Santa has to keep his brain fit in order to remember all those kids names, where they live and what they want. How does he do it?
Copyright (c) 2007 BrainFit For Life
How BrainFit is the man in the big red suit? Does old St. Nick adhere to the four cornerstones of brain fitness to take good care of his egg's noggin? All in all he seems to do a fairly good job, but let's take a closer look.
First off is Nutrition. I'd guess that the diet up in the north pole has to be similar to the Eskimos. Even though they eat a lot of fat from whale blubber, they get huge doses of omega-3s from all the fish. I've heard that Santa enjoys a lot of ice fishing during his downtime. So even though he goes on a once a year milk and cookies binge (or bourbon and cookies in some places), he probably does fairly well the rest of the year.
Second is Physical Activity. Cleaning out reindeer stalls and chasing elves around to make sure they get their jobs done must be physically exerting. Plus, just maintaining a huge workshop operation has to have a fair amount of physical activity on a day-to-day basis. So I'd have to give Santa a good score on the physical activity cornerstone as well.
Third is Mental Activity. This is where Santa really shines. Remembering all the kids' names and associating all the different requests with everyone one of them is quite a feat and indicative of a strong memory. Not only that, but his sense of direction to remember where they all live shows incredible spatial abilities. Finally, some of the toy designs he comes up with these days are very creative. I have to give him top marks on this cornerstone.
Fourth is Sleep, Rest and Relaxation. Santa probably doesn't do quite as well here. Even though he only pulls an all-nighter once a year, he strikes me as a type-A personality and is on the go all the time. I bet he's up to the wee hours working hard most of the year. In fact, lack of sleep has a known correlation with obesity and I'll bet this contributes to his portly mid-section.
Overall, however, Santa does fairly well in three out of the four cornerstones so let's see how that translates into his EPIC performance (Emotional, Physical and Intellectual Cognition).
Emotionally, he seems to be in good shape. He's always laughing (HO, HO, HO) and shows a lot of patience with all those kids constantly climbing on him. I've never heard anyone call Santa a jerk, so you have to figure that he does a good job managing his stress levels.
Physically, he could lose a little weight but still seems to function very well. It must be tough getting up and down all those chimneys but he gets it done. I don't know how his blood pressure or immune function are doing but he's probably OK.
Intellectually, he's a star. As I discussed above, memory, creativity and problem solving skills are all sharp. Although he did seem to forget about that Lava Lamp that I requested for about 10 years in a row, but he finally came through.
So is Santa doing what is necessary to stay BrainFit? I'd have to say yes.
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