I read this book for an awesome grad school course with the University of Texas School of Public Health, Austin Regional Campus: PH 2998 - Seminar in Child and Adolescent Health taught by Dr. Steve Kelder. Part of our assignment was a book report and then an Amazon posting:
Dr. John Ratey is an Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School as well as a practicing psychiatrist. He has been well known and respected in his field since the late 1990s and has published many books on various psychiatric topics. This book is a compilation of personal experience, scientific knowledge and studies, as well as case studies that involve exercise and how the brain responds. Dr. Ratey wants to share the information he has gathered and the benefits he has both witnessed and experienced in regards to exercise and brain function. He wants everyone to be able to tap into their best self, both physically and mentally.
This book is very accessible for both the scientifically trained and the lay reader. Dr. Ratey explains some basics of neurobiology and brain chemistry in simple enough terms and frequently comes back to each explanation in each chapter so readers do not have to worry about memorizing the exact details of each study and concept - and by the end, many will stick to the reader’s strengthened neural circuitry due to such repetition and re-emphasis.
Dr. Ratey focuses on eight very important topics in psychiatry and how they can be improved with exercise - learning, stress, anxiety, depression, attention, addiction, hormones, and aging. Each chapter gives a case study or two, some anecdotal evidence from his experiences and practice, as well as robust scientific findings and experimental outcomes supporting. It was extremely straightforward and easy to read for me.
Here is a basic summary of each topic, each its own chapter:
Learning is fueled by the building of new synapses and new cells in the brain. This is greatly driven by brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) which Dr. Ratey considers “miracle-gro” for the brain. He discusses how exercise stimulates and supports the production of BDNF and thus helps the creation and growth of new brain cells. Exercise also has proven impacts on alertness, attention, and motivation, all necessary for learning. Lastly, exercise helps with chemical factors that build and strengthen synapses (connections between nerve cells).
Stress is something that is ubiquitous in modern culture. It erodes our physical and mental health and creates elevated risk for many diseases. Frequent exercise is something we don’t feel we have time for, something that we assume will just stress us out more, however, Dr. Ratey counters that some stress is good - it stimulates our bodies to renew and strengthen itself, exercise is a very good stress. It puts us in control of our bodies and our minds, and by extension our lives. The stress of exercise inoculates us against future stressful situations and trains our bodies to respond in less harmful ways. Frequent exercise primes us to fight stress and fight it appropriately.
Anxiety is often a product of the hypersensitive nervous system and disrupted brain chemistry. In many situations it must be controlled with medications and therapy to reduce panic attacks. Many anxiety medications have concerning side effects. Dr. Ratey explains that exercise can work as well or better than medication, or alongside medication, to help people control their anxiety, panic, and fear. Exercise is able to create a distraction from anxiety, reduce muscle tension, properly build up the brain’s chemical resources, create a different outcome than panic attack, and reroute circuits in the brain. This to builds resilience to and hopefully growing freedom from anxiety and fear.
Depression is another major issue tackled by Dr. Ratey. Just as with anxiety disorders, medications to treat depression have intense and unwanted side effects and individuals have great variance in whether a medication even works for them. While depression is something that often makes people unwilling to exercise, if they can make the first step to try it and a concerted effort to keep going they can have great results. Exercise balances many neurotransmitters that are out of whack in the depressed brain and can even repair structural damage that is apparent in many patients. This is a disease that can often be impacted one step at a time, literally.
Dr. Ratey, has addressed attention disorders in several of his previous books. He has great insight and knowledge on the subject and now has increasing evidence that daily exercise is an effective treatment for many people with a spectrum of attention disorders. Personally, I have often thought that I am borderline ADHD, so this chapter was extremely insightful an impactful to me. It made me thankful that I had always been active and athletic as a child so I was not greatly impacted in school. Now in grad school, however, I should really step up my exercise routine again, rather than letting it slip as much as I have. Just as stated the learning chapter, exercise helps with alertness, motivation, and attention. It balances out neurotransmitters and helps the brain self-regulate for a time after moderate to vigorous activity.
Another major topic was addiction. The impactful parts of this chapter were how some addicts were able to recover and retrain their brains with running programs incorporated in their treatment programs. There is a team of former addicts who now runs marathons together. They have found a way out of their addictions, learned to control their brain chemistry, and found a way to reconnect with others, rather than be marginalized. Dr. Ratey mentions in this chapter as well as others, how exercise can be even more beneficial as a social activity. In this case the social aspect helps former addicts reconnect as well as discuss their challenges and find support.
Hormones, specifically the female hormonal cycle and associated disorders, are something that is also greatly impacted by exercise. Hormones are regulated in the brain as well as effect the brain, in particular the mood center, so exercise can be a form of treatment for many “female issues” such as PMS, pregnancy, postpartum depression, and menopause. This is great news for many women who suffer, some often and some at one time or another, from these common issues. While exercise may not always be a “cure”, Dr. Ratey emphasizes that it is something that can be started slowly and has very little risk or side effects as compared to other common treatments for hormone challenges, disruptions, and disorders.
Lastly, Dr. Ratey discusses aging - both the general effects of aging on the brain as well as brain disease and disorder associated with aging (eg. dementia and Alzheimer’s). Regular exercise not only helps aging populations stay healthy and “feel younger” but also helps their brains stay markedly younger. There are physical and chemical effects in the brain itself that can greatly impact how gracefully someone’s brain ages. People who stay sharp, wise, and alert as they age are often regular exercisers, sometimes by recommendation of their doctors, but most often by habit and personal knowledge. Studies now support the creation of these habits. We can prevent the degeneration of our minds by exercising now and creating a habit of it to cary us through old age.
This book has great implications for a current topic of study for me: child and adolescent heath. It reinforces that we must have quality physical education programs that encourage children and teens to have healthy habits and find a fitness routine that works for them. I am encouraged by Dr. Ratey’s introduction with “New PE” that is based on lifetime fitness and creating a new core subject. This book and suggestions in it can especially help children and teens dealing with issues of depression, anxiety, stress, and attention.
And now we’ve all got to get out there and MOVE!
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Popular Highlights in this book
Among those with the least cognitive decline over a four-year period, three factors turned up: education, self-efficacy, and exercise.Highlighted by 2,025 Kindle readers- Exercise spawns neurons, and the stimulation of environmental enrichment helps those cells survive.Highlighted by 2,021 Kindle readers
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Reviews with images
GREAT book!
I'm 19 years old and find this book to be so interesting and helpful! I am a Dietetics major and I enjoy learning about health and fitness. I frequently run and workout and while I know it's good for my body,I haven't learned all the science behind why it is so good. This books breaks it down and gives great detailed information as well as making it understandable for any age. I think this book is a great eye opener as to why exercise is so important.
Top reviews from other countries
Bueno en general pero el botón de mute no prende el Led.
leer
Reviewed in Mexico on October 7, 2023Amazon Customer
Wish I Could Have Read This Years Ago
Reviewed in Canada on December 11, 2022
Dejan Djukic
Very interesting and inspiring Book
Reviewed in Germany on January 31, 2024Robert Dallas
Just read this, it really will change your life
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 14, 2023Angelika de Beauclair
Mi sta letteralmente cambiando la vita!
Reviewed in Italy on November 10, 2022