One of the main reasons is that during summer vacations, many children spend excessive time on TV, phones, and video games. Staying up late, waking up late, and irregular routines disrupt their biological clock. When they return to school, they often feel tired, struggle to concentrate, and lack motivation to study.
However, vacations are not just for play; they are a “golden period” for brain development and forming good habits. If parents accompany and encourage their children to do three simple things, they will have better physical health, mental well-being, and focus, preparing them to start the new school year with confidence and enthusiasm.
Encourage Your Child to Exercise
The University of Cambridge conducted an experiment where researchers had one group of mice run daily, while another group only walked around in their cages. After some time, researchers found that the mice that ran regularly had a higher density of brain neurons and more neural connections.
Exercise is a low-cost “brain-boosting” activity. Studies show that exercise causes the body to release BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor), a substance known as “brain fertilizer.” BDNF promotes the survival and growth of new neurons in the hippocampus, a core area responsible for memory and learning. Additionally, exercise increases blood flow to the prefrontal cortex, which handles focus, planning, and impulse control.
Children are often busy with studies and lack time for exercise. During vacations, don’t let them sit at their desks all day.
Activities like running, swimming, cycling, ball sports, and jumping rope are all beneficial for brain development. Aim for at least 30 minutes of daily physical activity for your child.
Prioritize Regular Sleep and a Healthy Diet
Harvard research shows that irregular sleep habits can disrupt normal hippocampal function, reducing memory encoding efficiency. More importantly, during deep sleep at night, cerebrospinal fluid acts like a high-pressure water jet, clearing waste and metabolic byproducts accumulated during the day.
If deep sleep is insufficient, the brain becomes like an uncleaned room, gradually accumulating waste and slowing natural reflexes.
Besides irregular sleep, children’s diets during vacations are often disrupted. Many consume excessive sweets, fast food, fried items, bubble tea, and sugary drinks. These foods cause rapid blood sugar spikes and crashes, leading to fatigue, irritability, poor focus, and drowsiness.
The brain needs a steady energy supply to function effectively. Thus, it’s not about eating a lot but choosing healthy foods and maintaining a balanced diet.
Though children don’t need to wake up early during vacations, parents should help them maintain a relatively stable routine. Children should sleep before 10 PM, wake up before 8 AM, and take a 20-30 minute nap. A consistent biological clock ensures the brain rests adequately, keeping children alert and receptive when the new school year begins.
Nutritionists also recommend the “add 3, reduce 3” principle for children’s daily meals:
Three things to increase:
– Add protein-rich foods like eggs, fish, lean meat, milk, and beans to support brain development.
– Prioritize slow-absorbing carbohydrates from brown rice, oats, potatoes, corn, and whole grains for sustained energy.
– Include plenty of green vegetables and fresh fruits to provide vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants beneficial for brain cells.
Three things to limit:
– Foods and drinks high in refined sugar like soda, sweets, and bubble tea.
– Fried, oily, or fast foods.
– Letting children skip meals or go too long without eating, especially breakfast.
Encourage Reading
If exercise and adequate sleep are like hardware maintenance for the brain, reading is like installing and upgrading its software.
Reading subtly impacts a child’s thinking process. When reading, the brain simultaneously engages over a dozen regions, including image recognition, language encoding, semantic extraction, context linking, logical reasoning, and imagination building.
Children who read regularly develop a thicker and more developed corpus callosum, the bridge between the brain’s left and right hemispheres. This leads to more efficient information transfer between brain regions and naturally faster learning of new knowledge.
Reading also supports academic subjects. Children who read extensively have a rich vocabulary and strong language skills, making it easier to excel in reading and writing.
Dedicate 1-2 hours daily to reading with your child, making it a natural part of family life.
Exercise, adequate sleep, a healthy diet, and reading form the “iron triangle” for nurturing an intelligent brain. These three elements complement each other and are indispensable.
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