Newsletter May 2010

Hi and welcome to the May fitness class newsletter
I had a great time playing hookie on a Tuesday night and went out for a meal with my yoga girls after their class, it was lovely to sit and chat over a glass of wine and huge bowl of spaghetti, and I can see that having to happen again, many thanks to Chris C for organizing it.

In March I went to Kats performing arts college open day, and was instructed to watch Kat in the A ballet class, while we all sat and waited I was most impressed to realize that the ballet students were starting their class with pure pilates, to ensure that they did their class with superb posture, and yes they did all our favourites, swan dive, shoulder bridge, the hundred and EXACTELY the same as we do.
I have been enjoying using the new dynabands and weights in most of the classes, and have been getting some great feedback from you all about the triple abs workout that I have written and May will be all about trimming the waist and flattening the tum!

Class of month –Has to be the Friday class, when we went back to old school step, how stupidly hard was it to pick up? But we did laugh loads, and still got a workout, but thank goodness for technical progress.
Member of month, a tricksy one this, loads of you have done so much in April, but its Helen who is leaving us to move to pastures new and has been a great addition to by step classes, and we will miss her loads, and hope she finds a great news class asap.

Time off –Bank holiday is next Monday and I am planning to wander round Glastonbury in the sunshine,

Nigel’s 50th – We are going to Pairs to celebrate this, for once we are going away with no gymnasts! As a result there will be no Pilates Friday evening 7th May and no adult class or mini gymnastics Monday 10th May,

The photos all of you admired on our class face book site, were taken upstairs by tulip photography, I was really pleased with the results as surprisingly I have a great aversion to having my photo taken,

Talking of face book, you are able to be a fan of the site without being a member, add it as a favourite, or hit the link on the website www.debbiesaunders.co.uk

Have you checked out the recipe page on the website yet? I am adding all the time. As you all know I love cooking for friends, and all of these recipes that I am putting on, have gone down really well many times, and are easy to make.
We are still collecting book for the book sale to be held this summer, and massive thanks to all of you who have bought in books already. We want the best book sale EVER!

GOODIE BAGS
Make sure you put your name in the box every time you come to class in May, the name pulled out at the end will get one of my legendary goodie bags, to include vouchers, free classes and other bits and pieces.


Physical Exercise for a Better Brain

Your brain is a thinking organ that learns and grows by interacting with the world through perception and action. Mental stimulation improves brain function and actually protects against cognitive decline, as does physical exercise.

The human brain is able to continually adapt and rewire itself. Even in old age, it can grow new neurons. Severe mental decline is usually caused by disease, whereas most age-related losses in memory or motor skills simply result from inactivity and a lack of mental exercise and stimulation. In other words, use it or lose it.

Most of us know that physical exercise is good for our general health, but did you know that physical exercise is also good for your brain? If you think you’re going to get smarter sitting in front of your computer or watching television, think again.

Exercise is well documented for its effects on cardiovascular fitness, and recent studies are proving that that’s there is a link between cardiovascular fitness and mental fitness, “what’s good for the heart is good for the brain”

Several reasons have been put forward for this

 Exercise helps control blood sugar levels, and a recent study has found that those with impaired glucose tolerance tend to have a smaller hippocampus.

 Exercise may increase the flow of oxygen-rich blood to the brain.

 Exercise may increase self-confidence, and may reduce anxiety and depression

Researchers found significant improvements in the higher mental processes of memory and the so-called executive functions, which include planning, organization and the ability to mentally juggle different intellectual tasks at the same time. These improvements were above and beyond what would be expected after the depression had lifted, the researchers said.

"What we found so fascinating was that exercise had its beneficial effect in specific areas of cognitive function that are rooted in the frontal and pre-frontal regions of the brain," said James Blumenthal "The implications are that exercise might be able to offset some of the mental declines that we often associate with the aging process,"

See you soon, Debs, wsmsportsaerobic@aol.com. www.debbiesaunders.so.uk