Spark: the revolutionary new science of exercise and the brain

Students in Naperville, Illinois school district of 19,000 kids have outsatnding science test scores. How come?

An important feature of Naperville and similar physical education programs is the recognition that students should be offered a variety of activities from which to choose. Students are more likely to engage in tasks when they are afforded realistic choices. The Naperville PE staff skillfully blended physical activity requirements with options noting “I tell people it's not my job as a PE teacher to make kids fit. My job is to make them know all of the things they need to know to keep themselves fit. Exercise in itself is not fun. It's work. So if you can make them understand it, show them the benefits - that's a radical transformation." This emphasis on ownership for one's behavior is reinforced by the curriculum, which "is designed to teach kids the principles, practices, and importance of fitness."

Ratey adds, "When they reach high school, students are given a broad menu of options-from kayaking to dancing to rock climbing to typical team sports like volleyball and basketball-and shown how to draw up their own fitness plans." Assessments of fitness begin in the fifth grade and become increasingly comprehensive in high school, combining fitness scores with such variables as blood pressure and cholesterol levels, along with lifestyle and family history.

When you only give a kid a limited option, like playing basketball, and you make it seem like punishment or boot camp, there's no way he's going to continue doing it. At Naperville, they give kids lots of options by which to excel; they design lifetime fitness activities.

One of the most innovative changes was to add a mandatory square-dancing class for freshmen. It may not sound cutting edge, but the class is set up to use movement as a framework for teaching social skills - a wonderful idea on many levels. In the first few weeks of the class, all the students receive scripts to use as conversation starters with their partners, and everyone switches partners after every dance. As the course progresses, the students are given time to interact without the scripts, first for thirty seconds and building up from there. The final exam is based on how accurately the students remember ten facts about a partner after spending fifteen minutes chatting.

In Spark, Ratey shows how learning is enhanced when preceded by exercise.

Ratey believes exercise enhances school performance and cites the Naperville, Illinois school where pre-school physical activity has boosted reading ability. He shows how physical activity sparks biological changes that encourage brain cells to bind to one another. These connections reflect the brain’s fundamental ability to adapt to challenges.

Aerobic activity has a dramatic effect on adaptation, regulating systems that might be out of balance. Spark is a groundbreaking exploration of the connection between exercise and the brain’s performance that shows how even moderate exercise will supercharge mental circuits to beat stress, sharpen thinking, enhance memory, and much more. Spark will change forever the way you think about your morning run - or, for that matter, simply the way you think.

Did you know you can beat stress, lift your mood, fight memory loss, sharpen your intellect, and function better than ever simply by elevating your heart rate and breaking a sweat? The evidence is incontrovertible: Aerobic exercise physically remodels our brains for peak performance.

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