How Exercise Improves Learning

My rave about the book Spark

The body and the brain are one. To be human is to move, because plants don't need brains.

clipped from mindbodyfitness.suite101.com In his book, Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, John J. Ratey M.D. provides undeniable proof that exercise benefits not only the body but the brain as well. Exercise Promotes Neurogenesis Neuroscientists have recently uncovered a strong connection between exercise and cognitive function. Studies show that exercise promotes neurogenesis, the growth of new neurons in the brain. For years, it was believed that the number of neurons in the adult brain remained a fixed entity. In Spark, new research shows otherwise. Exercise Increases Levels of BDNF in the Brain In the past 15 years, neuroscientists have discovered the significance of a group of proteins known as brain-derived neurotrophic factor or BDNF which builds and nourishes the infrastructure of cell circuitry in the brain. Exercise Enhances the Machinery of Learning Promoting neurogenesis and BDNF levels in the brain, exercise produces far too many benefits on the machinery of learning to be ignored.