By John Kruse
Here’s an article a friend recommended on exercise and feeling gloomy. Seems like good reading for the middle of winter.
Read this book review by Jen Mettler for more on exercise and the brain.
Posts Tagged ‘mental health’
Exercise and Feeling Gloomy
Sunday, January 3rd, 2010Obesity and the Brain
Wednesday, August 26th, 2009The latest research indicates that obesity can lead to brain degeneration. This means that, “brain degeneration” can be added to the already long list obesity’s side effects.
A new study finds obese people have 8 percent less brain tissue than normal-weight individuals. Their brains look 16 years older than the brains of lean individuals, researchers said today.
This adds credence to the importance of exercise and mental health that was so eloquently detailed in the book Spark by Dr. John Ratey.
Click here to read the rest of the article.
Fitter Students Do Better on Tests
Friday, August 14th, 2009This recent news story citing studies showing that overweight skids score lower on academic tests is kind of interesting.
SALT LAKE CITY — More studies seem to show obese kids do worse in school. In other words, fitter students do better on tests than fatter students.
This is a classic example of how some people mistake correlation for causality. There probably is a link between fitness and academic performance. However, isn’t it plausible that fitter students who perform well in fitness testing may be genetically gifted neurologically and physiologically? In other words, training that results in better performance in fitness testing may not necessarily be the cause of better academic performance. After-all, you still need to do your math homework do perform well on a math test. Exercise is certainly not a substitute, you still need to do the math.
As a physical educator, I would like to think that exercise has a positive effect on academics. After reading the book by John Ratey called Spark, I’m even more convinced of the effects of exercise on the brain. We just need to be cautious of studies that are usually based on correlation.
Spark & Physical Education
Monday, February 9th, 2009Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain by John J. Ratey, MD will make you rethink your importance as a physical education teacher. This book contains the justification for why all students need a quality physical education program that gives them the knowledge and skills to be active through childhood and into adulthood. Dr. Ratey explains how through exercise people can improve learning, decrease stress, anxiety, and depression, help treat attention deficit and addiction, and combat hormonal changes and aging. Spark goes beyond the simple feel good explanations and makes the reader delve into the science, brain chemistry, research, and compelling case studies behind the powerful effects of exercise and it’s relationship with the brain. Dr. Ratey takes complex psychology disorders and describes them in a reader friendly manner that gives insight into why students with certain disorders behave the way they do. Once you read this book, you will never view your job as an educator the same.
Following is a short recap of two topics Dr Ratey describes in detail in Spark.
Learning: The brain is made up of one hundred billion neurons. An electrical signal shoots down an axon to the synapse where a neurotransmitter transfers the message across the gap to the receiving dendrite. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) build and maintain this circuitry. BDNF is considered like “Miracle-Gro” because if it is sprinkled onto neurons in a petri dish, the neurons automatically sprout new branches, producing the same growth required for learning. Studies have shown that BDNF increases with exercise, especially in the hippocampus, which is responsible for working memory. In 1997, German researchers found that humans learn vocabulary words 20% faster following exercise than they did before, which correlated directly with the levels of BDNF. Exercise also affects neurotransmitters such as norepinephrine, serotonin, and dopamine that have an impact on learning by improving alertness, attention, and motivation. Glutamate, another neurotransmitter influenced by exercise, prepares nerve cells to bind to one another, which is the basis for logging in new information.
Attention Deficit (ADHD): ADHD is caused by a malfunction of the brain’s attention system that connects areas that control arousal, motivation, reward, executive function, and movement. The reward center, controlled by dopamine neurons, is responsible for giving pleasure signals to the prefrontal cortex of the brain, which gives one the motivation to focus. Unless the reward center is sufficiently activated, it will not tell the prefrontal cortex to pay attention to something. With a malfunction of this system, it explains why a person with ADHD can spend hours sitting still playing a video game but is unable to pay attention in class. Dr. Ratey states, “I tell my patients a more helpful way to think of ADHD is an attention variability disorder; the deficit is one of consistency.” Dopamine and norepinephrine are the lead regulators of the attention system, which explains why exercise helps people with ADHD have calm and clarity for around 60 to 90 minutes after exercise.
After reading Spark you will be compelled to lace up your running shoes if you have a big test to study for, need to think creatively for planning a lesson, are worried about your job, are stressed from the demands of balancing family and work, want to keep your mind sharp and dementia at bay, are trying to kick a caffeine habit, or possibly have menopause knocking at your door. This book will change the way you think about exercise.
Dr. Ratey has a blog at www.johnratey.com. He will also be speaking at the CAHPERD conference in Santa Clara on Saturday, March 21st, at 3 pm.