Orienteering for Your Brain
Orienteering helps improve spatial navigation and memory.
If you offer orienteering sessions, you can promote the cognitive as well as physical advantages. And, if you’re offering any type of training that requires navigating outdoor courses—walking, running or cycling—consider ruling out GPS use, except for emergencies, to boost brain training benefits.
“When it comes to brain training, the physical and cognitive demands of orienteering have the potential to give you more bang for your buck compared to exercising only,” said lead study author Emma E. Waddington, MSc, graduate student in the department of kinesiology at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.
Researchers surveyed healthy adults ages 18–87 with various orienteering experience levels. Survey results showed better spatial navigation and memory from orienteering participation. Authors suggest that modern life is eliminating specific cognitive and physical challenges required by the brain for optimal health.
The study is published in PLOS ONE (2023; doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0280435).
Shirley Eichenberger-Archer, JD, MA
Shirley Eichenberger-Archer, JD, MA, is an internationally acknowledged integrative health and mindfulness specialist, best-selling author of 16 fitness and wellness books translated into multiple languages and sold worldwide, award-winning health journalist, contributing editor to Fitness Journal, media spokesperson, and IDEA's 2008 Fitness Instructor of the Year. She's a 25-year industry veteran and former health and fitness educator at the Stanford Prevention Research Center, who has served on multiple industry committees and co-authored trade books and manuals for ACE, ACSM and YMCA of the USA. She has appeared on TV worldwide and was a featured trainer on America's Next Top Model.
