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

The idea that exercising your body exercises your brain is revolutionary, so I thought I would really enjoy this book. And in a general sense, this topic is very interesting. But I discovered that it is not interesting when parsed out for 300 pages. Once you understand that exercising helps your brain via numerous processes that scientists are just beginning to comprehend, there really isn't much more to say. The author provides lots of studies and individual case histories and provides details of the actual chemical processes without becoming a textbook. But none of it held my attention. There are individual chapters on how exercising helps the following: learning, stress, anxiety, depression, ADHD, addiction, hormonal changes, and aging. But the message for each chapter is the same- to help with (insert condition here), do aerobic exercise routinely. Thats it. This is one of only a handful of health books I have read that I gave up taking notes.

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.

John Ratey is a Harvard psychiatrist who subspecializes in the clinical use of exercise in mental diseases. In Spark he examines clinical and lab research in neuro-hormones, the chemical soup that determines how well our brain works.
The front plate quote by Plato says it all," In order for man to succeed in life, God provided him with two means, education and physical activity. Not separately, one for the soul and the other for the body, but for the two together. With these two means, man can attain perfection." (To this I'd like to add good nutrition, sorry Plato.)
This book has many interesting stories together with the technical information. It is a quick, enjoyable read.
We feel good when we exercise because it allows the brain to function at its best. Muscle building, cardiovascular conditioning, reducing stress and tension are secondary. Our society and its conveniences have made it difficult to get enough physical activity. We now have to work at it.
The Naperville School District (19,000 students) west of Chicago has redesigned its P.E. system. All students participate in P.E. classes which develop cardiovascular fitness. In class students use heart rate monitors to gauge their degree of exertion. The only games played are ones with high levels of sweat like three-on-three basketball. Students are taught to encourage and support each other. The results have been dramatic: 10% of the number of overweight children found in other school districts; only 3% of students in Naperville are overweight. In an international study of 230,000 students those from Naperville were sixth in math (first in the U.S.A.) and first in science, ahead of Singapore, China, Korea and Japan. To confirm that the fitness program is key a study compared test results after P.E. class with results several hours later. Scores were much higher right after the fitness class, findings which confirmed prior animal studies. Vigorous exercise makes your brain work much better especially right after the exercise but also longer term.
Naperville is an upper middle class community where many parents are scientists or engineers. Titusville, Pennsylvania is not. It is a failed factory town north of Pittsburgh where they copied the Naperville P.E. program beginning in 2000. Test scores went from below state average to 18 percent above. Since 2000 there has not been one fist fight in the junior high school. They were common before.
A share of the 2000 Nobel Prize was given to a Eric Kandel who demonstrated that practice (piano, vocabulary etc.) caused neurons to grow new branches and made branches get larger and better connected to adjacent neurons. A neuro-chemical, BDNF, has the same effect plus it causes new neurons to form from stem cells and protects neurons from decay and death. Exercise elevates BDNF levels throughout the brain. Other beneficial body and neuro-hormones also increase during exercise. In summary, exercise increases alertness and motivation; it encourages new connections between neurons; it causes new neurons to form. Adding a complexity to exercise with things such as yoga, Pilates, tennis, or martial arts is even more effective than simple exercise.
Exercise has been studied in patients with depression, stress, anxiety, attention deficit, addiction, menstrual and menopause problems. In general exercise has outperformed standard drug therapy in each of these conditions. That's not even taking into consideration the considerable side effects and cost of medications.
It's been well documented that Alzheimer's disease incidence is much lower in regular exercisers (50% less). Animal studies have shown exercise effects in models of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's where findings in the brain were significantly reversed. Mental exercise is equally important. An epidemiologic study in Minnesota has followed an order of nuns who stay very active. When one died at age 85 of a heart attack she was found to have severe Alzheimer's disease at postmortem exam. But she had tested in the 90% percentile on cognitive tests shortly before her death. Severe pathologic Alzheimer's due to her genetic makeup had no effect on her life. Billions of dollars are being spent on genetic and pharmaceutical cures for this devastating disease, but we already know that a combination of diet, exercise and vigorous mental activity will prevent it.

Ratey's exercise prescription:

Aerobic - Four times a week; 30-60 minutes at 60-70% of maximum heart rate (220 - age = theoretical maximum heart rate)

Strength - Twice a week with weights or resistance equipment.

Balance and Flexibility - Twice a week for thirty minutes. Yoga, Pilates, Martial arts, dance are possibilities.

In general more is better, harder is better, with another is better.

N.B. Interval Training (e.g. 30 second bursts of maximal effort several times during the aerobic sessions causes increase in human growth hormone, a valuable healing and anti-aging substance that normally is at low levels later in life. The author lost his `spare tire' a few weeks after adding this to his exercise regime. Nothing else had worked.)

This book was recommended to me by my wellness doctor! It's fabulous with real life examples and inspiring stories. I ended up buying 20 copies to send as holiday gifts! I want all my friends to be able to live healthier longer and to enjoy Dr. John Ratey's excellent resource, guide and book. I rarely have purchased that many copies of any book to give as gifts, it's just THAT great. Business Coach Patty DeDominic

This is superb!!
As a retired doc ,I was unaware of the new developments in the complex organ which houses our intelligence and our souls.
Dr.Ratey has the ability to explain function so even a doctor can understand.
I graduated med school in '59 and retired a few years ago.
The amount and intracracy of information is mind boggling and I don't know how the busy clinician finds the time to keep up
particularly while being overwhelmed -- created by a bureaucracy which is drowning and hence diminishing what was once the most gratifying
occupation that one can be priviledged to engage in

Pardon spelling and punctuation am old,senile man who is just learning how to type and forgotten how to spell

"Old" in terms of how fast research in this area has exploded, BUT this one is a classic, and well worth the read. Organized by various conditions of the brain, from learning to stress, anxiety, depression, ADHD, hormonal changes, aging... and I probably left something out here... but how exercise influences all these things, from a neuro-chemical point of view. If I wasn't already hooked on an active lifestyle for the physical well-being, this might convince me for the MENTAL well-being!