Lesson 17: Drums Alive – A Brain and Body Program
From drumming to Drums Alive® – a completely new and innovative way to experience movement and rhythm. Drums Alive® is a new trend arising in group fitness. This holistic workout connects simple and dynamic movements and pulsating rhythms with drumming on a fitness (stability) ball. Not only is Drums Alive® a fun program, it has many physical and psychological benefits as well. It increases heart rate and blood circulation, just like the classical aerobic training of a group fitness session. In addition, drumming may have subtle effects such as the improvement of the neurological pathways between left and right brain hemispheres.
This drumming fitness program assists in bringing both brain hemispheres into synchronization, which may lead to improved concentration and increased sensory and motor abilities. It is also a powerful way to release stress. People who drum become noticeably calmer and more balanced and, with the release of endorphins, experience less stress. Drums Alive® provides a platform for socialization and a sense of belonging to a group which has shown to improve motivation and fitness adherence. Other studies have shown that participation in a program that is FUN adds a “mood dimension,” which in return facilitates motivation, resulting in continued adherence to a physical activity program. (Ryan et al., 1997)
“What is good for the body is also good for the brain” (Ratey, 2008)
The Brain responds like a muscle – “Use it or Lose it”!
Movement is not only good for the body, it is essential for our brain! In the same way we can take care of our physical health, we can take charge of our mental health and fitness. Brain Body Training (BBT) is based on solid scientific ground breaking studies and substantial findings about the brain that will provide you with a strategy for keeping the brain fit. BBT aims to provide you with ways by which you can help your clients maintain a continual level of mental fitness, strength and flexibility throughout their lives.
Why Exercise?
- Exercise cues the building blocks of learning in the brain
- Exercise releases neurochemicals and growth factors
- Exercise gets blood to your brain, bringing it glucose for energy and oxygen to soak up the toxic electrons that are left over. It also stimulates the protein that keeps neurons connecting.
Neurons That Wire Together…..Fire Together!
- Affect mood
- Affect anxiety
- Affect attention
- Guard against stress
- Heighten senses
- Improve focus and moods
- Reverse some of the effects of aging in the brain
- help to alleviate the symptoms of menopause
Neurotransmitters are chemicals located and released in the brain to allow an impulse from one nerve cell to pass to another nerve cell.
Exercise aids in the production of BDNF (Brain derived neurotropic factor). BDNF is a crucial biological link between thought, emotion and movement. BDNF is important for survival of neurons but also for their growth (sprouting new branches) and thus for learning.
BDNF sprinkled onto neurons causes them to sprout new branches automatically producing the same structural growth required for learning–like “Miracle-Gro” for the brain.
“Physical movement and exercise is the basis for learning. How much knowledge you retain depends a lot upon a proper balance of neurochemicals and growth factors to bind neurons together. Exercise has documented dramatic effect on these essential ingredients”. (Ratey, 2008)