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Eric Hagerman

John J. Ratey

Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain Paperback – January 1, 2013

by John J. Ratey MD (Author), Eric Hagerman

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A groundbreaking and fascinating investigation into the transformative effects of exercise on the brain, from the bestselling author and renowned psychiatrist John J. Ratey, MD.

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.

In Spark, John J. Ratey, M.D., embarks upon a fascinating and entertaining journey through the mind-body connection, presenting startling research to prove that exercise is truly our best defense against everything from depression to ADD to addiction to aggression to menopause to Alzheimer's.

Filled with amazing case studies (such as the revolutionary fitness program in Naperville, Illinois, which has put this school district of 19,000 kids first in the world of science test scores), Spark is the first book to explore comprehensively the connection between exercise and the brain. It will change forever the way you think about your morning run -- -or, for that matter, simply the way you think.

Print length

304 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Little, Brown Spark
Publication date

January 1, 2013
Dimensions

5.45 x 1 x 8.25 inches
ISBN-10

0316113514
ISBN-13

978-0316113519
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Popular Highlights in this book

What are popular highlights?

Exercise spawns neurons, and the stimulation of environmental enrichment helps those cells survive.
1,687 Kindle readers highlighted this
It turns out that moving our muscles produces proteins that travel through the bloodstream and into the brain, where they play pivotal roles in the mechanisms of our highest thought processes.
1,677 Kindle readers highlighted this
Among those with the least cognitive decline over a four-year period, three factors turned up: education, self-efficacy, and exercise.
1,704 Kindle readers highlighted this

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is my self-help book for the season."―Houston Chronicle

"At last a book that explains to me why I feel so much better if I run in the morning!"―Dr. Susan M. Love, author of Dr. Susan Love's Menopause and Hormone Book and Dr. Susan Love's Breast Book

"SPARK is just what we need. In mental health, exercise is a growth stock and Ratey is our best broker."―Ken Duckworth, M.D., Medical Director for the National Alliance on Mental Illness

"This book is a real turning point that explains something I've been trying to figure out for years. Exercise is not simply necessary, as Dr. Ratey clearly shows, it's medicine."―Greg LeMond, three-time winner of the Tour de France

"SPARK is mercifully short on Ivy League med-school-speak. And it may just spell the end of all dumb-jock jokes."―Outside Magazine

"I enthusiastically recommend this book...If your goal is to live a long and healthy life to the fullest then Spark should be required reading."―Kenneth H. Cooper, M.D., M.P.H., "Father of Aerobics"

"Bravo! An extremely important book. What Cooper did decades ago for exercise and the heart, Ratey does in SPARK for exercise and the brain. An utterly convincing and brilliantly documented ground-breaking work...So, get moving! Your brain will thank you and repay you many times over."―Edward Hallowell, M.D., The Hallowell Centers

"Ratey has culled the latest science and found that a regular workout can help build a better, faster brain."―USA Today

About the Author

John Ratey, M.D., is a clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He is the author of numerous bestselling and groundbreaking books, including Spark, Driven to Distraction, and A User's Guide to the Brain. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Little, Brown Spark; Reprint edition (January 1, 2013)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0316113514
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0316113519
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.6 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.45 x 1 x 8.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #17,684 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #5 in Aerobics (Books)
- #21 in Physiology (Books)
- #24 in Stretching Exercise & Fitness

Customer Reviews:
2,196 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		78%
4 star		14%
3 star		6%
2 star		1%
1 star		2%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Abacus

An outstanding book on the subject

Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2018

Verified Purchase

John Ratey has compiled great research within each chapter addressing specific conditions such as anxiety, depression, ADHD, stress, menopause, and aging. And, he conveys how exercise improves all those conditions.

Ratey dwelves in physiological details how exercise boosts the levels of various neurotransmitters, hormones, and proteins which in turn positively affect our overall health and cognitive capabilities including memory, learning, mood regulation.

Ratey conveys what specific type of exercises assist specific health situation and cognitive functions. There are tens of related interesting insights throughout the book. I am just mentioning a few examples below.

1) BMI and aerobic fitness are significant markers of academic performance.
2) Three neurotransmitters play a preponderant role in managing our moods, attention, perception, motivation, and movement. They are serotonin (mood), norepinephrine (focus), and dopamine (reward-system, movement). And, the pharmaceutical industry has focused on them: boosting serotonin to manage anxiety and depression; increasing dopamine to manage Parkinson). However, exercise boosts all three without any negative side effects.
3) Norepinephrine boosts the signal quality of synaptic transmission, while dopamine decreases the noise of neuron chatter. Together, they reduce ADHD and enhance learning.
4) Neurogenesis means we can grow neurons at any age. Stress, anxiety, and depression impair neurogenesis. But, exercise fights off those conditions and enhances neurogenesis.
5) A protein, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), builds and maintain neurons and neuron networks. BDNF facilitates the learning process and is important for long-term memories. In addition to synaptic plasticity, BDNF also plays a role in energy metabolism. BDNF also ramps up serotonin levels that help with mood, depression, anxiety. And, exercise boosts BDNF levels.
6) An optimal exercise program combines a skill acquisition exercise and a aerobic one. Tennis and biking fits that. Skill exercise strengthens and expands neural networks. The more complex the movements the more complex the synaptic connections. Aerobic exercise enhances mood by boosting the levels of all three mentioned neurotransmitters.
7) You should vary the intensity of exercise. High intensity exercise boosts the human growth hormone (HGH) which also boosts BDNF. In combination, these are like a fountain of youth.
8) Doing squats can be as effective in boosting HGH levels as running hard for 30 minutes.
9) Paleolithic humans walked and ran 5 to 10 miles a day just to eat. Our sedentary lifestyle is not catered to our DNA, and explains the obesity crisis.
10) Active people reduce their cancer risk by 50%.
11) Every 50 minutes of weekly exercise correlates with a 50% drop in risk of depression.
12) Briskly walking 5 hours a week reduces the risk of gestational diabetes by 75%.
13) Women over 65 who remain physically active are 50% less likely to develop dementia.
14) Diabetes increases your risk of developing dementia by 65%. High cholesterol increases it by 43%. Exercise can assist with both conditions.
15) Exercise prevents inflammation that triggers the plaque accumulation in the brain that causes Alzheimer’s disease.
16) Among individuals over 75, the ones with higher blood glucose levels (but who were still not diabetic) had a 77% higher likelihood of developing Alzheimer’s disease.
17) Being overweight doubles the chances of developing dementia. And, when combined with high blood pressure and high cholesterol, the risk increases sixfold.
18) Exercise reduces the risk of colon cancer by 50%.

222 people found this helpful

Helpful

Gordon Allen

Most Helpful Wellness Guidebook!

Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2017

Verified Purchase

Hands down, the most helpful wellness book I have read in past ten years, and re-read 6 times. BTW, I have read one non-fiction book per week since 1985, so I select my reading material carefully. I am recovering from spinal surgery and enrolled in intense physical therapy three days weekly. This book and the Doc's recommendations have become my guidebook to wellness. My 'amazing progress' (as described by my 2 doctors) is proof Doctor Ratey knows what works and why. This book is a must-read for anyone who is serious about their longevity. I'm 73.

94 people found this helpful

Helpful

Ana

Amazing Read! Highly Recommend!

Reviewed in the United States on October 10, 2020

Verified Purchase

Wow! This book is almost as life changing as exercise itself! I HIGHLY recommend it to anyone but especially someone who doesn’t exercise and is maybe struggling with higher levels of stress, which many of us are during these uncertain times. The author goes into such detail on the effects of exercise on the brain. Each chapter covers a different issue... i.e. anxiety, depression, ADD...etc and then in the end he gives recommendations on how much to exercise and what exercise to do. The book is FILLED with tons of studies on the specific brain changes that go on during exercise. It does have a slow start in the beginning but once you get to the chapter of stress it becomes even more interesting. I plan to reread the book and highlight some of my favorite quotes and passages.

13 people found this helpful

Helpful

Brian Tassone

Intelligently written. The science is explained for regular people

Reviewed in the United States on September 2, 2017

Verified Purchase

Spark " will " change the way you look at exercise and fitness. " Movement is life ". I am depressed and overweight and hate exercise with a passion. Since my perspective has changed I make myself do it. I still hate it but now I exercise regularly because it really does make me feel less depressed. To prove my point start a journal on how you feel every day. Do it for a week. Then start exercising and compare journal entries. If I didn't experience it first hand I would say it is just another person trying to sell a book. And if you have children in school you'll definitely get them moving.

47 people found this helpful

Helpful

Azadi

Changed my Way of Life

Reviewed in the United States on July 25, 2015

Verified Purchase

I realized I was having trouble with my memory, forgetting names & words on occasion, but put it down to "just something that happens". I was a bit sad, too, since I "knew" it would continue to decline. After reading this book, I realized I can change that outcome and improve my memory significantly. A ton of research has been done in neuroscience over the last 15 years, but this was the first I'd heard of it! I immediately put into practice the recommendations and over the last month & a half have noticed definite signs of improvement. If you are willing to change your diet and to start exercising regularly in order to retain and improve your memory, this is the book for you. It was not an easy read due to some usage of medical terminology, but it works. I recommend that you just say "this thing" when you run across a tech term, because by the end of the book what is needed is explained in language anyone can understand.

73 people found this helpful

Helpful

Santiago Brand

A great book which contains valuable and useful information as well ...

Reviewed in the United States on January 12, 2018

Verified Purchase

As a mental health professional who works with the brain, I have implemented several additional strategies to my work such as nutrition and functional medicine. However, with "Spark" I have found that the missing ingredient in the recipe was exercise. Now, I will use it in combination with brain training at my clinic to improve the lives of my clients even further. A great book which contains valuable and useful information as well as a easy, comprehensible read. Many people will think, "well, duh!" yet they may fail to grasp the importance of the science the book mentions.

29 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

LMac

I’ve actually started to enjoy exercise!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 7, 2019

Verified Purchase

Something switched in my brain after reading this. For the first time in my life I’ve started to see exercise as a reward and as something to look forward to instead of a chore. I bought a Fitbit straight after reading so I could track my heart rate and get it to the optimal levels as described in the book, so now exercise has become a bit more like a game and an experiment which appeals to me a lot more. We all know that exercise is good for you and I wondered what this book could tell me that I didn’t already know, but it had much more of an impact than I ever thought it would. Well worth a read if you suffer with anxiety, depression and ADHD especially.

7 people found this helpful

C. Weldon

Do sport, it will change your life

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 8, 2019

Verified Purchase

Ratey's research shows us something incredible - that exercise is good for the brain. He dives into the mechanics of this, but if you want to know the actionable steps, then do aerobic exercise. If you want to really build resilience, then do aerobic exercise that requires skill. And if you really, really want to get the brain benefits from exercise, do something that is social as well - e.g. something like a team sport.

3 people found this helpful

Amazing Life

The book that make you move.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 19, 2016

Verified Purchase

I was a lazy person before, love to be in comfort zone. I hate exercise because I feel disgusting will the sweat and the smell that came after that. However, recently I have some difficulty in my life as a student, i feel to stress and seeking out for solution. Luckily to find this book that help me a lot with my studies and stress managment. I recomend this book because it will make you feel excited to move when you understand how it very benificial to you. However, i warn you that this book have a lot of sccientific term. Maybe this will make you feel difficult to read this at the beginning.

5 people found this helpful

Jillian Florence

Publisher Review

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 28, 2020

Verified Purchase

Why would a reader of a book like this value the opinion of the Daily Fail on the front page!

The paperback book quality is poor recycled paper and not cut evenly. The paper is grey and text pale, ie poor contrast.

Just for Today

Wow!- the benefits of exercising :)

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 15, 2017

Verified Purchase

Wow! I love this book. On the back of reading this, I am now two-thirds of the way through a 30-day exercise challenge where I am doing 6 hours of cardio/resistance training per week. love the benefits of exercise, thank you Dr Ratey

4 people found this helpful

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