Spark

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Exercise increases levels of insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1), which regulates insulin in the body and improves synaptic plasticity in the brain. By drawing down surplus fuel, exercise also bolsters our supply of BDNF, which is reduced by high glucose. Other amazing results: reverse the mental effects of aging, lessen PMS, help with ADD and addiction. Now, it is a universal fact that exercise is good for you. It’s been said and done so what’s so different about this book? Well, 'Spark' dives deeper and attempts to find out the effect of exercise on the brain. The book provides a detailed explanation of how different parts of the brain work on a biological level to carry out the everyday functions and what part of the brain is responsible for different tasks. We get to learn how the brain is able to function at a cellular level like how the neurons communicate with each other to carry the signal that governs our actions. It was interesting to know how the role of different neurotransmitters and how exercise helps to balance them out.

Central to the thesis of the book are the myriad benefits exercise has on the health and well-being of your entire body, as well as your mind. Ratey writes: Exercise helps produce the chemicals in the brain that grow new neurons in the brain, increasing our learning aptitude. I opened this book thinking that, because I exercise consistently, and because I like being praised for my intellect, I was in for a festival of self-congratulation. After all, according to Ratey (Hagerman helped with the writing but the book is Ratey’s brainchild), I am doing everything right—or close enough—and I should be reaping massive cognitive and emotional benefits from my exercise routine. Even so, I found myself curiously disappointed as I read. prefrontal cortex - both right and left) and increases the learning ability. Author of book (John J. Ratey) talks about a particular kind of Squat which helps to increase the learning ability by concentrating on prefrontal cortex.The next chapter in this book examines the affect of exercise on the brain to enhance learning. Here the science is explained. There is a lot of scientific jargon used to explain how this improves the brain’s potential for processing new information. The science used here seems to be repeated in each of the subsequent chapters dealing with Stress, Anxiety, Depression, Attention Deficit, Addiction and Aging. In a nutshell it seems that exercise increases the blood flow to the brain allowing the brain to build and strengthen the connections it needs to deal with these conditions. The author uses the term “Miracle-Gro” to describe this effect. Ratey does a great job of illustrating from the outset that the brain and the body work in tandem, and that what's good for one is good for the other. Exercise is as good for the brain as it is for the body. Using this knowledge as a foundation, Ratey presents us with scientific evidence showing how the neurological changes that occur with exercise have benefits for learning, memory, attention, the ability to handle stress, anxiety, depression, the ability to fight addiction, women's hormones, and the way we age. If you're skeptical about the usefulness of exercise beyond its ability to affect physique, Ratey presents plenty of proof that it is exponentially more beneficial than many realize. Exercise, naturally, counteracts obesity on two fronts: it burns calories, and it reduces appetite. Now, I normally enjoy reading about science. But the explanations in this book are stuffed with jargon, while at the same time being rather sketchy—a combination that made it, for me, all but impenetrable. Here is an example: It lifts your mood. More neurotransmitters, neurotrophins, and connectivity shore up the hippocampus against the atrophy associated with depression and anxiety. And a number of studies have shown that keeping our mood up reduces our chances of developing dementia. The evidence applies not only to clinical depression but also to general attitude. Staying mobile also allows us to stay involved, keep up with people, and make new friends; social connections are important in elevating and sustaining mood.

Incredible read. Everyone knows the benefits of exercise on the muscles and heart but now studies have discovered what it does to the brain, which is even more impressive. This books explains why it is good to maintain health as it helps us to stay away from disease and helps us to recover fast when affected with disease. If you are a person who wants to exercise daily but unfortunately procrastinates it every time, this is the best book you can read. It will motivate you to exercise regularly by telling you all advantages of doing exercise in the best possible manner with the help of adequate scientific data from multiple research studies. In some areas, we can even see the author using philosophical musings to convince us regarding it.

It should be no surprise that humans respond positively to exercise. We're descendants of hunter-gatherers who were optimized over thousands of years by evolution to walk and run around the equivalent of many miles per day (i.e. the couch potato of the caveman era died young).

We assume it’s because we’re burning off stress or reducing muscle tension or boosting endorphins, and we leave it at that. But the real reason we feel so good when we get our blood pumping is that it makes the brain function at its best, and in my view, this benefit of physical activity is far more important — and fascinating — than what it does for the body. Building muscles and conditioning the heart and lungs are essentially side effects. I often tell my patients that the point of exercise is to build and condition the brain." The author begins the writing in the book proper by examining Naperville Central High School in Chicago, which adds a heavy emphasis on physical exercise, to great effect.

This book gets a bit repetitive after awhile (I quit after reading about 3/4 of it), and the conclusions he drew from some of the research studies seemed to really be stretching what you could reasonably conclude from the actual results. Oh my god. According to this book I am a walking recipe for Alzheimer's disease. This is a book by a Harvard psychiatrist about the link between mental health and exercise. As life-long depression sufferer with not one, but two parents who suffer/ed from Alzheimer's, I'm pretty much in the exponentially high risk category for dementia. But there is hope, if I get off my ass and start exercising. If you're the kind of person who needs to be intellectually convinced by mountains of research to confirm something you already know - as I am - and you're trying desperately to start a regular exercise habit - as I am - you need to run and get this book, like, yesterday. I'm actually very serious: I have a very athletic husband, who is the epitome of healthy living, as an example in front of me every day; I've read tons of articles about the benefits of exercise, and have known for practically my whole life the importance of getting my body moving. But my mind resisted, and has just never really gotten with the program, so to speak...

What I aim to do here is to deliver in plain English the inspiring science connecting exercise and the brain and to demonstrate how it plays out in the lives of real people. I want to cement the idea that exercise has a profound impact on cognitive abilities and mental health. It is simply one of the best treatments we have for most psychiatric problems..." Ratey gets the writing here off on a good foot, with a very well-written intro. He's got a great writing style; that's both interesting and engaging. Unfortunately, science books with good flow like this are fairly hit-or-miss, in my experience... Dr. John J. Ratey, M.D., is an associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and has a private practice in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I loved that the first chapter didn't immediately hit the reader with the neuroscience. Instead, the book begins with a heartwarming and inspiring case study of a school program that improved students' grades, test scores, social skills and emotional wellness through exercise. While the rest of the book provides a lot of fascinating studies and sympathetic anecdotes, I felt that the beginning chapter was the most powerful. It draws you into the book with the subtle reminder of the power of exercise in shaping the bodies and minds of the future. Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain by John J. Ratey takes a fascinating look at the relationship between exercise and brain function. Citing numerous scientific studies as well as various anecdotal stories, Ratey looks at the benefits of exercise relative to learning, stress, anxiety, depression, attention deficit, hormonal changes, and aging. Anyone looking for some motivation to exercise or to improve their consistency is certain to find something in the text. Most of the focus relates to aerobic exercise, but other forms of exercise are also mentioned although they generally do not have as many scientific studies relating to them. The following are some general take always from the book:One takeaway from the book is that does not mention longevity. This book is about enhancing the quality of life not prolonging it. Its purpose is to keep the brain healthy so that you can enjoy doing the things you like for as long as you have. He also drops a succinct summary, describing the longevity benefits of regular exercise. I've included it here mainly for my own future reference. I've covered it with a spoiler for those not interested: At the same time I really enjoyed the details, I think it does help the reader to "buy-in" more into exercise as a lifestyle as the benefits are enormous no matter what age, gender or lifestyle you have right now. I love the research based evidence presented throughout the book which not only convince us that exercise is beneficial but also explains how it's beneficial. The author covers, not only the brain physiology of exercise in relation to aging, depression, anxiety, ADHD and addictions, he also takes on the PE establishment--you know, those dodgeball-playing, drill-sargeant, sadistic bastards we used to have as gym teachers? The ones who coached the good athletes in their classes and pretty much ignored and/or humiliated everyone else? Apparently, there's a movement afoot to change the way gym is taught (high time, I'd say) that actually encourages physical fitness. What a concept.