Keeping the Mind Engaged

Movement Matters | Keeping the Body Capable

The value of physical movement, active thinking, curiosity, and bringing our memories back into use.

Think about how much information passes through your mind during an ordinary day. Conversations, television programs, social media, news, instructions, advertisements, and countless small details compete for our attention. We see, hear, read, and respond to an extraordinary amount of information, yet how much of it do we actually remember? And how often are we asking our brains to do something meaningful with what we've encountered? Our brains remain active whether we're concentrating, daydreaming, sleeping, or completing familiar routines. But there is a difference between processing information as it arrives and deliberately engaging the abilities that allow us to learn, reason, solve problems, and recall what we've experienced.

When we think about keeping our minds healthy and active, we often picture crossword puzzles, word searches, or memory games. These can be wonderful activities, but the possibilities extend much further. We can engage our thinking through conversation, movement, music, unfamiliar experiences, creative challenges, and the everyday choices that encourage us to pay closer attention to the world around us. The interesting question is not how busy our minds are, but how we're inviting them to participate.

Give Your Memory Something to Do

There is a fascinating difference between recognizing information and retrieving it from memory. Imagine watching an interesting documentary about building a kitchen. You follow the demonstrations, understand the instructions, and enjoy learning how everything fits together. While you're watching, much of the information is available to you through the pictures and explanations. But what happens afterward? Could you describe the first three steps without watching again? Could you explain why the builder chose one material over another? If someone asked you to demonstrate the process, how much could you bring back from memory?

The act of trying to remember what we've learned is itself a valuable learning activity. Researchers call this retrieval practice, and studies have found that actively recalling information can strengthen our ability to remember it later. This is part of what makes the brain so remarkable. Remembering isn't only about receiving and storing information. It also involves finding that information again, organizing it, and making it available when we need it.

We can practise this throughout everyday life. After reading an article, try explaining its main ideas to someone without looking back. After watching an instructional video, write down what you remember before replaying it. When learning a new recipe, see whether you can recall the ingredients and preparation sequence before checking the instructions. These activities invite the brain to participate more actively in what we're learning. We begin making connections, organizing information, and using our memories rather than relying exclusively on the material in front of us. And when we return to something we've learned after a little time has passed, we give ourselves another opportunity to practise retrieving it.

The Pleasure of Puzzles, Games, and Problem-Solving

Crossword puzzles, word searches, Sudoku, Scrabble, solitaire, and other familiar games all offer opportunities to engage different mental abilities. A crossword puzzle invites us to explore language, interpret clues, and retrieve words and knowledge from memory. Scrabble adds decisions about spelling, vocabulary, letter combinations, and strategy. Sudoku encourages logical reasoning, pattern recognition, and the ability to consider several possibilities before making a decision.

A word search asks us to sustain visual attention, recognize letter patterns, and scan information systematically. Solitaire involves planning, recognizing sequences, and considering how one move might influence the next. Each activity offers a different kind of challenge, and the enjoyment we find in playing can encourage us to return to it regularly.

There is also value in occasionally choosing something less familiar. Someone who loves word searches might discover a new challenge in Sudoku, while a person accustomed to number puzzles might enjoy a game involving language or strategy. The change asks us to approach information differently, develop new strategies, and practise abilities we may not use as frequently. There is no need to turn every leisure activity into an assignment. Enjoyment, curiosity, and the pleasure of solving something can be excellent reasons to keep playing.

The Comfort of Routine and the Value of Something New

Consider how many activities we complete each day almost without thinking about them. We prepare familiar breakfasts, travel the same roads, follow established household routines, and complete tasks in an order we've used for years. These routines are valuable. Through repetition and learning, the brain becomes more efficient at performing familiar activities, allowing many actions to require less conscious attention. This frees mental resources for decisions, unexpected situations, and other responsibilities. Imagine having to relearn how to brush your teeth, operate your coffee maker, or find your way home every morning. Our ability to develop automatic skills and routines is an extraordinary advantage.

But familiarity also means that some activities no longer require us to think through every decision. When we always choose the same route, prepare the same meal, or perform an activity in precisely the same way, we may have fewer opportunities within those activities to practise unfamiliar decisions or learn new information. This is where a little variety becomes interesting.

Taking a different walking route encourages us to observe our surroundings and navigate unfamiliar details. Preparing a new recipe requires reading instructions, organizing ingredients, and learning a different sequence. Learning the names of plants, birds, or landmarks invites us to connect what we're seeing with new information. The brain's ability to adapt through experience and learning is known as neuroplasticity. Our nervous system continues changing throughout life as we develop skills, strengthen connections, and practise different abilities.

We don't need to constantly reinvent our routines to benefit from this adaptability. Sometimes introducing one new activity or approaching something familiar from a different direction is enough to give our thinking a fresh challenge.

The Difference Between Watching and Participating

We have access to an extraordinary amount of information through television, computers, phones, and other devices. We can watch someone restore an old house, prepare an elaborate meal, explore another country, or explain almost any subject imaginable. There is real educational value in these opportunities. Watching and listening can involve considerable thinking, and an interesting program may inspire us to explore something we might otherwise never have encountered.

However, it is possible to spend hours moving from one piece of information to another without stopping to consider what we've learned. Social media makes this particularly easy. We scroll through photographs, headlines, videos, and conversations, often spending only a few seconds with each before moving to the next. Our attention is being repeatedly directed toward something new, but we may not be giving ourselves much opportunity to examine the information, connect it with what we already know, or retrieve it later.

This is where we can introduce a different habit: pause occasionally and become a participant rather than remaining an observer. After watching something interesting, ask yourself what you learned. Consider whether you agree with what was presented and why. Explain an idea to someone else, make a connection with your own experience, or try putting the information into practice.

Even a conversation can become more engaging when we move beyond listening for our turn to speak. Asking a thoughtful question, connecting what someone has said with another idea, and recalling an earlier part of the discussion all involve active mental participation. The value isn't in avoiding entertainment or constantly demanding productivity from ourselves. It is in recognizing that we have choices about how deeply we engage with the information surrounding us.

Moving the Body Brings More Than Muscles Into Action

Physical movement provides another remarkable opportunity to engage the brain. When we walk, cycle, swim, or participate in other aerobic activities, we support cardiovascular function, circulation, metabolic health, and the many physiological systems upon which our brains depend. Physical activity is also associated with changes in signalling substances involved in the health and adaptability of nerve cells, including brain-derived neurotrophic factor, commonly known as BDNF. Researchers continue investigating how exercise influences learning, memory, and different aspects of cognitive function.

But movement also involves communication and coordination. The brain is continually interpreting information from the eyes, muscles, joints, and balance systems while organizing the movements required to accomplish an activity. Consider walking through a woodland trail. Your eyes are observing the ground and surrounding trees, your balance system is responding to changes in terrain, and your brain is coordinating the position and movement of your body. If you're also learning to identify birds by their calls or recognizing different plants, you've added another opportunity for attention and memory. The physical and mental experiences become part of the same activity.

Dancing, Qigong, and Tai Chi — Movement That Requires Attention

Dancing is one of my favourite examples of combining physical movement with mental engagement. Think about learning a new line dance. You must listen to the rhythm, remember the sequence, coordinate your feet, recognize when the pattern repeats, and adjust your timing as the music continues. At first, each movement may require considerable concentration. With practice, the sequence becomes more familiar, allowing you to move with greater confidence and enjoyment.

Research examining dance and cognitive function has reported encouraging findings, particularly in areas involving broader cognitive performance and executive abilities. And there's a social dimension to dancing that can make the experience even more enjoyable. Learning alongside other people brings conversation, laughter, shared attention, and the satisfaction of gradually mastering something together.

Qigong and Tai Chi offer a different experience. Their coordinated movements encourage awareness of posture, balance, breathing, and the relationship between one movement and the next. Rather than relying on speed or intensity, these practices invite deliberate attention to what the body is doing. Remembering a sequence, coordinating breathing with movement, and adjusting balance require us to remain engaged with the experience. The slower pace can also offer a welcome contrast to the urgency many people experience throughout their day.

Whether someone chooses line dancing, Qigong, Tai Chi, or a new walking activity, there is an opportunity to combine physical movement with the experience of learning, remembering, and developing coordination.

Everyday Behaviours Worth Taking Another Look At

When we consider habits that may limit our opportunities to develop memory and attention, some of the most interesting are not necessarily harmful activities. They are ways of going through the day that require little active engagement with what we're experiencing.

One is constantly relying on recognition rather than recall. We repeatedly look up information we've already encountered, replay instructions, or check something we could attempt to remember first. External references are extremely useful, but occasionally trying to retrieve information before checking gives our memory an opportunity to practise. Another is abandoning an unfamiliar activity as soon as it becomes difficult. When we learn something new, the first attempts may feel awkward or require considerable concentration. It can be tempting to return immediately to something familiar. Yet practising through manageable difficulty is often part of how learning develops.

A third is consuming information without returning to it. We may read an interesting article, hear a useful explanation, or learn someone's name, but never revisit the information. Returning to something after time has passed, particularly by attempting to recall it, can strengthen our ability to retain it.

We might also consider how frequently we allow other sources to make decisions for us. Recommendations, automatic navigation, suggested entertainment, and familiar routines can be wonderfully convenient, but occasionally choosing, planning, and navigating independently provides opportunities to exercise our judgment and problem-solving abilities. None of these conveniences needs to disappear from our lives. They make many activities easier and more accessible. We can appreciate their usefulness while continuing to find opportunities to engage our own abilities.

The Casaroma Five-Minute Mind and Movement Challenge

Let's bring some of these ideas together in an activity that engages rhythm, coordination, attention, and memory. It can be completed while standing or sitting comfortably in a sturdy chair.

Minute One — Find Your Rhythm

Begin by marching gently in place or alternating your feet while seated. Find a comfortable rhythm and maintain it for approximately one minute. Notice how your movements become more familiar as you continue.

Minutes Two and Three — Introduce a New Pattern

While continuing at a comfortable pace, touch your right hand toward your left knee, then your left hand toward your right knee. Alternate the movements, allowing your brain to coordinate the opposite sides of your body. Once the pattern becomes familiar, change the rhythm or pause briefly before beginning again.

Minutes Four and Five — Bring Memory Into the Movement

Continue with a comfortable movement pattern and choose a subject such as vegetables, animals, or places you've visited. Name five examples, then change to another category.

After you've finished moving, see whether you can recall the examples you named in the first category without repeating the activity. You may notice that adding another task changes how much attention you need to give your movements. You may also find that the coordination becomes easier with practice, allowing you to concentrate more comfortably on recalling information.

The challenge can be adapted to your own abilities. Keep the pace comfortable, use support where needed, and practise the coordination while seated if that feels more appropriate.

Keeping the Mind Engaged Throughout Life

Our brains are involved in everything we do, but the ways we choose to use our attention influence what we learn, practise, and remember. Familiar routines help us manage life efficiently, while new experiences invite us to develop different abilities. Puzzles and games encourage problem-solving, language, strategy, and attention. Physical movement supports the body while providing opportunities for coordination and learning. And deliberately recalling information allows us to bring our memories back into active use.

There is tremendous value in remaining curious about the world around us, continuing to learn, and occasionally choosing an activity that asks something unfamiliar of us. The next time you finish watching an interesting program, try explaining one thing you learned. When you take your next walk, notice something you haven't observed before and see whether you remember it later. Or choose a game, dance, or activity that gives you a new challenge to enjoy.

The opportunities to keep our minds engaged are already woven throughout everyday life. We can make more of them by choosing not only to experience the world around us, but also to think about it, interact with it, and remember what we've discovered.

Casaroma Wellness — Whole Food. Whole Person. Whole Life.