getting up there, try to find challenges and things that you can do to put a little stress on your brain. It'll make it stronger in the long run. So let's talk about a few of those things, but before I do, I'll just give you a little bit of some, some knowledge based on how different things that you do actually affect different areas of your brain. So pretty cool. Prefrontal is improved by puzzle chess or meditation. 2 (2m 7s): I just played chess last night with a buddy of mine. Temporal lobes can be improved by memory games and musical instruments. So you sort of want to take in to consideration, well, what can I do in each of these areas to sort of improve my brain neuroplasticity and to increase what's called neurogenesis period. Paradol lobes. Can it be improved by juggling? I can juggle and logic games. I'm not probably really good at logic games, I'd say. And lastly, the cerebellum, this can be improved by yoga. I do yoga dancing. I don't dance and coordination games like tennis. 2 (2m 47s): I play tennis, I play golf. So just try to run through and say, what are you doing to challenge your brain on a daily basis? Obviously, reading books is great as well, but you can step it up and do some other. And I'll talk a little bit more about, maybe give you some ideas, but the bottom line is you just want to pick something, commit to it, 10 to 20 minutes a day. That's it nothing more than that. Find a creative hobby and don't focus on, okay, I have this hobby. I need to do it an hour a day, literally 10 minutes a day. This could be learning a new language. I'm going to talk about like playing an instrument, which is something that I've done over the last, gosh, it's gotta be at least six, seven years now where I'll just play a little bit in the morning and I take a 30 minute lesson once a week. 2 (3m 36s): But it's amazing when you learn something as an adult, as opposed to learning something. When you're 10, 11, 12 years old, it's how much you appreciate that learning process. And I really do recommend it for anybody. It doesn't have to be piano. It could be something else, maybe guitar or something. You've been thinking about something. My wife does is she does do artwork painting. She does, she does painting. Let's not mosaics, but you could do pottery. She does paint by numbers. If you've never heard of it, it's a good way to start if you're just starting out and there's some, you can really create some beautiful pieces with that. So that's called paint by numbers. If you've never done that. And then, like I mentioned before, learning a new language, this is something, I mean, I've learned Spanish in the past, but I would love to revisit Spanish, which is something that I would love to do in the next year. 2 (4m 25s): So you could take a class, but honestly you could do it all at home. Obviously you have things like Rosetta stone and there's plenty of programs out there where you can learn a new language. So the bottom line is just start, start something, pick something that you have somewhat of an interest in that you're going to enjoy the process. Cause that's all it is. And then just work to get better at it than just, you know, a little bit every day. It makes a big difference. I mean, as you age, you got to think about not only your physical health, but also your mental health. And I think these are definitely ways to improve and increase brain cells. It's helped me a ton. 2 (5m 5s): I gotta say piano. It's not only great just for learning something new, but also like a stress reliever. Just a way to sort of get in your own world. And so, yeah. So if you got questions regarding this, that's what I wanted to talk about today. So find a creative hobby and, and write it down below. Let me know what you're doing. Shoot me an email or write it down below. I'll be curious to know what you're taking on new this year. So thanks so much for listening and enjoy the rest of your day. Thanks so much. 0 (5m 37s): Thanks for listening to the get lean, eat clean podcast. I understand there are millions of other podcasts out there and you've chosen to listen to mine. And I appreciate that. Check out the show notes@briangrin.com for everything that was mentioned in this episode, feel free to subscribe to the podcast and share it with a friend or family member. That's looking to get their body back to what it once was. Thanks again, and have a great day.

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