Middle School Feed Your Brain: Summer 2024 Edition!

As you continue to have what we hope is a restful and restorative break, we wanted to pop in and share ways for you to feed your brain while you’re away from school.

Below you will find suggestions from Beaver faculty and students to learn, move, connect, nourish, and be. The list includes indoor and outdoor options—as well as a variety of ways for you to engage with the world around you, try new things, practice self-care, and tap into your curiosity!

But before we jump into the list, here’s a refresher on the different elements that make up “Feed Your Brain” and the impact they have—mentally and physically.

Learn

Choose how and what you want to learn. Read, watch, listen, or do something new or connected to what you want to learn more about so you can add to your fund of knowledge. Prior knowledge helps you acquire and learn new information and improves your capacity for problem solving.

Move

Exercise improves brain health, enhances focus, strengthens memory, improves mood, and reduces stress. (Read this fact sheet or listen to this Ted Talk to learn more.)

Connect

Make new friends or strengthen existing relationships by sharing a common interest, develop a sense of purpose, learn new skills, and stay active physically and/or mentally.

Nourish

Cooking can enhance cognition by improving one’s memory, fine motor skills, attention, and ability to sequence and anticipate. Learn more about the 7 emotional benefits of cooking and the 5 ways cooking boosts your brain. Try to choose foods linked to better brain health!

Be

Choose activities that help you slow down to have a calmer and clearer mind. This also will help improve concentration, memory, and decision-making.

• Meditation: decrease stress, increase focus
• Reading for pleasure increases brain connectivity and builds empathy
• Writing improves creativity, problem-solving, empathy, and self-monitoring skills
• Listening to music elevates mood, reduces stress, stimulates memories