Friday 14 February 2020

I Crave Your...Brains

Happy Valentine's Day! If you know me at all, you probably know that I love monsters, and all things creepy. I write at least one ghost story a year, I watch as many horror movies as my parents will allow, and my favourite books all have spooky things in them...

So, when I dug up this old Valentine's Day card my friend Sophie gave me a few years ago, it made me smile. And it's fitting because we're learning all all about brains in school. (Wish we were learning about zombies too, but that's not part of the curriculum, sadly.)

Turns out, my brain should be in pretty good shape—maybe even too good for zombies!

Mrs. Kratky says there are three key components to brain health: learn new skills; exercise your heart, and eat a brain-healthy diet.

The first part is easy. Every day I apply myself at school, I’m learning something new, and making my brain work. "Use it or lose it," my grandpa says. And he’s always exercising his brain by problem solving, trying new things, or well, beating me at chess. Good thing I’m awesome at checkers!

Exercising my heart? No problem! I train all the time for the track team. Coach says 30 minutes of heart-pumping exercise three times a week gets your oxygen flowing to your brain and keeps it active. My brain must be like a jumping jelly bean.

And of course, I know all about proper nutrition. In fact, I learned that some of the same foods that are good for your heart (which we talked about it in last week's post)—like salmon, blueberries, and canola oil—are also good for your brain.

Same goes for foods high in Omega 3 and Vitamin D. Eggs and avocados, for instance, contain nutrients that improve your memory. Whole grains and broccoli have lots of vitamins and fiber to improve blood flow. And dark chocolate—yes, chocolate!—improves your concentration and focus.

Gotta jet! May you get all the (dark) chocolate your heart desires.

~ Chase Superman Duffy

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