Unleash Your Inner Athlete for Brain Health and Longevity

Week of August 19, 2023

We all want to live a long and (more importantly) vibrant life. What if I told you the key to unlocking this through the exercise door is by training like an athlete? Think you’re too old for this? Think again! The revelation of neuroplasticity tells us that our brains are always changing and adapting. If we feed the brain the right information and test it through movement, we can fight off cognitive decline. In this 4 session series, we will have 2 fitness training sessions and 2 hybrid lecture with movement classes. Our fitness sessions focus on using movement and exercise to challenge our brain and nervous system to keep us sharp and mobile as we age. This class can be modified for all fitness levels. Our hybrid lecture sessions will dive into the constantly emerging research that shows us how we can preserve and optimize our brain health while teaching some easy but powerful techniques to maximize brain function and while improving mobility and joint health.

 

Bettylou Deyoung began her life in fitness as a competitive dancer at a young age. The extreme physical demands of dance led her into physical therapy numerous times and ignited her interest in health and fitness.  She received her BS in Kinesiology in 2018 and earned a Doctorate of Physical Therapy in 2021. During her pursuit of becoming a Physical Therapist, she noticed that physical therapy often focuses on the bare minimum to get patients out of bed and is less concerned with helping them live a vibrant, active lifestyle. To change this experience, Bettylou has focused her practice on connecting the physical therapy world to the fitness world while providing a space where patients can heal emotionally and mentally as well as physically. Her combined education in the neurological connection between rehabilitation and optimal human performance has led Dr. Bettylou to work with many of the toughest patients. Those that the traditional physical therapy clinic has failed because they require a focus more on maximizing and constantly improving function, not just preserving remaining function. These populations commonly include those with neurological conditions (MS, Parkinson’s, spinal cord injuries, and traumatic brain injuries). It is with these populations that addressing the mental as well as the physical becomes of paramount importance. Her mission is to help her patients alleviate pain, optimize function, and rise to confidence in one’s self. This ensures her patients ability to maintain lifelong health and wellness.