Today on the blog I’m very excited to welcome Mandy Kent from Growing Brain Connections. Mandy has a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology and physical education, she is a personal trainer, and she is passionate about coaching people so they might experience the joy of movement. Mandy offers assessment and treatment for children with difficulties with learning in the classroom or at home, and she offers ergonomic assessments for learners and workers of all ages.

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Movement is vital

Dr. B: Hello! Thank you for sitting down with me today. I’m very excited to learn more about movement and learning! In conversation a while ago, you used the acronym “NEAT” to describe non-exercise type movement, can you tell us more about that?

Mandy: Sure! Non-exercise movement is where we get most of our activity. NEAT is “Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis.” Thermogenesis refers to the energy expended to move your body outside of eating, sleeping and conscious exercise (like going to the gym). Kids don’t spend most of their calories by exercise you prescribe to them, it’s by just being kids - active and wiggly!

Kids don’t spend most of their calories by exercise you prescribe to them, it’s by just being kids - active and wiggly!

Dr. B: I love that, “just by being kids.” I have a feeling that is going to come up many times through this interview! I’m also wondering about movement, not only for the purpose of burning calories, but for the sake of movement. Can you talk a little more about that?

Mandy: Yes! Knowing where you are in space, knowing how close you are to somebody else, knowing where things are in relation to you, knowing how your body is sitting in a chair, or even how you’re standing, all that knowledge comes from your vestibular system. This “knowing” happens in your inner ears. Our vestibular system needs tons of input in the form of movement. That’s why movement is vital to knowing where you are. The younger you are, the less developed your vestibular system, the more exercise it needs, and that’s why kids have to keep moving – to let them know where they are in space.

Crab is doing his work while sitting on an exercise ball. While he is bouncing his vestibular system knows where he is in space

Everyone has seen somebody who is sitting on a chair but they’re bumping up and down, bumping up and down. If you ask that person to stop moving there’s a good chance they’re not going to be attending or processing anymore. Their brain stops because their body doesn’t know where it is in space. The only way it knows where it is in space is when that bum hits the seat. If that person constantly moves, their body is getting that feedback, as if “I know where I am in space so I can go ahead and do my math sheet.”

Dr. B: Thank you for that explanation. That’s great insight into something I think we often interpret as “the wiggles” for example. I think that leads in nicely to my next question, because I was going to ask you how movement is intuitive and natural to children, but I think that answers that! Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Movement is intuitive and very natural to all humans.

Mandy: Movement is intuitive and very natural to all humans. We were never ever, and let me stress that, ever, meant to sit still. Our sitting still actually creates an unnatural situation, and that affects our central nervous system in a negative way. Not moving is not good for a human body and kids’ central nervous systems need that extra movement action to make sure their body knows where it is in space. That is why kids move more, because their bodies are smart; they know they need it. As grown-ups sometimes we forget we’re supposed to move. And that’s why your smart chiropractor (big wink) reminds you to move, set a time, and actually get up and move around from your desk, then come back to it.

How can you add movement to seated activities?

Dr. B: Thank you for that shout out! With that being said, what are some of your favourite ways to bring movement into what would normally be considered a sedentary activity or a seated activity, for example screen time and desk time.

Mandy: In a typical classroom environment all that learning is supposed to be happening while you’re sitting still. Lots and lots of kids cannot learn if they’re sitting still, so movement is vital. There are lots of great ways to add movement!

A sit-fit: It’s a rubber air filled cushion, its about a foot in diameter, you might see them in gyms or fitness studios. Kids can sit on it, they can wobble around, they’re practicing their core strength, they’re practicing their vestibular balance, they’re practicing all these things, but their chairs are not moving so its not making that scraping sound on the floor. It’s movement without the sound distraction that often comes from shifting in your chair. Kids can also stand on a sit-fit if they have a place to put their work at an appropriate height, which is way more interesting than standing on the floor.
Yoga block: Even something simple like using a yoga block by putting one foot on the floor and one up on the block, or putting both feet up. Under my own desk I have a yoga block and I have a half moon yoga block so I can either rock my foot on the half moon shape or I can rest on the block, and I can shift them around so that I have my feet at different levels.
Balance pad: As my own desk chair I have a wheelie stool, and on top of that I have a gel pad that’s meant for floor balance. To sit on it my core has to work to keep my body upright, in order to keep my vertebrae stacked, in order to have good posture, while I’m sitting at my desk.

Theraband: For kids another great thing you can do is use a piece of Theraband, and tie that around the legs of their chair. They can tuck their feet under it and use that resistance to swing their feet out or rest the tops of their ankles on it. You can also tie it on the desk legs so the person can rest their feet on top of it as a support, bounce them up and down, they can pedal, they can run their feet along it in a satisfying way, or pull their feet towards their bums with resistance. It’s a support, but it’s a dynamic support. They’re still sitting on their bum but their feet and legs are moving.
Foot hammocks: I did just see in an ergonomics course that I’m taking that they’re making foot hammocks that go under your desk. If you’re a grown-up and you have that urge to move your feet around, that might be a tool for you! Remember, you don't have to "buy" something to improve your ergonomic for movement, you can always "MacGyver" something that works for you!

Dr. B: I think MacGyver has become a meme at this point.

Mandy: Oh its beyond a meme it’s a verb.

Dr. B: Thank you for all your insight! That’s all of the questions I have about adding movement to your day, if you don’t mind sharing a little bit more about what you offer at the clinic?

Are you interested in learning more about Mandy’s work?

Mandy: In our clinic we are interested in The Why, so typically we get emails from parents or educators when kids are having a hard time either learning at school or behaving at school, or learning at home or behaving at home. We’re interested in why that’s going on for someone so we look at the basic foundations of learning, we look at how they process information: auditory processing, visual processing, vestibular processing (knowing where you are in space that I spoke about earlier). All of those things affect your ability to learn, and they are all trainable if they are found to be deficient.

Processing what our senses pick up is vital to learning; it’s how you make sense of information that comes into your body. For example, you can have perfect hearing but poor auditory processing. If your brain doesn't make sense of what you are hearing, it is very hard to store that information in a way that you can go back and retrieve it later (which is learning). Those are some of the things that we assess to help kids learn the best that they can.

Every kid learns when they can… If your child isn’t learning, there’s something going on that’s stopping them. We haven’t met a lazy child yet, there’s no such thing.

We have learned throughout our nearly 10 years in practice that every kid learns when they can. Meaning that if your child isn’t learning, there’s something going on that’s stopping them. We haven’t met a lazy child yet, there’s no such thing.

Dr. B: Any closing thoughts or things we missed?

Mandy: Moving always helps. How’s that? It does every single time. Whether it’s moving away from your work for a moment to get refreshed, or whether it’s moving while you’re working, moving always helps. As long as movement is the choice of the learner, moving always helps.

Moving always helps

Even if your child needs to take a movement break away from their work every five minutes, the cumulative time that they’re actually able to do work may be increasing. It may seem like a lot of breaks, but what if at the end of the day they’re actually able to get 30 minutes of work done? What if just wiggling in their chair is good and they can still put out 30 minutes of work? Movement always helps, how’s that?

Dr. B: I like that. Thank you very much for your time.

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If you’d like to learn more about Growing Brain Connections and their services, you can visit their website. Mandy is now offering in-person outdoor and indoor appointments. She can also be reached at growingbrainconnections@gmail.com.

Want to add more movement to your day? Book an appointment with Dr. B here.