Feb
Why We Love... Juggling!
Here at Little Devils Circus, we love juggling.
There are so many tricks to learn, so many items to juggle! We believe that there are many, many benefits to learning this ancient skill, and the best thing is, science agrees!
Last year there was a show aired on the ABC called ‘Redesign my Brain’, with Todd Sampson. During the first episode, Todd aims to increase his ‘brain speed’ – the ability of his brain to access and calculate information.
If you missed the episode, I’ll include the link at the bottom of this blog post, but the benefits that Todd discusses are numerous. Juggling is not only one of the best ways to increase brain speed, but is also extremely affective at increasing attention, focus and self-discipline.
As Todd says ‘It’s amazing what a little practice can do.’
Many studies conducted world-wide support the ability of juggling to increase brain function. At the University of Oxford, an adult test group was given juggling equipment and told to practice for 30 minutes every day for six weeks. By the end of the 6 weeks, every single participant had an increase in ‘white matter’, the pathways that allow parts of the brain to connect to each other and process complex ideas.
Other studies done show that juggling has the ability to ‘grow’ the grey matter in our brains, where most of our processing is done. Using different MRI scans, several different studies have shown that regular practicing of juggling could have effective and exciting benefits in relation to memory and cognitive processing.
So remember, next time you’re juggling, that you’re not only having fun, but you’re working out your brain!
Redesign My Brain - Season 1, Episode 1 - Make Me Smarter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LefXkJmVD2Y – 13.05 to 18.00
BBC “Juggling Increases Brain Power”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8297764.stm
Medical News “Juggling Makes Your Brain Bigger”
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/5615.php
NewScientist “Learning to Juggle Grows Brain Networks for Good”
https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17957-learning-to-juggle-grows-brain-networks-for-good
