Physical movement opens the door to brain growth
and development
by Moira Dempsey and Julia Morgan
Physical movement is a gateway to
learning even when your baby is inside the womb
All the movements that your baby makes in the womb are actually
developing nerve networks that will be vitally important for your baby's development.
One of the really important aspects of brain development is the physical movement
you make during your pregnancy. Whether it is walking around, or sitting, or rocking
in a chair, these movements help your baby to form a memory pattern of how to move
in the outside world. After birth, lay your baby on his back and while gently holding
his feet, rock him back and forth - do this a few times a day for a minute or so.
This is another physical movement that helps in brain development.
During the first 15 months after birth, the movements of the infant reflexes, such
as the Moro reflex (ability of the infant to be startled), Tonic Neck Reflex (when
infant is lying on his back there is a spontaneous stretching or straightening of
the arm and leg when infant is turned to one side), Spinal Galant reflex (when infant
is stroked from neck down the spinal cord it will cause the back to curve towards
the touch), to name just a few, play an enormously important role in getting the
baby ready to move from lying on his back to rolling over, to sitting, crawling,
standing and walking. All these movements develop pathways in the brain. The reflexes
need to be efficiently merged into the whole body movement system that develops
as the child grows.
Crawling: A physical movement that develops the brain
It is vitally important that your baby spends time lying on his back, kicking his
legs, learning to role over and lie on his tummy, learning to lift his head to gain
better control of the neck. Crawling is also vital for brain development. Early
introduction of baby walkers have a detrimental effect on development as they put
the baby into an upright position too early, when they are not developmentally ready
to do so. This can have an effect on vision, brain development and co-ordination.
Contrary to popular belief, a baby that learns how to walk early does not make him
smarter - crawling is essential for developing the corpus callosum (part of the
brain), binocular vision (visual coordination) and the frontal lobes of the brain
(important area for processing information later in life).
Example of physical movements that you can do with your
baby
An example of good movement that you can do with your baby is to lay him on his
back and gently take one hand and the opposite ankle and bring the two together
so the hand and toes touch, then swap and bring the other hand and foot together.
Keep alternating and doing the cross patterning movement for a minute of two. This
movement helps to develop the ability of the two hemispheres (left and right portions)
of the child's brain to communicate with each other.
Physical movement continues to have an important role in learning and brain development
as your baby grows. Physical activities such as play produces neurotransmitters
(natural chemicals in the brain) that help develop the neural pathways in the brain.
Play is also important for social and behavioural development.
Example of physical movement that you can do with your
young child
Children are very active and are also naturally curious. Allow your
child to play and move around freely as this assists in brain development. Too much
sitting is developmentally inappropriate for toddlers and children below five or
six. It interferes with the natural development of the brain. Children may obey
and sit and 'write' and 'read' when they are very young, however it goes against
the way the various parts of the brain develop and can cause learning blocks at
a later date.
The cross patterning movements described previously is a great movement for young
children to do. They can do it themselves this time by standing and lifting one
knee and tapping it with the opposite hand, and then changing sides. It is fun to
do with music, preferably at a medium speed. You can reasonably expect a child of
4 to do the movement with a bit of practice. If a 5 or 6 year old finds it difficult
do it then it is suggested to send them to some classes that teach body movements
such as Brain Gym, Kids Yoga, Judo etc.
With these facts, we can now conclude that physical movement is indeed vital for
brain development. Please give your baby plenty of time on the floor, rolling around,
kicking his legs, and crawling. As he grows older ensure that he has plenty of physical
activity.