3 min readMar 8, 2025 03:21 PM IST
First published on: Mar 8, 2025 at 03:21 PM IST
Brain is the most complex part of the human body. This three-pound organ serves as the brain’s seat of intellect, the body’s primary movement controller, the sense interpreter, and the source of thought. Yet we do little to take care of it.
However, let me talk about five easy exercises that help in coordinating movements and keep the brain functioning at its best as it guides various physiological processes.
THE FIVE EXERCISES
1) Standing forward-backward bends: Start in a standing position, first arching your back into a backward bend and then immediately following that with a forward bend at the hips, essentially performing a backbend followed by a forward fold. While going down, tuck the chin into the chest and breathe out. Then go up, breathe in and stretch backwards gently.
2) Windmill: Stand with legs three feet apart. Raise one arm and slide your other arm down your leg. Using your left palm, touch the right ankle, use your right palm to touch the left ankle. Move your head, too, in these alternate directions.
3) Jumping jacks: This involves jumping with the legs spread apart and the hands going overhead, sometimes in a clap, and then returning to a position with feet together and arms at the sides. Breathe out, jump up with hands up. Breathe in and land back with hands down.
4) Wind releasing pose: Lie down on the back, breathe in and stretch. Breathe out and squeeze hard, tucking the chin in, locking your stomach completely.
5) Mountain position to snake pose: In prone position, keep your hands folded at the elbow next to your chest. Inhale slowly as you raise your torso, head facing upwards, in snake position. Then exhale, bring your hip upwards with your head facing downward to become a mountain.
SLOW AND STEADY BENEFITS
Always coordinate the above exercises with abdominal breathing as that leads to better oxygenation of the brain. When you stretch, bend, limber, contract or work against gravity, our body gets stimulated, our mental awareness and reflexes get heightened.
When you repeat the above exercises, you end up clearing neural pathways (groups of nerve fibres that carry information between the brain and spinal cord in your brain). Also, exercise helps modulate neurotransmitters, which are chemical messengers that carry signals between nerve cells and control our mood and stress. These exercises also stimulate your digestive system which in turn stimulates your brain because of the mind-gut axis. Sometimes holding a posture requires focus and that translates into sharper brain function.
COMPLEMENTARY ROUTINES
Puzzles, Sudoku and crosswords push your brain to think critically and solve problems, strengthening neural networks in the process. Learn a new skill so that the brain can process novel information and adapt itself. Creative pursuits and reading stimulate the brain’s language, memory and comprehension areas. Meeting people requires your brain to process emotions, recognize social cues and engage in memory recall.
(Dr Mehta is a holistic health expert)
Exercise helps modulate neurotransmitters, which are chemical messengers that carry signals between nerve cells and control our mood and stress. 
Share
