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Motor Competency and Executive Functions

Language is a great way to communicate feelings and experiences, but it also helps to motivate change and boost mental health when it is paired with movement. The way we communicate towards ourselves during tasks and the movements we use connect together and influence our well-being. Here we will understand the connection between motor movements and cognition through executive functions and how the combination benefits mental health.

First, we will go over some background of both motor competence and executive functions. Motor competence is defined by Timler and colleagues as “the ability to move proficiently in a range of locomotor, stability, and manipulative skills” (2019). An individual having a high or low motor competence will influence that person’s participation in certain activities. For example, those with a high motor competence will be more able to participate in activities such as sports and other physical activities. On the other hand, those with low motor competence struggle to perform the movements that are needed for such activities. This can be self defining for a person through adolescence and have an effect on their life later on. It is fair to say that a person’s ability to participate in certain activities could have an impact on their mental health and well-being. Many veterans that come home from being discharged from the military may return with physical injuries that negatively influence their motor competence, thus limiting their participation in activities that they were capable of performing before. My grandfather, a former Marine, states that the largest struggle he faced when returning home from being deployed was recovering from brain surgery and other injuries that he received overseas. After recovery it was a long process to return back to daily activities he used to enjoy.

Now we understand motor competence and how it can influence mental health, but what are executive functions? Adele Diamond describes executive functions (EFs) as “mental functions that enable us to reason and problem solve; understand what we read or hear in a lecture; exercise choice, self-control, and discipline; be creative, and flexibly adjust to change or new information” (2014). In other words, executive functions serve as our ability to process, understand and solve problems that we are faced with. These functions also help us to be creative in the ways in which we choose to understand situations and find solutions. Executive functions are critical in many situations but for this workbook specifically, we focus on school and work settings. For the most part, once leaving the military individuals are faced with the choices of going to or returning to school and finding or returning to an old job they had before enlisting. Since the workbook focuses on the transition back into civilian life, school and work settings are where we will focus for activities that use executive functions.

With some background information on both motor competence and executive functions, we can examine how the two work together in bettering mental health. One example of why this is important and how these two are connected is a veteren with injuries that lower their motor competency will now need to be creative to find a solution to help them to perform activities and tasks that are needed daily; either for school or work. Although Diamond focuses on young children in her study, she does examine the influences that being physically active, socially supported and happy or relaxed have on executive functioning. This helps us to get a better understanding on how we can use motor skills and EFs to benefit mental health. Similarly, Timler and colleagues discuss the importance of finding community and building relationships for those low motor competency to increase their own self-perceptions. This includes activities that work to build on skill development while creating close relationships.

Now that we understand the impact of executive functions and motor competence and how they can be combined to create a healthier mindset, we can view some activities and how each will bring our two backgrounds together. One set of activities will include writing prompts that will ask for the participants to use creative problem solving in a daily task that suddenly becomes difficult. For example, under our prompt the participants will be asked to draw a picture of how a normal day would look, and on the next page, they encounter a roadblock. Their job is to now write a list of everything that can be done to solve the problem they are faced with from most achievable to least. This will give them an opportunity to think outside the box for solutions that would not normally be used but leads to success, to solutions that are most common.

Another set of activities in the workbook will focus on self-control and mindfulness practices. These activities will include writing a list of physical activities they enjoy, such as walking, working out, yoga, etc., and setting (a) times daily that the individual will participate to avoid their temptations and be mindful of their surroundings, feelings and emotions during this time. For example, if an individual enjoys taking their dog(s) out on walks or hikes, they will set a reminder to be mindful and present in this situation. To be aware of your surroundings and fully present to declutter your mind and focus on the now.

The last activity that we will preview will focus on is adjusting to change. We have previously discussed veterans having difficulty finding community and relating to those around them not only at home but also in the workplace and school. For this, veterans will be asked to write down different interests from least to greatest and how achievable each one is and how they can pursue each interest. This will influence each person to discover new hobbies and connect with others who have similar interests and build a new community.

Each activity in this workbook will focus on different aspects of cognition and influence creativity to become successful in the transition back into civilian life. Are you willing to give it a try? Click [here] to access the workbook. I hope that you find this process empowering.