Brraaaaaiiiiinnnnssss! via artM on sxc.huHere’s Why God Says Youth Ministry Should Be Fun:
Hey kids—let’s talk brain Chemistry! Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that the neurons in our brains use to help pass signals from one nerve to another. There’s been lots and lots of scientific studies that show that serotonin is critical to our mental health—it’s the stuff that helps us maintain a sense of well being. It helps with sleep, helps calm anxiety and can even relieve depression—this seratonin is powerful stuff!
But wait, it gets even better. It turns out that serotonin is important in creating memories. According to these super-smart people quoted in Psychology Today,
- Serotonin aids and abets learning and memory formation. As serotonin is released in response to a stimulus, it attaches to the receptors of the next cell down the line, raising its excitability level and increasing the chance it will become part of a circuit that encodes memory. Serotonin also enhances the neuron’s electrical impulse, creating enduring memory. These responses turn on at different stages of development and underlie two distinct types of learning-sensitization and dishabituation.
That’s a lot of science-talk that means your kids need to have lots of yummy serotonin in order to get everything God has for them in your Mission Adventures Outreach.
In addition to a well-balanced diet, exercise and a decent amount of sleep,* it turns out having fun and laughing can help our bodies produce the brain chemistry that’s most conducive to learning. Do you know what this means? We must have fun in Mission Adventures. So plan now to have a blast, and that way God’s message will be better planted into the brains of our participants!
What are you going to do to have fun with your participants? How are you going to make them laugh? Are you writing a skit? Are you planning some funky games? If so, share! Let the rest of us know in the comments how we can get our mitts on your awesome seratonin-inducing resources!
Wanna Learn More?
Serotonin — Wikipedia Article
Neurotransmitter of the 90’s — from Psychology Today
Laughter is good medicine… — from Natural News Article
Effects of Laughter on the Human Brain — from LiveStrong.com
Laughter: It’s Good For You — from Kids’ Health
*This also means we have to have appropriate amounts of rest and physical activities planned into our schedule, not to mention serving good portions of healthy food—just sayin’.