BY: A L E X M U E L L E R

BRAIN ACTIVITY AND EXERCISE

ACTIVITY IN THE BRAIN

• Brain on the left is seen taking a test with no prior exercise. • Brain on the right is

seen taking the same test after a 20-minute walk.

PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND TEST SCORES

• At Naperville, the Reading scores up nearly twice as much. Math scores up by a factor of 20.• This is not your old-fashioned physical education class. These

kids are learning to square dance and every one of them is getting a workout. Complicated movements stimulate the brain.• "All their brain cells are working," says John Ratey of the

Harvard Medical School, "And when their brain cells work, they pour out neurotransmitters, they also pour out these brain growth factors which help our brain cells knit together."

EXERCISE AND SCHOOL LESSONS

• Physical education classes may be scarce in some schools, but an activity program combined with school lessons could boost academic performance, a study finds.

• the Pediatric Academic Societies meeting in Denver looked at the effects of a 40-minute-a-day, five-day-a-week physical activity program on test scores of first- through sixth-graders at a public school.

• Students took standardized reading tests in the fall, which were compared with scores taken the following spring. In the fall, the students also received tailored goals to reach on the spring test. The students who reached their goals on state tests went from 55% before the program started to 68.5% after it began.

PHYSICAL EXERCISE AND SCHOOL

• “The superintendent of schools in Kansas, City, MO decided to establish daily physical education throughout the district after seeing how it reduced violence and improved test scores nearly overnight at one of his inner-city elementary schools.” (p. 269)

• "What we have observed is a 95 percent decrease in discipline referrals before school,“ says Charleston Progressive's Principal Wanda Wright-Sheats. "Teachers have reported that students are more focused. We observed this as well during our MAP (Measure of Academic Progress) testing. ... Our initial observation was that students testing immediately after morning activities did better — meeting or exceeding individual growth targets — than middle school students taking the test late morning or in the afternoon.”

• http://www.johnratey.com/Articles/Exercise%20lowers%20discipline%20problems%20and%20raises%20grades.pdf

EXERCISE IMPROVES COGNITION

• Exercise increases oxygen flow into the brain, which reduces brain-bound free radicals. One of the most interesting findings of the past few decades is that an increase in oxygen is always accompanied by an uptick in mental sharpness.• Exercise acts directly on the molecular machinery of the brain

itself. It increases neurons’ creation, survival, and resistance to damage and stress.

EXERCISE EFFECTS ON BRAIN AND COGNITION

• The results of a meta-analysis of the effects of fitness training on cognition showed that the benefits of fitness training on four different cognitive tasks were significant.

• Physical activity has been found to enhance cognition, with a selectively larger effect on executive control functions compared with other cognitive processes

THE NEUROLOGICAL EFFECTS OF EXERCISE

• Stimulation of brain monoamine• Stimulation of neurotrophins• Neurogenesis in the hippocampus • Decrease in brain atrophy• Increased brain plasticity• Increased blood flow throughout the brain• Reduced inflammation• Increased availability and production of neurotransmitters

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND THE BRAIN

• Exercise improves learning on three levels: • it optimizes your mind-set to improve alertness, attention, and

motivation (p. 53)• it prepares and encourages nerve cells to bind to one another,

which is the cellular basis for logging in new information (p. 53)• it spurs the development of new nerve cells from stem cells in the

hippocampus (p. 53)• “The more complex the movements, the more complex the

synaptic connections….The prefrontal cortex will co-opt the mental power of the physical skills and apply it to other situations.” (p. 55-56)

RESOURCES

• David Wright, and Hanna Siegel. "Exercise At School Leads To Better Learning - ABC News." ABCNews.com: Daily News, Breaking News and Video Broadcasts - ABC News. Web. 07 Dec. 2011. <http://abcnews.go.com/WN/exercise-school-leads-learning/story?id=10371315>.

• "Exercise | Brain Rules." Brain Rules: Brain Development for Parents, Teachers and Business Leaders | Brain Rules |. Web. 07 Dec. 2011. <http://www.brainrules.net/exercise>.

• "Exercise Effects on Brain and Cognition." Deric Bownds' MindBlog. Web. 07 Dec. 2011. <http://mindblog.dericbownds.net/2008/01/exercise-effects-on-brain-and-cognition.html>.

• “Psychological and Neurological Effects of Exercise - Exercise for Brain Health." Health and Medical Information For Australia - Virtual Medical Centre. Web. 07 Dec. 2011. <http://www.virtualmedicalcentre.com/healthandlifestyle/exercise-for-brain-health/246>.

• Ratey, John J., Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain. Little, Brown and Company. New York: 2008.

• Stein, Jeannine. "Exercise plus Academics May Boost Test Scores - Los Angeles Times." Featured Articles From The Los Angeles Times. 02 May 2011. Web. 07 Dec. 2011. <http://articles.latimes.com/2011/may/02/news/la-heb-gym-academics-20110502>.

• "Wellness Web." District 13 Home Page. Web. 07 Dec. 2011. <http://www.sd13.org/~jgabriel/>.