Transcription
Do you remember in school we would sit for 7 to 8 hours in a classroom not moving and we were all expected to pay attention and once or twice a week there would be PT class where we were allowed to play games. We were all made to believe that learning and moving are two separate things. What a scam.
Because today neuroscience has taught us that these two things are the same. And in today's video, I want to teach you all how to make use of this information. I'm Dr. Sudat Warrior. I'm a neurologist and welcome to my YouTube channel. I teach you everything you need to know about your brain, your health, and how to live a better life. If you've not subscribed yet, do so. You'll see a lot more such videos on your timeline.
So, in this video, I'm going to teach you two things. How movement works in the brain. And two, how can you use this as hacks to live a better life. There are timestamps in the video below so you can find what you're looking for.
I made a drawing for you guys. This is your brain and this is the part of the brain that helps you move. It is called as the motor cortex. Now the preffrontal cortex is where you are rational and conscious of what you're doing. So if you decide to move your hand, your prefrontal cortex tells your motor cortex and that is how you get to do what you want. Also called as free will. Now, we're not going to discuss whether free will is real or not. That is a whole other video. But for this video, let's assume that free will exists.
Millions of years before the prefrontal cortex evolved, there was still movement. Animals, birds, insects, fishes, even jellyfish and amoeba were all moving. And all this happened before the prefrontal cortex evolved. So, how does that happen? So, if you think about it, movement came before thinking. The parts of the brain like basil ganglia and the brain stem were all involved in moving an animal. And the main molecule that was responsible for movement was dopamine. Yes, the chemical that we all thought was responsible for happiness and motivation was actually responsible for movement. Without dopamine, movement would not start. So the more you move, the easier it gets for dopamine to be released, which in turn makes movement easier.
But as we kept evolving and we developed the prefrontal cortex, the same dopamine that was responsible for movement all these billions of years now took on another role which is to motivate you into thinking ahead, into planning, into being active. So now that you know how dopamine evolved to make movement possible on the days where you are feeling lethargic where you feel that you don't really want to do anything and you say that oh I'm low on dopamine now you can understand how movement can help you.
So that being said let's talk about the five brain hacks that you can use on an everyday basis using this information to motivate yourself better.
Hack number one stand up. One of the unfortunate things that we seem to have done in the last 100 years is normalize sitting down. We now sit down for everything, but it was never really the norm. Our body has evolved extensive muscles called anti-gravity muscles that are responsible for us standing up erect. Those muscles need to keep working for our brain to work well. So in other words, every chance you get, stand up. Use a standing desk. Try to walk around as you take your meetings, have discussions with your friends, even while learning something new. So if you are a student and you're trying to memorize something, pick up your book and just walk around the room while you're trying to memorize it. Believe me, you will be able to memorize those facts much better.
Hack number two, use repeated actions. Take a ball that you can bounce off a wall or take a pen that you can turn in your fingers. Anything that you can do with your hands that doesn't require you to think too much about it is a great way of combining movement with learning. You can think of it as keeping your motor cortex active while your attention is on something else.
The third hack is for those moments where you are feeling low or demotivated. You feel like you don't really have the energy to do something. Start with this hack. Take your fist and clench and unclench them slowly and slowly start increasing the speed and intensity. After 30 45 seconds, get up and start walking around the room. After a couple of minutes of doing that, increase your arm swing. That is swing your arms back and forth more as you walk around. Do this for a few more minutes and then ask yourself, do you feel like doing that task now? Chances are that you feel more motivated to do it now than you did 10 minutes back. The reason for this is what we have explained before. Movement leads to dopamine. Simply by the act of doing that repeated thing, now you have more dopamine in your brain which will give you more motivation in order to do that task.
Hack number four, and it's something that I use on an everyday basis, is doodle to get things done. Now, whenever I'm reading something new, I always have a notebook and a pen next to me. And even if I'm not taking active notes, I allow myself to scribble random things while I'm reading something. Just the act of doodling randomly or scribbling any words on paper while I'm thinking about a topic helps me express certain things that I would not otherwise have. And it wasn't until recently that I understood why. When you are taking in information, when you are reading something or listening, when you do both of these at once, you are actually activating your entire language circuit. So you listen and then you are also putting something out there. This act allows you to remember things better. So again, we have an example of how movement helps in learning.
And hack number five and a continuation of that same theme is using language as movement. Remember that language is an act of give and take. We are not supposed to just consume information but we are also supposed to put stuff out there. Unfortunately in today's world when all of us are stuck on our phones and scrolling reels we forget this important part. Our brain and body have evolved to put stuff out there whether it is in the form of facial expressions or through vocal cords moving in the form of words and language. This is also one reason why teaching helps you remember better because ultimately when you teach you are moving your vocal cords and your facial muscles. Again movement helping you learn.
So these are five movement hacks that you can use all the time on a daily basis to help you learn better. I have not even touched on how active exercise, aerobic movement can help you. I have an entire video dedicated to how exercise affects the brain. Go watch that after this. I hope you found this video useful and also I have a workshop coming up on the 2nd and 3rd of August. If you want to learn more about your brain, about neuroplasticity, sign up for that. I would love to see you all there. Bye everyone. Take care.