Why is Brain Health Important?
A scientist can easily watch a human brain in action from one moment to the next. This is done using sophisticated equipment and most often, a laboratory that can bring up images of a subject connected to wires; this image is not far from what a neuroscientist would see in a normal day’s work. In fact, some of you may be familiar with one form of this scenario – referred to as neurofeedback. With that, we welcome you to the certified brain fitness coaching program!
In this course, we are going to look at ways to understand the human brain and learn how to apply measures and principles rooted in the field of neuroscience. It is important to note that the themes of this course are aimed at how we might work with a client, but we must always have experiential knowledge prior to doing so. Some of what you learn should be applicable to yourself prior to applying this information to a client. Therefore, we will learn how brain health not only affects our thoughts but how is influenced by nutrient intake, exercise, health, and cognitive enrichment. Since we are approaching this from a health and fitness perspective, we will also explore how different modes of exercise impact brain function and health.
What Can You Do to Optimize Your Brain While Helping Your Coaching Clients Do the Same?
As an example, the main goal of the Spencer Institute’s Brain Fitness Coach Certification course is to help you and your clients have greater balance and harmony in the body and mind to live up to your fullest potential with vitality and optimal health. This is a significant undertaking! This requires that we guide you on the strategic ways to coach your clients, often based on their own challenges derived from less-than-optimal brain health.
For advanced clients, who may be competitive athletes or elite participants in a physical activity (PA) program, our goal may shift to one where we look to help them gain a mental competitive edge. It will depend on who you apply this training to as much as how you are applying it.
The training in the lessons that follow are structured to teach you and your clients to have a clear mind, one that leads to greater productivity and efficiency in whichever aspect of life is necessary. It is not just health and fitness; you could easily focus your training on academics or even career coaching.
Neurofeedback (NFB), also called Neurotherapy or neurofeedback, is a type of biofeedback that uses real-time displays of brain activity – most commonly electroencephalography (EEG) – to teach self-regulation of brain function.
A Certified Brain Fitness Coach needs the educational framework to allow for the integration of the information learned in this training (largely from the field of neuroscience) into the diverse coaching environments that you work in. Further, our goal is to include data and information that is evidence-based – coming from research in clinical settings – so that you can take what you have learned and apply it in your coaching services. This can be applicable to a Personal Fitness Trainer, a Wellness Coach, or even a Lifestyle and Weight Management Specialist. We cannot leave out Mind Body Fitness Coaching, either!
Essentially, you only need a passion for learning more about the brain and applying it uniquely in your practice and, hopefully, in your own life.
How to Keep Aging Brains Healthy
Studies related to the brain are evolving quickly and advancing this knowledge forward has the power to create significant transformation in your life as well as the life, health, and wellness of your clients.
This course will present a great deal of science to you, the coach in training. It may not be the same type of training that a behavior change specialist would begin with, but we all need a specialty or emphasis once we have begun a coaching career. This puts us directly in touch with clients who are often coming to us with less awareness than what is needed to make changes or improve their health; they may not even know what to change or where to begin. But ideally, our work as coaches is to help clients make the changes in their life that will support general health, wellness or fitness goals. This simple summary of our job task is much more challenging than it sounds. Learning the role of the brain in this coach/client journey can only improve our effectiveness if used properly.
You are all encouraged to live the lessons taught in this course, as your clients will sense the authenticity of the change you wish to see in them if you have walked the path before them. So, for example, we will discuss concepts that originate from experiments done using imaging studies and cells in a culture dish – or clinical studies in humans. This may be of little interest to a client. But do you need to know these scientific anchors of what you are learning? Absolutely! In this manner, you are tasked with contemplating how you will apply the information learned in this course.
For example, we will explore the functions of the hippocampus. Why? The hippocampal cells demonstrate our ability to form connections with their neighboring cells; these cells have been the subject of many brain experiments to learn more about how they grow, develop, and communicate with one another.
MRI imaging has helped to show and identify areas of the hippocampus responsible for the consolidation and storage of memories. This approach to studying the brain has also led to understanding the neurobiology of the brain using spectrum imaging or single photon emission computed tomography (CET -a nuclear imaging study that measures blood flow and activity patterns in the brain).
Learn More About Becoming a Certified Brain Fitness Coach
Optimizing brain health is on trend. A well-functioning brain creates more opportunities for success in each aspect of life. You can now dramatically expand your knowledge of brain optimization through proper training, sleep, nutrition, neuro-conditioning, and flow state. Start your career a Certified Brain Fitness Coach.
NESTA and Spencer Institute has been helping people like you since 1992. To date, over 65,000 people from around the world have benefited from our various certifications, programs, continuing education courses and business development systems. We are here for you now and in the future. Feel confident in your decision to work with us as you advance your knowledge and career. We are here for you each step of the way.
Our programs are open to anyone with a desire to learn and help others. There are no prerequisites.
That’s it for now.
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