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The Physical Exercises That Build Your Brain
Plus: 7 habits we can learn from Japan to live healthier and longer
The 10almonds Team
July 25, 2023
Today’s almonds have been activated by:
Loading Screen Tip: take a moment to appreciate something that you do today that old you thought you’d never be able to do
⏰ IN A RUSH?
Today’s 30-Second Summary
If you don’t have time to read the whole email today, here are some key takeaways:
Our brain is our most resource-intensive organ in our body, and its proportionally huge size is our species’ chief “distinguishing attribute” like a rabbit’s ears or a scorpion’s tail or a cricket’s legs.
There are physical exercises we can do that will strengthen parts of our brain, literally building stronger neural connections in certain important regions, that will allow us to use our brain a lot more efficiently in our general life.
Doing so may also help guard against cognitive decline, because of the process of rejuvenation inherent to building new synaptic pathways and then reinforcing and strengthening those.
Continued learning is important all the way through life, but that “to-read” list sure stacks up, doesn’t it?
Today’s sponsor Blinkist offers thousands of 15-minute book summaries (text and/or audio; you choose) to help with that.
Whether you go on to buy/borrow any given book, or are just happy to learn from the summaries, it really helps any passionate reader to allocate our time well!
Read on to learn about these things and more…
👀 WATCH AND LEARN
7 Healthy Habits in Japan
Aki was asked by his foreign friends, "why are Japanese people so healthy and have long lifespans?"
He's quick to note that Japan has its own health problems too, such as natural disasters, death by fatigue from overworking, and suicide. But, there are also good traits and habits of Japanese culture that he'd like to share:
🦷 MAIN FEATURE
Jim Kwik: from broken brain to brain coach
This is Jim Kwik. He suffered a traumatic brain injury as a small child, and later taught himself to read and write by reading comic books. He became fascinated with the process of learning, and in his late 20s he set up Kwik Learning, to teach accelerated learning in classrooms and companies, which he continued until 2009 when he launched his online learning platform. His courses have now been enjoyed by people in 195 countries.
So, since accelerated learning is his thing, you might wonder…
What does he have to share that we can benefit from in the next five minutes?
Three brain exercises to improve memory and concentration
A lot of problems we have with working memory are a case of executive dysfunction, but there are tricks we can use to get our brains into gear and make them cumulatively stronger:
First exercise
You can strengthen your corpus callosum (the little bridge between the two hemispheres of the brain) by performing a simple kinesiological exercise, such as alternating touching your left elbow to your right knee, and touching your right elbow to your left knee.
Do it for about a minute, but the goal here is not a cardio exercise, it’s accuracy!
You want to touch your elbow and opposite knee to each other as precisely as possible each time. Not missing slightly off to the side, not falling slightly short, not hitting it too hard.
Second exercise
Put your hands out in front of you, as though you’re about to type at a keyboard. Now, turn your hands palm-upwards. Now back to where they were. Now palm-upwards again. Got it? Good.
That’s not the exercise, the exercise is:
You’re now going to do the same thing, but do it twice as quickly with one hand than the other. So they’ll still be flipping to the same basic “beat”, put it in musical terms, the tempo on one hand will now be twice that of the other. When you get the hang of that, switch hands and do the other side.
This is again about the corpus callosum, but it’s now adding an extra level of challenge because of holding the two rhythms separately, which is also working the frontal lobe of the cerebral cortex.
The pre-frontal cortex in particular is incredibly important to executive function, self-discipline, and being able to “do” delayed gratification. So this exercise is really important!
Third exercise
This one works the same features of the brain, but most people find it harder. So, consider it a level-up on the previous:
Imagine there’s a bicycle wheel in front of you (as though the bike is facing you at chest-height). Turn the wheel towards you with your hands, one on each side.
Now, do the same thing, but each of your hands is going in the opposite direction. So one is turning the wheel towards you; the other is turning it away from you.
Now, do the same thing, but one hand goes twice as quickly as the other.
Switch sides.
Why is this harder for most people than the previous? Because the previous involved processing discrete (distinct from each other) movements while this one involves analog continuous movements.
It’s like reading an analog clock vs a digital clock, but while using both halves of your brain, your corpus callosum, your pre-frontal cortex, and the motor cortex too.
Want to learn more?
You might enjoy his book, which as well as offering exercises like the above, also offers a lot about learning strategies, memory processes, and generally building a quicker more efficient brain:
❤️ OUR SPONSORS MAKE THIS PUBLICATION POSSIBLE
Blinkist: Powerful Ideas in 15 Minutes
Here at 10almonds, we love offering condensed knowledge that’s easy to digest, with pointers of where to go if you want to know more. And that’s what Blinkist does, too.
If your to-read list is the size of the Library of Alexandria and stands about the same chances of getting read in its entirety, Blinkist can help!
How, you ask?
Blinkist gives 15-minute book summaries! These take the form of a one-page text and/or audio summary (you choose either or both) of each chapter’s key ideas. It then offers you to buy the actual book if you want it, or if what you got from those notes is enough for you, you can just save them to a folder and move on to another book.
Basically, it really streamlines reading so that you can spend more time on the books most important to you!
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🌍 AROUND THE WEB
What’s happening in the health world…
More to come tomorrow!
📖 ONE-MINUTE BOOK REVIEW
Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance - by Alex Hutchinson
Life is a marathon, not a sprint. For most of us, at least. But how do we pace ourselves to go the distance, without falling into complacency along the way?
According to our author Alex Hutchinson, there's a lot more to it than goal-setting and strategy.
Hutchinson set out to write a running manual, and ended up writing a manual for life. To be clear, this is still mostly centered around the science of athletic endurance, but covers the psychological factors as much as the physical... and notes how the capacity to endure is the key trait that underlies great performance in every field.
The writing style is both personal and personable, and parts read like a memoir (Hutchinson himself being a runner and sports journalist), while others are scientific in nature.
As for the science, the kind of science examined runs the gamut from case studies to clinical studies. We examine not just the science of physical endurance, but the science of psychological endurance too. We learn about such things as:
How perception of ease/difficulty plays its part
What factors make a difference to pain tolerance
How mental exhaustion affects physical performance
What environmental factors increase or lessen our endurance
...and many other elements that most people don't consider
Bottom line: whether you want to run a marathon in under two hours, or just not quit after one minute forty seconds on the exercise bike, or to get through a full day's activities while managing chronic pain, this book can help.
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May your body and brain go from strength to strength in the marathon of life,
The 10almonds Team