The health of the body contributes to the health of the brain.
He learned to snowboard at the age of 60 (living in Florida, he had never skied before) and at the age of 72 he’s currently learning to fly an airplane.
Stephen Jepson says the secrets to staying vibrant and strong are hidden in the activities that we used to do as children.
The 72-year-old has written a book, Never Leave the Playground, in his mission to show people it’s never too late to improve their balance, energy and health.
Nevin Thompson interviewed Stephen Jepson for Life as a Human following his return from a Lego conference in Denmark. Jepson had been invited to talk about how play helps create new brain cells and nerve redundancies and “neuroplasticity.”
Why did you create Never Leave the Playground?
I wanted to help people create and maintain lifestyle that fosters healthy brain growth throughout their lives.
Why? Because sedentary life is death.
Stephen, how are you keeping busy?
I’m going to be 73 soon, and I’m learning to juggle with three clubs standing on a bongo board. A bongo board is a little piece of wood with a roller underneath. Standing on a roller board compounds the complexity of learning to juggle.
Have you always been active?
I was then turned loose on the world when I was five years old, growing up in Iowa after the war. My parents learned they could not confine me without being cruel to me… unless they actually locked me in a closet. I always scaled whatever barricades they created to keep me in the playpen or the sandbox.
So, my father gave me a wristwatch when I was five and gave me one rule: be home by six o’clock, in time for dinner.
Some people might think you’re superhuman?
No I’m not.
Think about it: when did we humans begin to become hunter-gatherers? Nearly two million years ago.
When did we quit being hunter gatherers? Only 11,000 years ago, when humans developed agriculture.
So, for this huge amount of time in our history, humans evolved to be hunter-gatherers.
What does this mean?
All that time we were barefoot. We were very careful where we placed our feet. How many times will a child, barefoot out in the garden, accidentally step on and get stung by a honey bee?
Probably only once.
And this means when we’re barefoot we tend to pay attention to the terrain – our feet will be put through a tremendous range of flexibility and motion.
Walking barefoot was, in many ways, good for our body and good for our brain.
Nowadays, we wear shoes and typically walk on flat surfaces. Walking in shoes is like having sex with gloves on!
It still seems slightly unusual for a 72-year-old to take up juggling.
Once again, when I was eight years old, my father took me to see Ringling Brothers circus. I had never seen the circus before. Out comes a clown, and he began to juggle.
“I can do that,” I said to myself. And now, in my seventies, I teach juggling.
Out comes another clown, this time riding on a unicycle.
“I can do that too,” I said to myself. And now, in my seventies, I teach people how to ride a unicycle.
Next I saw somebody do tightrope watching.
“I can do that,” I said to myself, and that’s something else I teach others to do now, too.
Of course, I then saw someone throwing knives at the circus, and now I can throw knives too.
I made a list of all these different activities I thought I could do, and over the course of my life I have proceeded to tick them all off, one by one.
And now you’re using your energy and curiosity to inspire others.
I want to help people create a lifestyle that is going to create and maintain healthy brain growth throughout their lives.
I focus on physical learning so people can continue to do physical activities in later life and maintain high quality of life as they age.
And since not everyone may be as active as I am (yet), I take difficult physical things and break them down into easy steps. When I teach adults to “play” I generally use simple games, some of which I have invented myself and others that have been around for ages.
Keeping active fosters brain development – complex activity like games keeps our brain and mind healthy.
So by playing, we will have longer, richer lives?
Absolutely.
Every medical study says the one thing that keeps us healthy and mentally and physically active as we get older is to keep doing physical activity.
Learning new physical activities keeps us not only fit, but also enhances neuroplasticity to keep our minds sharp. Many of us start sitting on our asses when we enter college, and it’s killing us.
For nearly two million years, we use to have to constantly move as hunter-gatherers to get enough food, to keep us healthy. Now we no longer have to move. Food is all around us.
But we still have to move to be healthy and remain vital. Basically, we should never leave the playground.
How do you help with that?
I’ve created games that help foster neuroplasticity.
If you have stroke or other condition that affects your brain, neuroplasticity can help you recover more quickly. Your body has already created “backup” circuits.
What is neuroplasticity?
Neuroplasticity is creation of extra or surplus neural pathways and cognitive reserve.
Plasticity, or neuroplasticity, describes how experiences reorganize neural pathways in the brain. Long lasting functional changes in the brain occur when we learn new things or memorize new information.
I do this for myself with the little games I have come up with.
How does this work exactly?
The physical health of the body contributes to the physical health of the brain. Every movement we make is routed through the brain, and the experts say this means the brain is always changing.
Every physical movement we make, especially if it’s some sort of new physical activity, changes the brain.
What kinds of games do you recommend to foster neuroplasticity?
You don’t have to juggle or throw knives. You can sit a chair and pick up marbles with your toes. Or try using your less dominant hand or foot – typically your left one – to do the same thing.
I constantly start out with things that are new that are a little challenging and also fun to do that people can master over time, much like children behave on the playground.
So, at the age of 72 I have taught myself to play jacks again. I jump rope. I use the monkey bars. I never leave the playground, and this approach is keeping me mentally and physically healthy.
If you look in the dictionary, there is a huge number of different definitions of the word “play.” That means there lots of ways to think of play and how play helps us “be human.”
If you can do only one thing for your health make it to be physically active. Movement makes us smarter.
Learn more about Stephen Jepson at Never Leave the Playground.
Photo Credits
Photos Courtesy Of Stephen Jepson – All Rights Reserved
Guest Author Bio
Nevin ThompsonNevin Thompson is a marketing writer in Victoria BC . He frequently writes about healthcare issues on behalf of HealthcareVictoria.com
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