As a student at Hogwarts Academy, I used to kvetch about mandatory K-12 PE and the way that undesirable sports activities inevitably eroded my hard-earned GPA. A klutz in comparison to my Varsity-letter decorated classmates, I was the girl who lobbed tennis balls over the court walls, not because I was deliberately evading P.E.--that would've entailed way too much hand-eye coordination on my part--but because of simple misfires. Yet, I grudgingly admit that over the years, I began loving physical exertion, especially when I was allowed to elect my own exercise regimen, whether it was cartwheeling across a balance beam, striking the "Warrior Dancer" asana in yoga, or mastering Shotokan karate kata. At Hogwarts, I also discovered early that I had a talent for long-distance running and relished the easy fluid meditation of running through the streets of Manoa and Makiki and St. Louis Heights in the early morning hours. Ironically, I, the high school klutz, discovered my inner athlete in college and graduate school. My earlier struggles with coordination, as if by magic, ceased, and I found that that a steady daily diet of running, swimming, dance, and yoga provided a welcome respite from daily stress and academic pressures; if anything, I felt more grounded and sharper, simply by making time to exercise. Turns out that my alma mater's staunch conviction, echoing the Greek classical principle of "sound mind, sound body," was absolutely founded in truth: research that's borne out by John Ratey's excellent book.
Ratey's Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, is the most fascinating and inspiring text I've perused in a long spell: a must-read for educators and anyone who's interested in optimizing their holistic health and cognitive resources, decreasing stress, and staving off mental, as well as overall physical degeneration (that's everyone, right?). An associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, Ratey examines the myriad benefits that exercise has on cognition, summarized here. Exercise
1. Strengthens the cardiovascular system, creating less strain on the body's and brain's blood vessels. It helps neurogenesis, as well as counteracts vascular damage.
2. Regulates fuel. Insulin levels drop with aging, creating waste products in cells that damage blood vessels, which then increase stroke risk. Exercise helps the body's efficiency.
3. Reduces obesity.
4. Elevates stress threshold: while some cortisol, a neurotransmitter released during stress, is good, chronic overload is deleterious and triggers cell death.
5. Lifts mood. Neurotransmitters, neurotrophins, and connectivity shore up the hippocampus against atrophy associated with depression and anxiety. Elevated mood also reduces one's chances of developing dementia.
6. Boosts immune system by rallying immune systems antibodies and T cells. Lack of activity poses the greatest risk factor for cancer.
7. Fortifies bones, reducing osteoporosis risk.
8. Boosts motivation by counteracting the natural decline of dopamine.
9. Fosters neuroplasticity. Building a strong brain guards agains neurodegenerative disease. Moving the body also elevates the supply of neurotrophic factors necessary for neuroplasticity and neurogenesis, as well. Furthermore, aerobic exercise further strengthens connections between brain cells, creating more synapses, causing stem cell division, and forming more functional neurons in the hippocampus.
10. If combined with cognitive challenge, helps to build neural networks. In moderation, the stress created by aerobic physical exertion, followed by mental/intellectual stimulation, is beneficial. Hence, one could reasonably expect students' classroom performance and mental acuity to increase, if P.E. was a regular part of their daily school curriculum; it'd be particularly optimal if P.E. was scheduled first thing in the morning.
I strongly recommend Ratey's book. Provocative, it may well transform the way you teach, view exercise and overall health, and change your--and others'--lives.
