Photo by: Steve-h

To many of us we don’t like to think about the effects of our brains not working as usual, we just want and expect everything to work well. But travelling in the car the other day with the radio playing I heard a report on brain health and exercise. It appears that if we exercise regularly our brain can self-repair easier when damage occurs and now there’s a study underway in Canada to see just how this works. http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2011/09/27/stroke-recovery.html

That got me to thinking about how amazing that particular muscle is. We give it so little thought throughout our day as it runs our body, regulates our breathing, allows us to do and say what we need to at any given moment. It’s only when it doesn’t work the way we want or expect it to that we acknowledge it at all. For instance, “I can’t remember where my keys are, I don’t know where my mind is today.” Same place it always is.

As a species we need to take care of our bodies as a whole, look at them holistically not just as a number of different parts. If I’m right we all want to be here for as long as we can, but we all want to be in good health too. When was the last time you heard someone say “I want to grow old and sick and lose my faculties”?

Exercise is a good way to keep the body healthy and really doesn’t take much effort.  Even a short walk a day is better than nothing. I’m not just lecturing I actually do walk every day with my dogs through the woods and, yes, some days I’d much rather be doing something less active, but it helps to clear my head and build energy in my body for the things I have to do. Most importantly it allows me to get a bit of distance from my immediate worries.  It’s wonderful the way you can think straighter and start putting things in perspective while working out. It’s like moving meditation.

I’ve learned over the years that if I feel really low, I need to get some exercise, preferably outside in the air, but the gym will do, or some yoga, or even working out to a video. I just need to get moving and now I can say I’m keeping my brain healthy too.  Try it, do something good for that muscle inside your skull, it’ll reward you in the long term, and it might just save your life.  Join me in feeling good everyday (or almost every day).