Building LEGOs >>> Therapy??? 🧠
5 Ways LEGOs Can Improve Your Brain Health & Mental Health (5min Read)
TL;DR Summary:
Brain Workout: Building LEGOs can enhance cognitive skills.
Motor Skills: Improve hand-eye coordination with every brick.
Creativity Boost: Stimulate your imagination and innovative thinking.
Stress Relief: Find out how LEGOs can reduce anxiety.
Social Connection: Strengthen bonds and boost happiness with LEGO building.
Share Your Creations: Get featured to an audience of 700k+!
How Building LEGOs Can Boost Your Brain Health
Do you remember the joy of opening a brand-new LEGO set as a child?
The excitement of seeing those colorful bricks spilling out of the box, the endless possibilities of what you could create, and the hours spent meticulously building your masterpiece?
Those were simpler times when our biggest worries were finding that elusive missing piece and making sure our creations didn’t topple over.
Little did we know, those childhood moments were not just fun; they were also doing wonders for our developing brains.
Fast forward to today, and it turns out that the benefits of building LEGOs extend far beyond childhood play.
As someone who studies the brain, I’m here to share how this beloved pastime can be as beneficial as therapy for your brain health.
While therapy remains more effective for addressing deep-rooted psychological issues and trauma, the mental health benefits of LEGO building are still impressive as you will see.
Here are five compelling reasons why you should consider picking up those colorful bricks and diving into your next LEGO project.
1. Enhanced Prefrontal Cortex Activation
Building intricate LEGO structures requires significant activation of your prefrontal cortex, the brain area responsible for planning, problem-solving, and decision-making.
When you're focused on constructing a complex model, it's like lifting weights for your brain.
The prefrontal cortex gets a workout, enhancing its functions and helping you develop sharper cognitive skills.
This kind of mental exercise is crucial for maintaining brain health, particularly as we age.
2. Improved Motor Skills and Coordination
As you snap together those tiny LEGO pieces, you're also giving your motor cortex a workout.
This brain region is essential for coordinating fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination.
Regularly engaging in activities that challenge these skills can lead to improvements over time, making you more adept at tasks requiring precision and control.
Think of it as fine-tuning your body's hardware to perform better in various activities.
3. Boosted Creativity and Innovation
Engaging in creative play, such as building LEGO structures, stimulates your default mode network, a brain network associated with imagination and innovative thinking.
Whether you're constructing the Millennium Falcon or a custom design, this kind of creative engagement can spill over into other areas of your life, fostering innovative thinking and problem-solving skills.
It's like giving your creativity a much-needed jolt of energy.
4. Stress Reduction and Anxiety Relief
One of the most significant benefits of building LEGOs, especially for those dealing with anxiety, is its ability to activate the parasympathetic nervous system.
This part of your nervous system is responsible for promoting relaxation and reducing stress.
Engaging in mindful activities like LEGO building can help shift your body into a calm, relaxed state, much like a mini-meditation session.
It’s a delightful way to unwind and find peace amid the chaos of daily life.
5. Enhanced Social Connection
Building LEGOs isn’t just a solitary activity; it can also be a fantastic way to bond with friends and family.
Social interaction has a powerful effect on the nervous system, promoting the release of oxytocin, often referred to as the “bonding hormone.”
This hormone strengthens social ties, boosts feelings of happiness, and fosters trust.
Whether you're collaborating on a LEGO project or simply enjoying the process together, these shared experiences can significantly enhance your social well-being.
Better Than Therapy?
While building LEGOs is not a substitute for professional therapy, as you can see, it offers a surprising number of mental health benefits!
LEGOs can serve as a powerful supplementary activity that promotes relaxation, creativity, and social connection.
Research has shown that engaging in mindful, creative activities like LEGO building can reduce stress and anxiety, enhance cognitive functions, and improve motor skills.
Although therapy remains more effective for addressing deep-rooted psychological issues and trauma, the mental health benefits of LEGO building are still impressive!
LEGO Therapy & Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
One area LEGO therapy has shown remarkable benefits for is people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
LEGO therapy leverages the engaging and structured nature of LEGO building to enhance social skills, communication, and problem-solving abilities.
By participating in collaborative LEGO building activities, children with ASD get to practice turn-taking, joint attention, and cooperative play in a supportive environment!
Studies have shown that LEGO therapy can lead to significant improvements in social interaction and engagement, making it a highly effective tool for helping people with ASD develop essential life skills.
Share Your LEGO Creations with Me!
Inspired to start building? I’d love to see your creations!
Share your LEGO projects with me by emailing me back here, or DM them to me on Instagram (@mindbrainbodylab).
I’m going to share some of them with my audience of 700k+, so it’s your time to shine!
Let's celebrate the joy and brain-boosting power of LEGOs together.
Incorporating LEGO building into your routine can be a fun and effective way to improve your brain health.
So, the next time you see a LEGO set, don’t hesitate—dive in! Your brain will thank you for it.
And until next time… Live Heroically 🧠
Supporting Research:
Mandich, I., & Rubin, B. (2023). Enhancing Fine Motor Skills in Children with Mental Disabilities through Basic Lego-Based Interventions. Law and Economics. https://doi.org/10.35335/laweco.v17i1.38.
Garvey, S., Bluteau, P., & Phimister, D. (2020). LEGO based Intervention for Improving Wellbeing. Journal of psychiatry, 9-9.
LeGoff, D., & Sherman, M. (2006). Long-term outcome of social skills intervention based on interactive LEGO© play. Autism, 10, 317 - 329. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362361306064403.
Diamond, A. (2013). Executive functions. Annual Review of Psychology, 64, 135-168. doi:10.1146/annurev-psych-113011-143750
Dietrich, A., & Kanso, R. (2010). A review of EEG, ERP, and neuroimaging studies of creativity and insight. Psychological Bulletin, 136(5), 822-848. doi:10.1037/a0019749
Grossman, P., Niemann, L., Schmidt, S., & Walach, H. (2004). Mindfulness-based stress reduction and health benefits: A meta-analysis. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 57(1), 35-43. doi:10.1016/S0022-3999(03)00573-7
Insel, T. R. (2010). The challenge of translation in social neuroscience: A review of oxytocin, vasopressin, and affiliative behavior. Neuron, 65(6), 768-779. doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2010.03.005