encouraging healthy, active brains in the library

This title feels a little strange for a post but please stay with me!

Have you ever had difficulty focusing on a task, whether it’s an article you need to read or a report you need to write? Have you ever found your mind drifting from the work you need to do into a memory or something you need to do after work?

It can feel like our brains are working against us when we most need to stay on task.

The Emergence of Neurofitness

Books, apps, and courses on brain fitness have become increasingly popular over the last few years. I have taken two courses with Jill Hewlett on techniques that we can use and share to improve our brain fitness and have used a few of the techniques in library classes to improve focus and give students a mental break.

“Neurofitness” is a fascinating but complex topic but I am not an expert on the brain. For this post I’ve gathered together resources and pulled from what I learned in the brain fitness courses I’ve taken with Jill.

Our brains are like gardens that need lots of love and care!

One common theme among brain health is the analogy of the brain as a garden (vs. a computer) in terms of how it works and what it needs to stay healthy. There is a consensus that what benefits our brain is:

Water – staying hydrated for better focus
Rest – sleeping the recommended amount for your age (for most students this would be 7-8 hours)
Nutrition– a balanced diet
Space – for quiet, for creativity & play

How we Learn

There are some fascinating facts out there about the human brain and how we learn. For instance:

There is a strong connection between our senses and our learning. In a 2007 study done at Harvard (published in Science), volunteers were exposed to the scent of roses after a study session. Even without smelling the scent again, the volunteers could better recall the information than the comparison group. The scent “intensified the transfer of information from the hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for helping to form long-term memories.” (Doyle 70)
Sleep is inextricably connected with how well we learn and retain information. For example, research has found that studying immediately before sleep leads to better retention of information likely because it is fresh in our mind and we train ourselves to do important things before falling asleep (e.g. locking doors). (Doyle 106)
The emotions and the interest we have for information will affect how well we learn. Think about how an upsetting film clip can stay with us for years or how, when we feel passionate about a topic, it’s easy and fun to learn more and more about it.
Movement is essential for brain health. John Ratey’s book Spark provides many examples of the ways exercise improves our memory, mood and focus.
Play helps children AND adults problem solve and develop creativity. Think of Lego, play dough, and music – these activities can activate different parts of our brain and give us a break from a complex task.

There is so much research about neuroscience and learning to explore. Many of the books written for classroom teachers offer great ideas that incorporate the science behind how we learn with techniques that can be used in teaching, from elementary school to university. Exploring these ideas can help librarians incorporate sound learning strategies into library instruction, and there are many crossover books that

While there are many resources available, I personally found the book Neurofitness by Rahul Jandial (a brain surgeon) to be very helpful in understanding the brain and the concrete steps we can take to improve our brain fitness.

Ideas for academic libraries

On a practical level, here are some ideas for incorporating brain fitness into academic libraries (some may involve money for additional books, but others involve just an investment in time):

Build a mini-collection of brain fitness books (see the list below for ideas)
Provide handouts of word searches, Sudoku, crosswords and colouring sheets for students to have “brain breaks”
Steal an idea from some Starbucks I’ve visited and put a daily riddle at the library’s main desk for students to guess at!
Offer workshops or information on the practice of mindfulness and/or breathing – both of which are linked to better focus and brain fitness.
Offer a tip sheet of brain exercises online or in paper form during stressful times (e.g. ‘use your nondominant hand’ or ‘take a walk in nature’) along with the research behind it (cite the study).
Provide a collection of games and puzzles that can be signed out (I’m so happy our library already does this!)
Set up Lego or a puzzle for students to work on in a central location in the library.

Barre with Justine