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www.JohnRatey.comHttp://sparkinglife.org

ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF SHAMELESS SELF- PROMOTION

Initiatives• Build international awareness of the effect of exercise on

cognitive development and lifelong brain capacity• Become the Repository or Library on the internet for the

latest scientific information on the effect of exercise and play on the brain and psyche.

• Educate the educators and medical personnel • Reach out to mental health providers and support groups

and share results of studies and offer program outlines to implement

• Website: Http;//Sparkinglife.org

Our early ancestors predominately consisted of hunter-gatherer types ensuring the “Running Man” as a standard of fitness for their survival. If you did not run, you did not eat. Individuals who could out-run & out-plan their peers would survive

HUNTER GATHERERS

Evolved out of NEED. Conserve

They drive us to load up on and

Because tomorrow we will have to

Fitness, Hippocampus Size, and Memory

FitNot Fit

• Kids who were fit and who had better memory, also had larger hippocampii

•Fitness increases neurons, connectivity- 28 fit 21 non

Chaddock L, Erickson KI, Prakash RS, Kim JS, Voss MW, Vanpatter M, Pontifex MB, Raine LB, Konkel A, Hillman CH, Cohen NJ, Kramer AF. A neuroimaging investigation of the association between aerobic fitness, hippocampal volume and memory performance in preadolescent children. Brain Res. 2010 Aug 21. [Epub ahead of print]

In order for a 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.

Cotman CW, Berchtold NC, Christie LA.Exercise builds brain health: key roles of growth factor cascades and inflammation. Trends Neurosci. 2007 Sep;30(9):464-72.

EXERCISE HAS AN EFFECT TO INCREASE LIFE FORCES IN MANY WAYS:1. SYNAPTIC PLASTICITY2. NEUROGENESIS3. COLLATERAL CIRCULATION, 4. Also IMPROVES HBP, DIABETES, OBESITY, OTHER RISK FACTORS

Play evolved – to promote survival. Play makes the brain smarter - more adaptable - higher animals.

Play is the basis of social contact and group interaction - fostering empathy – The core of creativity and innovation. Play gives us the ability to become smarter and more creative, to learn more about the world than the genes could ever teach, to adapt to a changing world.

In a world of continuously presenting unique challenges and ambiguities.. Play Prepares the Player to cope with the evolving planet.

The more recess… the better behaved and attentive the student or worker.

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul (2009

Play prepares the player, to cope with the unique challenges andambiguities of a world that is continuously changing. Play is necessary

to keep our major brain systems synchronized.

The period when maximum play occurs - Ages 3-7 yrsis also the period of the most rapid growth of the cerebellum.

The species with the biggest brain size play the most. Humans should never stop!

The Prefrontal Cortex Major Role in Executive Function

PlanningOrganizationInitiate or delay a response

Executive function relates to abilities to differentiate among conflicting thoughts, determine good and bad, better and best, same and different, future consequences of current activities, working toward a defined goal, prediction of outcomes, expectation based on actions, and social "control" (the ability to suppress urges that, if not suppressed, could lead to socially-unacceptable outcomes.

The prefrontal cortex is the brain center most strongly implicated in qualities like sentience, human general intelligence, and personality.

Dysfunction in these areas leads to disruption in the organization and control of behavior.

By increasing neurotransmitter activity, improving blood flow and producing Brain Growth Factors - Miracle Grow or Brain Fertilizers - Exercise readies our nerve cells to bind more easily and stronger.

Exercise does this better than any other factor that we are aware of at the present time.

Exercise promotes hippocampus blood flow in humans

Age 21-45, below average fitness 12 weeks: 4X/wk aerobic training; VO2-max

Rey auditory verbal learning test

Pereira et al., PNAS 2007

Every student at Madison Junior High completes a computer-based fitness test

Students spend one day a week in the school's state-of-the-art fitness center.

33% of freshmen in California were overweight or obese.

3% of freshmen were overweight or obese. 19,000 children in the district.

An international benchmarking test comparing the achievement of eighth-grade students . In 1999, Naperville District 203 scored #1 in science and #6 in math. An amazing 94.1% of Naperville parents were satisfied with the PE curriculum.

2004 Scores in Math by Number of Fitness Standards

Source: California Physical Fitness Test, 2004 Results, Calif. Dept. of Ed., April 2005

Grade 5 – 371,198 StudentsGrade 7 – 366,278 StudentsGrade 9 – 63,028 Students**

*California Standards Test** Grade 9 Students who took CST geometry

2004 CST* Scores in English-Language Arts by Number of Fitness Standards

Grade 5 – 371,198 StudentsGrade 7 – 366,278 StudentsGrade 9 – 298,910 Students

*California Standards Test

The Association between School-Based Physical Activity, including Physical Education, & Academic

PerformanceA CDC Report, April 2010

?

Fewer competitive activities.

More activities that emphasize personal achievement – Not a replacement for Competitive Sports.

Use and CO-OPT technology to serve us. USE OUR CYBER SLAVES

Construct developmentally appropriate curriculum – PE for BODY and BRAIN

Builds character & citizenship, teaches how to deal with adversity, and how to give back to one’s community.

Includes a wide range of activities

Acculturates a lifestyle of PLAY and ACTIVITY

Phenomenon Woodland Elementary School

2005 Fall

PE one day per week / 50 minutes.

2006 Jan - June

PE4life Program

Five days a week / 45 minutes.

-Inner city school with

80% of kids on free lunch program

PE4LIFE added

Cardiac monitored watches,

Dance Dance Revolution,

A few exercise bicycles/fitness machines.

AND A NEW ATTITUDE

Public Magnet School Grades 4-8 Approximately 120 children All on school breakfast and lunch programs. Program: Added 40 minutes of exercise in the morning Exercise was performed in gym in station format.

Activities included: Basketball Dance Dance Revolution Double Dutch" jump roping Pogo stick jumping

1st Semester 2006 - 2007 Outcomes: Disciplinary Referrals Year 2006 2007Referrals: 661 353Suspensions: 71 24

Teachers reported : Students are more focused. Students are more focused during the MAP (Measure of Academic Progress) testing as well. Teachers observed:

Students testing immediately after morning activities did better — meeting or exceeding individual growth targets — than middle scholars taking the test late morning or in the afternoon.

Sweden The Proof Love to measure and keep records

1.2 million boys born 1950-76; finished H.S. 15 and entered military 18. 270,000 brothers, 1300 identical twins

Tested cardio (ergonometric) muscle (knee, elbow, hand) and cognitive appraisal-both at 15 and 18.

Those that improved cardio fitness improved IQ and smarts. Not as much with muscle strength. Also those that improved went on to be better education, more satisfaction with life, and higher socio-economic standing.

"We believe the present results provide scientific support for educational policies to maintain or increase physical education in school curricula as a means to stem the growing trend toward a sedentary lifestyle, which is accompanied by an increased risk for diseases and perhaps intellectual and academic underachievement," write researchers Maria Aberg and colleagues of the University of Gothenburg in Gothenburg, Sweden in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2009 Nov 30. [Epub ahead of print]

Brothers, identical twins showed the same association-those that improved their physical fitness improved their brain power. Its not just about the genes.

Johannes Skolen Copenhagen, Denmark

School PE Start – one time a week Change- 5 times a week.

250 students participated, and the intervention scheduled for three months.

• Prior physical activity had consisted of ball play only.

• Physical education department added:

Running, hip hop dance, aerobics, spinning, indoor rowing, and military boot camp training. After school activities were offered every day.

• Food served at school was changed to offer only healthy “super foods.”

• All junk food was removed.

• Absenteeism - Decreased by 38%.

• Concentration ability was measured - Improved 33%. • Exercise had a major impact on GRADES - An average of 1.5 grade improvement across the board. •Teachers reported,

“The increase in exercise had great effects on CLASSROOM BEHAVIOR.”

• The Institute for Human Physiology, Copenhagen University, Chris MacDonald, and Danmarks Radio (TV DR 1) partnered in this project.

1222 Scottish 8-11 year olds were exercised for 15 minutes by their desks in the middle of the day. Running and dancing in place where students were beginning to perspire and slightly out of breath. One group A were exercised for the first week and Group B were exercised for the second week. They were then given a brief test of cognition at the end of each day for a total of 5 in one week. Then they were given 5 more the next week though no exercise. The results show that both groups had a significant rise in their performance on all of the cognitive tests.

Exercising attention within the classroom. Hill L, Williams JH, Aucott L, Milne J, Thomson J, Greig J, Munro V, Mon-Williams M.Dev Med Child Neurol. 2010 Oct;52(10):929-34. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-8749.2010.03661.x. Epub 2010 Mar 29.

The Christian Science Monitor Published: Saturday, March 28, 2009

JYVASKYLA, Finland — After each 45-minute class, students at the Vaajakumpu Primary School in Finland suit up in their snow gear, and for 15 minutes, they frolic on ice skates, sleds, and skis. These breaks provide a clear contrast between Finnish schools and their recess-starved counterparts in the United States. But it's not the contrasts on the surface that have prompted thousands of educators from around the world to visit this Nordic nation. Rather, it's their curiosity about what underlies an education system that boasts some of the highest scores among countries on PISA — a test of reading, math, and science literacy for 15-year-olds.

Began change in status 1980s- Long term planning!!! not higher paid than US, just one of the most esteemed professions, master degree needed, only higher 1/3 of students need apply for teaching.

Harvard on the Move, a new initiative sponsored by President Drew Faust (from left), kicked off with a panel discussion at Sanders Theatre on Wednesday. Panelists included Daniel Lieberman, professor of human evolutionary biology and department chair of human evolutionary biology in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Christopher McDougall ’85, author of "Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen," and John Ratey, an associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

Einstein’s quotes

"Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your

balance you must keep moving."

"I thought of that while riding my

bicycle."(on the theory of

relativity)

MICHAEL PHELPS OFF RITALINMICHAEL PHELPS OFF RITALIN

At age 9, Michael was put on Ritalin, a stimulant used to treat hyperactivity. His mother thinks it helped a little. He seemed to be able to focus longer, he could get through homework without moving around so much. She said he was still a middling student. It might have raised some C’s to B’s, she said. But if a homework assignment had to be at least four sentences, she said, He’d just do four sentences.

After two years, Michael asked to get off the meds. He had to go to the school nurse’s office to take a pill at lunch, she said, and felt stigmatized.Just out of the blue, he said to me: ‘I don’t want to do this anymore, Mom.

After consulting with the Dr., Michael stopped medication. In the meantime, Michael the swimmer had appeared. By 10, he was ranked nationally in his age group. Ms. Phelps watched the boy who couldn’t sit still at school sit for four hours at a meet waiting to swim his five minutes’ worth of races.

At age 12 Michael needed an algebra tutor, and was so antsy in school that his mother suggested the teacher sit him at a table in the back. And yet he willingly got up at 6:30 daily for 90-minute morning practices and swam 2 to 3 hours every afternoon.

The Prefrontal Cortex Major Role in Executive Function

• EXERCISE particularly affects our Executive Function– Planning– Organization– Initiate or delay a

response– Consequence evaluation– Learning from mistakes– Maintain the focus – Working Memory

• Dysfunction in these areas leads to disruption in the organization and control of behavior

Initiatives• Build international awareness of the effect of exercise on

cognitive development and lifelong brain capacity• Become the Repository or Library on the internet for the

latest scientific information on the effect of exercise and play on the brain and psyche.

• Educate the educators and medical personnel • Reach out to mental health providers and support groups

and share results of studies and offer program outlines to implement

• Website: Http;//Sparkinglife.org