Latest Issue of the MindBrainEd Think Tank + (ISSN 2434-1002) 7 MindBrained Bulletin Think Tank V4i7 Exercise J | Page 11

Helgesen and myself included! These often lead to increased alertness, creativity and
energy levels. For more on this, listen to Dr. James Levine.
Dr. Levine from the Mayo Clinic, USA also coined the term NEAT- Non-Exercise
Activity Thermogenesis or the energy expended from everyday living. Essentially, if
you have very limited movement throughout your day and do not exercise, your
NEAT level, energy expenditure, is low. Active people have high NEAT while inactive
people have low NEAT. Low NEAT leads to obesity and other physical problems.
Even gentle pacing can consume 100-150 calories per hour, so let’s see how many
laps of your classroom you can safely do in 90 minutes. Better still, try a post-lunch
stroll to reduce the blood-sugar peaks that often create that dreaded afternoon
slump. For more on health, activity and a school experiment in Melbourne, Australia
see “Stand up Australia 60 minutes”
Getting up every 20-30 minutes is obviously beneficial for your students, so if they
ever complain just mention: “It’s great for your brain AND a life-prolonging health
action that you should remember, especially when you join the workforce.”
JUSTifiable MOVEment for the Classroom
From an exercise and intermittent movement perspective there is ample justification
for integrating movement into class activities. Enabling bottom-up student initiatives
for movement can utilize our students’ cultural backgrounds, allowing for creativity
and ownership of the activity, for example, footwork stone-scissors-paper ( left foot
forward, right foot forward and feet apart); the hand sumo game - two people battle
with hand pushing contact until one moves their feet and loses. Other ways you can
get students to move include: “Find a person who___,” standing pair share, walk &
talk, regular seating changes, sit and stand stretches and maybe air-chair standing
squats. Asking students to stand for all speaking activities also encourages more eye
contact, body language and gesture. I also use dyadic circles (see Curtis’s
explanation), a tried and trusted method.
Now let us look at some learning activities that allow for prolonged movement of
about 15-30 minutes. These include Q & A poster presentations, designing simple
board games, and yoga peer-teaching.
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