Wellness Journalism: Whole Brain Fitness

Print



Though the brain is an organ, it can be trained like a muscle. You can make it more flexible, strengthen its powers of concentration, or increase its weight-bearing capacity (figuratively speaking).

In an academic environment, certain parts of the brain get a lot of exercise—primarily those involved in act of studying and taking tests. There is a great deal of reading, memorizing, analyzing, reviewing, and recalling. While the intellectual prowess cultivated in the classroom is wonderfully useful in its own right, balanced mental fitness requires additional consideration.

Cranial Calisthenics for the Prevention of Lopsided Lobes

1. Read for pleasure. Browse the internet for blogs and articles that capture your interest, or pick up a book you’ve been curious about.

2. Switch up your routines. If you are right handed, use your left hand for awhile. If you always drink coffee in the morning, have a cup of tea instead.

3. Play! From sports and games to fort-building and tree-climbing, activate your imagination.

4. Engage in lively conversation and friendly debate. Challenge and explore conventional schools of thought, social norms, and institutions.

5. Reflect. Take some quiet time in the evening to think about your day—you’re likely to discover an aspect or two that’s marked for review.

6. Have new experiences. Go someplace you’ve never been, do something you’ve never done, or get to know somebody you haven’t met.

7. Create open-ended opportunities. Whether it’s drawing a picture, writing a story or poem, painting the furniture, inventing a recipe, or reorganizing your room, cultivate the creative flow.

Intellectual Wellness isn’t just getting good grades, although good grades are often a happy byproduct of Intellectual Wellness. Train the whole brain!

Wellness Journalism: The Power of Thought

Print

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Contemplations on the power of thought

Thoughts are your consciousness interface with the environment. If you begin to watch your thoughts, you’ll notice that your thoughts can generally be divided into two camps: productive thoughts and consumptive thoughts. Productive thoughts are those which create, build up, encourage, look forward, motivate, or inspire. Consumptive thoughts, on the other hand, tear down, discourage, or cast judgment. They tend to be self-destructive, self-defeating, or self-discouraging.

Consumptive thinking is not efficient—in fact, it’s usually not even logical. Yet for some reason, consumptive thoughts have a way of eating at the mind, costing a lot of valuable energy, eroding at mental vitality. You mind is a garden and your thoughts are your seeds. Will you harvest flowers or weeds?

When you can hear yourself think, you can begin to identifying that which supports your well-being and happiness, and drive your decisions accordingly. Maybe you pursue a career that you love because you think you deserve it and can do it well, instead of choosing a job for security because you figure your bills will be paid. Perhaps you decide to be single because you’re discovering and defining yourself on your own terms, and not according to what a potential partner may want.

Then there is that magical moment when you catch yourself thinking you can’t do something, only to remind yourself that you can. Remember “The Little Engine That Could?” We encounter this story frequently as children, but it seems to drift into the past as we emerge into a world where the messages of society do not always reinforce this lesson. We learn instead that “life is hard.” This can make things difficult. In fact, life doesn’t have to be a crisis—though it can certainly be a challenge. Think of it as something to rise to instead of resign to.

Having the freedom to think—and flexing your power—is at the heart of Intellectual Wellness. Reserve the right to your thoughts. The potency of free-thinkers is so strong that oppressive governments over the course of history have feared them; “intellectuals” were persecuted, even killed. Those who dared to contradict the system were disempowered and disenfranchised. You are in the university, a naturally occurring think-tank. Explore.

Finally, thoughts are not predetermined. You are not destined to think tomorrow what you thought yesterday. If there is an area of your life you aren’t happy with, consider changing the way you think about it. Remember: what you think determines your feelings, behaviors, actions, decisions—it steers the course of your life. To maximize your mileage, optimize your thoughts.

Study Tips for Finals!

Print



Finals are here again! You might be running on overdrive in an effort to get everything accomplished. Here are some helpful things to remember this week:


Time management & prioritizing. While you are studying, apply quality of attention control. Do not do the semi-study with one eye on your phone and the other on Facebook. When it comes to final exams, the major source of stress is feeling ill-prepared and worrying about whether you had time to study enough. Don’t waste your energy worrying. Plan your study time and trust yourself to focus. (Hint: FOCUS!)


Take study breaks. When you are digesting information at a rapid pace, it’s important to take breaks! Your brain requires a re-fresh: get up, stretch, or stare off into space. One of the most efficient ways to relax your mind muscle is to bring your attention into your body, breathing with awareness. It’s reasonable to think of spending approximately ten minutes on break for every hour of study.


Eat plenty of health snacks. If you want to maximize your mental efforts, avoid refined sugars and processed food. Instead, stock up on whole foods: complete grains, fruits, vegetables, and healthy protein sources. Foods that are high in healthy omega fats—nuts, avocado, fish—are thought to grease your gears. What’s good for the body is good for the brain.


Utilize study sheets and study groups. Make study guides and read them first thing in the morning when you wake up, before other impressions have a chance to settle in. Study groups are also very effective, especially if you have a tendency to fall asleep when studying alone. Just be mindful that the group stays on task.


Get enough sleep. Not getting enough sleep at night is a real pickler when it comes to performance. Sleep deprivation decreases motivation, concentration, attention, and coherent reasoning. It decreases memory, self-control, and speed of thinking. This is the last thing you want to do to yourself before a big test—so put a good night’s sleep first on your list.


Exercise. One of the best ways to increase the flow of oxygen to your neurons after staring at a screen or book for many hours is to get up and move around. Cardiovascular exercise such as walking, running, or biking, will restore brain function. Enhance your educational endurance with exercise!


Ask your professor for help. If you aren’t sure about a particular point, don’t wait until the last minute—your study group partners might not understand it either. Approach your professor or TA ahead of time and ask for clarification.


Keep things in perspective. In all likelihood, this final is not going to be the defining moment of your life, or even your academic career. If you don’t get the score you hoped for, don’t lose your head over it.