"From Happy Healthy Minds (The School of Life, 2020)
Reading for Useful Ideas: Your Body
Your Body and Your Brain
Read the text, then complete the following sentences with the appropriate words.
influence thoughts and feelings irritable work body mood brain school tell dehydrated feel why bad
Your brain is where your thoughts and feelings happen. A person’s __________ changes because of what is happening in the rest of their ______________. Lots of things about our bodies can _____________ our moods. Being too hot and thirsty on a day with northwest winds can make us ___________________. What is happening in your ____________ depends on the state of your body. The problem is that brains don’t _________ us when and _________ they are getting in __________ mood. It doesn't say to you, “Hey I’m _________________, so I’m about to ________ my ________ and that _________ is unfair and horrible.”
Select the correct answer
If something is going wrong in your body it can make you feel
annoyed
Irritated
that everything is too difficult
All of the above
A tricky point about our brains is that they don’t
Like our bodies much
Like it when we drink too much water and eat good food
Tell us when and why they getting in a bad mood
Play tricks on us
Our bodies have a habit of not telling us how much they play with
Our minds
Our food
Our sleep
Our friends
The next time you feel irritated with your parents or annoyed with your friend, ask yourself (list the four suggestions from the text)
Do I need to stop eating so much chocolate?
Did I get enough sleep last night?
Should I stop spending so much time on the iPad?
Have I drunk enough water today?
Our brains function well when we have
A minimum of 6 hours of screen time per day
Lollies three times per day or after every meal
Eight hours of sleep per night and exercise during the day
Few new ideas
I don’t like how I look
Read the text and write a brief answer to the question.
According to the text, why do we worry about how we look?
It is because we think that other people will judge us on our looks. They are going to concentrate on the colour of our hair or the shape of our legs or whether we have a pimple on our forehead.
Highlight the correct answer
A useful way to deal with ‘worrying about appearance’ is to consider the idea
You are what you eat
Your body is not you
Your body is a temple
There more to you than meets the eye
What is meant by the term ‘soul’ in the text?
An organ in your body
The bottom of your shoe
Personality, thoughts and feelings
Your way of being you
In the past, a big distinction was made between the body and the
Soul
Sole
Mind
Heart
Write an answer to the question: What is the message about the body and soul in the two paintings on p112.
A person’s soul can be nice even if they have a bit of a funny nose.
Extension:
Our media places a great emphasis on appearances and we learn that we are judged too often by our appearances. Use the table below to consider The text offers two options on how to deal with ‘worrying about appearances’ I have added a third option.
