The Summer Brain

A Season for Creativity and Inspiration

By Amy Barr with The Lukeion Project

Now that we are ending summer months in North America, we can all either reflect on a pretty good summer or we can wish for better chances next year. Depending on each student, family, academic approach, and region, summer means different things. For our brains, summer can be sustained all year, depending on how we allow it to engage with the world. Even for families that choose to “do school” all year ‘round, students should learn how to enjoy a summer brain. What's different about summer?

Engage with Nature

This used to be easy advice for everyone except those who suffered involuntary limitations. For my generation, engaging with nature used to be firm parental instructions to go outside and stay busy “until the streetlights come on.” Threats of backbreaking household chores used to be sufficient to keep younger people from venturing inside before the time was right.
Based on unscientific polls in my own classes, around half of my students have a strong desire to stay inside all year long. Aside from those that enjoy team sports and outdoor practice, only a small percentage of the rest feel compelled to go outside and enjoy (or suffer) all that the great outdoors has to offer unless (and until) they are deprived of one thing: technological entertainments. What a sad situation we are in. More people than not prefer to view other people’s lives in short fake (but entertaining) videos on social media. This means it might take some motivation to exchange indoor habits for outdoor ones.
Engaging with nature doesn’t need to be strenuous or painful nor, necessarily, buggy. Just find a good spot outside every day, get some sunshine (yes, you need some), and find some fresh air. Once you get good at the basics, expand the amount of time you are outside.

Engage with the Present

We spend most of our lives scrambling to get the next thing done. Especially as a person matures and experiences more complex periods of their education and then early adulthood, making and then completing lists becomes all consuming. There isn’t enough time in the day to finish most lists. Sometimes we get to set aside to-do lists for just a little while for a holiday or vacation. When your brain is overly stressed, try engaging with the present for at least a little while. The best way to do this is to try something creative like playing an instrument, creating art, completing a project (garden, woodworking, sewing). These activities force us to focus exclusively on what is at hand which, just like summer break, serves to refresh our brains by enjoying something that is exclusively for now rather than later.  

Engage with Exercise

The best part about summer is that you can find exercise that requires no special skills, tools, equipment, or anything else. Grab a friend, dog, or family member for a walk. Grow some glowers or a garden. Join an informal or formal team for some friendly competition. Learn some dance moves. Mow the grass. Go build something. Nobody feels good if they spend all their time sitting on a couch. A summer brain knows that the best way to get unstuck physically, emotionally, or even academically is to get moving.

Engage with Friends

In the last five years something truly unique in human history has happened. While it is historically important, it is socially devastating. Humans are no longer maintaining a variety of healthy relationships. Even during typically very social periods of our lives, extroverts are becoming more introverted. Introverts are becoming isolated. Academically focused students excuse their lack of social interaction by insisting they have their studies but to their detriment. Friendships and relationships are even more important than a nicely filled out transcript, though one need not preclude the other when accomplished cleverly. Humans must find their tribes or suffer from loneliness.
Kasley Killam, author of The Art and Science of Connection, suggests the 5-3-1 rule. Engage socially with at least five people each week. Intentionally foster friendships with your favorite three people by connecting with them a minimum of once a week. Spend at least one hour a day enjoying a quality connection with others.
What this could look like for you is that maybe you get involved with a sports team, a band, a dance class, or maybe a club in which you have quality time interacting with at least five other people. Parallel play (like watching a movie) or sitting on a bench staring at your phone next to a friend doesn’t really count. Find a way to interact cooperatively with at least five others.
Intentionally foster friendships with at least three people each week. Hanging out is best, phone calls are good, interacting on social media ranks low but will do in a pinch. These minimum of three will be your support system. Yes, siblings count! If you are an extrovert, you’ll have a hard time keeping it to three. If you are introverted, you’ll be hard pressed to find three. Shoot for three as a goal because that’s how many people most of us can manage well.
Finally, tally up at least an hour of socializing daily. It doesn’t need to be formal (though it can be). Maybe just a good discussion at the dinner table is enough to feel connected with other humans. If you don’t have the luxury of a family that takes meals together, don’t forget to link up with a bestie or sibling or relative daily just to talk things through. You’ll feel better when you do.