Hello
Is it too late to wish you all a Happy New Year?!
I just had a lovely, long indulgent holiday from exercise and forced myself to get back into it with some gentle walks and interesting podcasts.
Amongst the podcast selection was this one on Train your Brain interviewing Dr John Ratey.
Dr. Ratey is an Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and an internationally recognized expert in Neuropsychiatry. He has been promoting exercise as a cognitive tool for over 30 years. He explains that physical activity is a positive stressor to the brain and body. It’s only when we challenge and stretch ourselves that we can grow. The neuroscience around exercise is overwhelmingly supportive.
The link is below, but as I know you're all very busy I'm going to precis the interview for you because it was absolutely fascinating. ***
He covers the impact of exercise on learning. Our brain was constructed to be the best movers we could be. We added on more brain stuff in order to plan, predict, evaluate and remember which enabled us to be the best movers and thereby the evolutionary victors. This was important as we grew a lot of brain.
We then co-opted those moving brain cells to think with - when we move, we turn on the same nerve cells that we use to think with. We are pumping these nerve cells a lot when we exercise. When we pump them up, we don't tire them out, we actually make them stronger like our muscles. This is what happens when we use our brain cells through exercise.
This creates significant changes: when you use a brain cell, you release a protein called BDNF - brain derived neurotropic factor - this is what Dr Ratey calls a brain fertiliser. We make more of this BDNF when we use our brain cells. We also release all these neurotransmitters - serotonin, dopamine, gabba - in increased concentrations when we use our brain cells whilst exercising.
With increased movement this leads to a release of what Dr Ratey calls a soup of proteins and neurotransmitters for our brain to grow in. When we have a need to learn something, what we do is grow in the information. The best preparation for growing in the information is creating this "soupy" environment that exercise creates.
In addition, we turn on the attention system, the motivational system and our visual and auditory systems, all which helps us take in and stay with the new information better.
So as a side effect of exercise we create this churning and whirring wonderful brain ready to take in new information and prepare itself to deal with the future.
When we create and release new neurotransmitters through exercise we are then at a peak - being calmer and more stress resistant. Dr Ratey says exercise is like taking a little bit of Prozac and a little bit of Ritalin - we increase our levels of serotonin, dopamine and endocannabinoid in a holistic way with no negative side-effects.
Practical tips as given by Dr Ratey:
1. the more and different kinds of exercise you can do, the better. As guidelines recommend a minimum of 150 minutes of exercise a week, it should mainly be cardiovascular/aerobic/high intensity. Remember when you're huffing and puffing this means you're strengthening your brain through the release of those BDNFs and neurotransmitters.
2. Complex exercises are best e.g. dancing or taekwondo. The trickier the exercise the more the positive growth action in the brain.
3. Exercising in outside in nature is also of enormous benefit. You get more positive benefits in your brain than being stuck in a gym.
4. Finally, being with others is the single most important health tip that Dr Ratey offers.
***Oh my God, I've just completely swamped you guys with all this information! Hopefully you made it through to the practical tips because that is where the gold is! Seriously, if that isn't a fabulous plug for my personal training sessions, then I don't know what is?! In our group sessions, you get to be outside, doing a range of Pilates-based and high intensity exercises with a group of wonderful other people. Bingo! A strong body and a strong brain!
Please email me on ptkeyfitness@gmail.com if you want to book a training session or ask me some questions about my sessions.
Thanks for reading.
http://trainyourbrainpodcast.com/
