BRAIN HEALTH: co-ordination, balance & relaxation home programme

if you find balance or coordination challenging or you find it difficult to relax your mind then follow me on this very gentle routine for your [Music] brain hi everyone and welcome to exercise for health and welcome to the final video of our six week home exercise program to keep your body and mind healthy throughout the summer this one we'll focus on balance stability and coordination exercises to stimulate the brain and then we'll finish with some gentle breathing and relaxation exercises for the mind and it could be done every day it should be suitable for most health conditions but may not be suitable for everyone so if you're unsure check with your health professional first if possible attempt to do this routine without any shoes on as it will help with the Mind Body Connection and you may need a support for confidence when we do some of the balance exercises and you will need a chair to sit in at the end for the relaxation part but no other additional equipment is required so get yourself ready and let's go right we're going to start this routine with some movements that are going to challenge your coordination so what I want to do is bring your feet together just keep the hands to the side of the body and the first one we're going to do is we're going to do toe Taps but in three different directions so put the weight on one foot and then with the other foot we're going to do a toe tap to the front bring it back to the middle toe tap out to the side back to the middle and then a toe tap behind back to the middle and then we switch sides so we're going to do this two or three times on each side so set yourself up ready and then toe tap to the front back side back and then behind back to the middle switch sides so front back side back and then behind let's go back to the first one to the front to the side to the back opposite side front side back okay now we're going to reverse that so we're going to go back side front so back to the first leg back to the middle side to the middle to the front opposite side back middle side middle front one more time each side back side and front last time on the other side back side front okay right now we've got your brain in tune with your legs let's get your brain in tune with your arms so this one is we're going to do a four-part movement with your arm so again start with your feet together but essentially the movement is we do an arm raise out to the side just up to shoulder height bend the elbow so the hand comes into front of the chest then straighten your arm directly out in front of you and then drop your arm down and then we switch the other side side so we go side Bend front and then down side Bend front down so just try and get your brain used to the Four Points of the movement out to the side bend the elbow to the front then drop side Bend front drop this is where I'm probably likely to make some mistakes now front drop side Bend front drop let's just do one more on each side front drop as you get used to this you can then start to obviously go faster okay so now let's incorporate some footwork with that arm movement so what I want you to do is as you do the arm to the side we're going to do a toe tap to the side with the foot on the same side so everything's unilateral all working on one side when we bend the elbow we'll bring that foot back in when we then straighten arm to the front we'll do a toe tap to the front on the same side and then when we drop the arm we'll bring that foot back in and then we go to the other side so we're going to go side with the toe tap to the side bend the elbow bringing the foot in straighten your arm to your front as you do a toe tap to the front drop the arm down foot comes back in So side Bend front down side Bend front down 3 4 One 2 3 4 You with me start to speed up a bit if you can side Bend front down right let's now do opposites so if I'm using my right arm to do the arm movement I'm going to be doing the left foot to do the toe tap to the side and then the toe tap to the front so it's opposite way around ready so set yourself up doesn't matter which way you do it first so side with the opposite foot out to the side Bend bringing that foot back in front with the opposite foot to the front down come back to the middle opposite side side Bend front down one 2 3 4 One 2 3 four let's do that one more time on each side three four last time okay right if you're still with me the last one we're going to do for coordination is a real Challenger it's really going to get your brain working so this is where we're going to combine the arm movement but on both sides but they're not going to be working at the same time so essentially we're going to do a toe tap is just going to be going out to the side so we're not going to do any toe Taps to the front but we're going to start off so I do a toe tap to the side as my arm goes up to the side then as I bend the elbow the foot comes in and then I do a toe tap on the other side as I start the movement with that arm as well so that's where I take the arm out to the side this one's then on the third part going to the front in starts again one 2 3 4 so see if you can get that movement again this is a real TX and one for the brain to try and get everything working in the right position so every time you do the toe tap to the side then your arm should be raising up to the side at the same time so all on the same side see if you can get that movement and if you've got it then you can start to speed it up a little bit is your brain working 100% like mine is so it's really tax and that coordination see if I can speed up a bit I'm surprised I haven't actually made a mistake ah there you go I have now right we'll stop there very good right let's now go on to balance and stability exercises so the first one we're going to do is I want you to stand with your feet close together now if this does feel like it's going to compromise your balance and this would be the same for any of the exercises that we we go through then just stand with your feet further apart cuz that will give you a bigger base of support and it help you with your balance but if you can I want you to start with your feet together so we're basically going to use both arms to reach out to the side to the front to the opposite side and then we're going to go up and across straight up and then up and across the other side so as we're moving the Torso around and moving your Center gravity it should challenge your balance a little bit so both hands Reach Out across to one side as far as you can without compromising your balance come back in and then reach your arms out in front of you as far as you can come back in and then reach out to the opposite side and then back in so now we're going to go up on a diagonal so reach up and across bring it back in straight up and then up and across on the other side okay let's restart that whole process again so reach across with a Twist reach reach to the front leaning the body forwards a little bit reach across the other side with a bit of a Twist and then going up and across back to the middle straight up and then up and across on the other side good okay next one we're going to do because these will get harder is we're now going to go into uh knee and arm raise so for this one again start with your feet together Arms by your side we're going to start off with the unilateral movement so essentially that means that we're going to work on one side so as we do the knee raise with one leg at the same time the arm on the same side is going to do an arm raise and you can go as high as you want so if you can get it overhead that's fine but if you only want to go to here that's okay we're going to hold for a few seconds drop and then we'll do the same on the opposite side so we're going to alternate but we will hold the position once we're there for about 2 or 3 seconds so set yourself up ready starting off on one side so raise the knee up and the arm up and then hold two three and then lower back down opposite side raise and hold two three and down good back to the first one raise and hold two three and then down opposite side raise and hold two three and down okay good let's now do bilateral so basically we're doing opposites so if I'm lifting my right knee I'm going to be raising my left arm and then if I'm raising my left knee I'm going to raise my right arm so set yourself up okay and then raise up with opposites hold two three and down opposite side raise up and hold two three and down good one more on each side raise and hold two three and down opposite side raise and hold three and down excellent okay the next one we're going to go on to is a squat movement because it's good to develop the strength in the legs a little bit even though we're not going to be doing this as a typical strength exercise but it will help with your balance this one's also going to challenge your vestibular system a little bit when we start doing some head movements so I want you to start off with your feet a little bit wider than the shoulders width on the floor and I want you to take your arms out straight in front of you so the palms of the hands are facing in each other the movement from there then is as I squat down I'm then going to take one arm out to the side but for this first one I want you to make sure that you continually look forwards so as you squat down take the arm out to the side keep looking forwards come back up and then do the opposite arm as you squat down so we're constantly looking straight forwards at the arm that's in front of you but we're going to alternate left and right with the arm that takes out to the side again slow and steady and back up let's do one more of these on each side good last time okay so now this time what we're going to do is as we squat down we're going to track our eyes with the hand that you take out to the side so your head's going to turn with the arm movement ready so squat take the arm out to the side and follow it with your head and then follow the the head to come back to the front now you're tracking the other one as you go down follow your head back up and again so track that hand as you take it out to the side and then track the opposite hand as you're going down and back up one more on each side last one good and relax your arms down brilliant right the next one we're going to do is we're going to do some heel raises which will challenge your balance but to make this slightly different if you start with your feet a shoulder width wide and then take one foot slightly further back so your feet are slightly offset so the toes of my back foot are in line with the heel of my front foot set yourself up and then essentially from there we're going to lift both heels up off the floor and then slowly lower back down we're going to do it five times one way five times the other way if you find this really easy do it with your feet closer together so if you narrow your base of support if you end up with just one foot in front of the other that's going to be a lot more challenging so again I'll let you choose depending on how good your balance is where you want to place your feet but make sure they are staggered so raise the heels up just hold for a second slowly lower back down that's one going to do five times at each side that's two three four so you should feel your balance it should be slight slightly compromised at the top that's five let's switch the feet over you found that easy bring the stance closer together so it's narrower ready same again so heel raise up balance and then down that's one 2 3 four good one more and five good okay the next one we're going to do is a hip hinge but we're going to do this on one leg so essentially if you haven't done a hip hinge before a hip hinge is essentially just bending at the hip keeping your lower back in its natural curve sticking your bottom backwards and you'll find a point so you feel a bit of a stretch on the back of the leg and then come upright again but we're going to do this on one leg so if you feel that it's going to compromise your balance doing this on one leg then obviously stay close to something that you can hold on to like the but what I'm going to do is I'm going to take my opposite hand down towards the opposite knee so if I'm going to do this on my left leg then as I do the hip hinge I'm going to try and get the fingertips of my right hand to touch my left knee before I come back upright again okay for throughout the all the Reps we're going to do three on one side three on the other side but really slow just make sure that you stay in a good position as you're going up and down so nice slow and steady to maintain that posture as you're going up up and down okay so set yourself up ready take one foot off the floor and it's going to stay off the floor throughout all three reps off we go so slowly control it down see if you can get your hand to tap your knee then slowly come back upright again okay you might feel your leg that you're supporting on should be wobbling around a little bit that's not a bad thing but stay close to support if you need it that's two slow and steady do one more on this side if you can go further down go further down slowly back up excellent okay that should have felt a little bit wobbly that one let's switch over to the other foot so now I'm going to take opposite hand down towards that knee as the leg goes back behind so slowly go down let the other leg go up behind you see if you can reach the knee slowly come back up that's one again I can feel my knee moving around a little bit so there's a lot of stability work going through this hip that's two one [Music] more that's three good okay we've just got one more exercise to do on balance and stability before we go through some relaxation exercises and this one is going to be transferring your weight from one foot to the other so essentially rather than just standing on one leg we're going to switch to one leg hold for a few seconds and then switch back again now as you do this again depending on your ability and your balance you can make the movement bigger so that's more of a hop you can challenge it by changing direction so you can go forwards you can go backwards you can go sideways you can choose depending on the space that you've got how you want to do it and how you want to move around but as long as you're transferring your weight from one foot to the other foot each time we land on the foot we're going to hold it for about 2 or 3 seconds so start on one fo foot and then start to make the move hold two three and then move again hold it two three move again balance two three move again to the other foot balance good change hold it two three change oh that was a hard one change again hold it change let's do a few more change hold change hold let's do two more change hold last one change hold good and bring the other foot down okay what what I want you to do now is find yourself somewhere where you can sit down to begin to relax and once you sat down just make sure you try and stay in a nice relaxed position or a comfortable position that you can actually relax your body into so find whatever that position is and we're going to start off by focusing on your breathing so what I want you to do is I want you to breathe in for a count of three and then slowly breathe out for a count of six okay so it's in for three and then out for six so relax the body and then breathing in 2 3 and then breathing out one 2 3 4 5 6 breathing back in for three then out for [Music] six breathing in for three out for six six in for three out for [Music] six breathing in for three out for six just do that that cycle a couple more times in your own without me then prompting it for [Music] you good okay just bring your breathing back to a normal Rhythm so what we're going to do next is we're just going to work on some visualization techniques which will help you relax as well so from there what I want you to do is I just want you to close your eyes and I want you to visualize that the only thing that's in front of you is a candle flame and you can just see it slowly flickering away that is the only thing that you can see in your mind's eye so you're just going to focus on that candle flame while you continue to relax your breathing [Music] okay and as you get into more of a deep relaxed State what we're going to do now is we're going to focus on a few different body parts to try and see if we can focus on making sure that they're completely relaxed so want you to start with your feet imagine your feet have just suddenly got really really heavy and you're just succumbing to gravity so the feet are just sinking down into the floor while you stay in this relaxed state so the feet have got really really heavy so they're completely relaxed now we're going to move on to the legs so imagine the legs of just suddenly got really really heavy and now just adding to the weight into the chair that you're sat on adding the weight going down through the feet as well into the floor so just let everything relax release that tension in the legs so none of the muscles should be activating should be completely relaxed now we're going to move up to the Torso so imagine just letting your spine just drop sink down into what's normally considered a bad posture but just let the chair hold your weight as you focus on the breathing just sink the body down into that state of relaxation okay now we're going to move to the arms so again just imagine all the muscles in the arms just becoming completely relaxed just allow gravity to take over on the arms so they sink down so if you got your hands in your lap or on the chair they're just sinking down into that part the arms have become really heavy heavy and then finally just allow the neck muscles to relax if you feel that you want to drop the head down you can drop the head down it's like you're moving into a complete sense of relaxation so a couple more cycles of breathing slow and deep and then when you're ready just slowly open your eyes bring your head back up if you had it dropped and hopefully now you feel completely relaxed and you can enjoy the rest of your day I hope you enjoyed this final summer workout and I've got something out of the series if it has helped you then please give it a like by clicking the Thumbs Up Button below and consider subscribing if you haven't already you can check out the description below for further information and ways that you can help support this channel but thank you so much for watching and until next time stay AC and keep moving to feel better