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EXCERPTS FROM THE BRAIN WAVES TEAM

Hydration and Learning
"If access to water is restricted, a stress response occurs. Within five minutes of consuming water, there is a marked decline in corticoids and ACTH (a good thing!).

Water comprises more of the brain (90%) than any other organ of the body. Fruit juices, soft drinks, coffee and tea are all diuretics. They are treated as food rather than water by the brain.

Guideline: One cup of water per hour for optimal brain function (Ward & Daley. Learning to Learn).
It’s for the reasons above that in some classrooms you see pitchers of water. In others, students bring water bottles... (It works for adults, too, so DRINK, DRINK, DRINK!) The above information is also why we’re serving water at PS/P snack instead of juice. The things we learn!"

Healthy Snacks
You’ve noticed the healthy snacks in preschool and primary. You may know that the teachers have asked that birthday celebrations be celebrated with small trinkets for their classmates or a small gift for the classroom rather than with cookies, cupcakes and other sugary snacks. Have you also noticed that Kids’ Club is now offering healthy snacks that the children can buy?

At the BrainExpo conference, they devoted an entire workshop to food and its effect on brain function and learning. In fact, nourishment was included as one of the five brain-friendly principles.

First, the speaker talked about hydration... Here’s other info:
Eating protein helps to manufacture the neurotransmitter that makes you feel more alert, more motivated and more mentally energetic.

Complex carbohydrates are carbs in their more natural state – such as whole wheat flour, brown rice, whole wheat pasta, Shredded Wheat, Grapenuts, Fiber One, and Cheerios. Complex carbohydrates, combined with a small amount of protein helps to fuel the brain for 3 – 4 hours. Healthy snacks between meals is a good thing.

Sugar and other highly refined foods give children (adults) a blood sugar rush followed (1.5 or so hours later) by a drop in blood sugar, lower than it was before the sugar. This leaves a child (adult) with less energy, irritability, tension, and frustration. (It follows that having sugary birthday snacks in the afternoon will give either the teachers or the parents after school a difficult child to live with within a few hours.)

...So what are we doing at New Morning to parallel brain-friendly nutrition?
We want to set a positive example for lifelong healthy eating. We tell the students to not bring candy or pop to school for lunch or for after school.

Parents, help us to fuel your child’s brain with a healthy lunch of complex carbohydrates and protein.

Food for Thought – Interesting Tidbits
You need 16 hugs a day for normal brain equilibrium (Wesson).

Think about the acronym NEWS when sending your child to school with a healthy brain: Nutrition - Exercise - Water - Sleep