Spatial Awareness: The Why's and How's

Spatial awareness impacts more things than you may consider. Far more than stubbing your toe at the end of a bed!

1. Location: Context for location

2. Movement: Move through obstacles

3. Social: Personal Space

4. Reading and Writing: Grammar and sentence structure

5. Mathematics: Geometry and arranging numbers

The brain is a predictive organ. When the brain can not tell what will happen next, the world is scarier and the brain gives a “pain output”. This pain output can be anything from weakness, stiffness, jolt of pain, blurred vision, nausea, irritability, anxiety, and much more!

Fun fact: Our low back has very few receptors in it that go back to the brain – hence a LOT of people have low back pain. Improve back pain, significantly, with mobility drills at different speeds and ranges of motion! So does sensation training and building all the various “maps” that provide our brain with accurate and actionable information!

Pick up a new hobby.
Some hobbies help promote spatial awareness, such as photography and drawing 

Try video games.
Focus on games where you manipulate and move objects. For example, an older study found that playing Tetris improved spatial skills in older adolescents.

Take time to play.
Children and adult alike, various games or activities may help improve spatial awareness, such as putting together puzzles, trying out visual memory games, and playing chess, checkers, or 3D tic-tac-toe

Stay active.
Exercise is good at any age. A 2014 study found that resistance exercise might help improve spatial awareness in older adults. What’s an example of resistance training? Pilates! Other great (non-resistance based) options are rock climbing, dance, and boxing.

In some cases, we notice spatial awareness deficiencies after an injury, stoke, neurodegenerative diseases, autism, cerebral palsy, and Turner syndrome. But, imagine being slightly deficient and never addressing it. The shackles and limitations you will never know even exist, could be improved upon, making you ever more unstoppable!

So whether it comes out of necessity or not, we can all benefit from informing our spatial awareness!

Air jump high five,

Misha