“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.” Plato

Our Mind and Body are Inseparable

Our culture views the mind and body as separate, but science paints a different picture. John Ratey, M.D., a clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, is one of the foremost experts on how physical exercise enhances our brains. He co-authored Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain. He has spent the past three decades broadening our understanding of the biological relationship between our mind and body.

His book combines research and anecdotal evidence to make a compelling argument for exercise. He doesn’t advocate exercise to build muscles or condition the heart and lungs. He considers those positive side effects. His argument focuses on exercise’s brain benefits. He says exercise is the best way to maximize our cognitive abilities and mental health. Ratey says, “We sometimes lose sight of the fact that the mind, brain, and body all influence one another.”

Ratey’s fascination with exercise began during his residency. During the height of the Boston Marathon’s popularity, many of his patients were recovering from injuries related to their preparation for the 26.2-mile race. For the first time in their lives, these avid runners had to stop training.

His patients complained of depression and an inability to focus and plan. They also began to procrastinate for the first time in their lives. These issues might not seem unusual for some, but for his patients, which included industry leaders and professors from Harvard and MIT, they were.

Ratey hypothesized that exercise had protected his patients from these common ailments. He looked for research that would help him understand how exercise helped his patients regulate their emotions. Ratey is not the first to make such a hypothesis.

In one of the first medical texts written in 300 BC, Hippocrates prescribed long walks to depressed patients. Walking helps us clear our heads, reduce our anxiety, collect our thoughts, raise our spirits, and make us feel more in control and optimistic. Active people tend to be happy people.  We know exercise makes us feel better through personal experience and seems to help us focus, but why?

Activity Improves Cognition & Memory

Ratey says, “The relationship between food, physical activity, and learning is hardwired into the brain’s circuitry.” It signified that something important was happening when we were moving, and we needed to pay attention and learn. He provides evolutionary clues from our time as hunter-gatherers.

Compared to the animals we hunted, we were slow. Our chief advantage was our huge endurance capacity. We could not outrun our prey. However, we could pursue them to exhaustion, a technique scientists call persistent hunting. This type of hunting required us to be able to think between bouts of exercise. When the animal we were stalking ran over the hill and out of sight, we had to look for clues and speculate where it went. This helps explain the necessity to think on our feet but not the mechanisms behind our increased cognitive function.

We know that exercise boosts endorphins, the feel-good chemicals that relieve stress and help us cope with pain. They operate similarly to opioids, a class of drugs that reduce our perception of pain and can create a feeling of euphoria. Unlike opioids like Morphine, Oxycodone, and Percocet, endorphins have no adverse side effects and are not addictive.

Experiencing what is commonly referred to as runner’s high feels fantastic! It is the reason most people crave exercise. Still, its other benefits, like its role in reducing stress, shouldn’t be overlooked. You probably know that stress erodes our willpower, but did you know it also erodes neurological connections in the brain?

Stress appears to interfere with cognition, attention, and memory. Studies have proven that chronic stress shrinks the hippocampus, the area of the brain vital to learning and memory. Exercise has countless benefits. Stress relief and runner’s high barely scratch the surface. You are about to learn how exercise creates the chemistry of mastery.

Exercise Stimulates the Creation of New Neurons & Enhances Synaptic Connections

Exercise improves our ability to learn and think in a two-step process. First, it floods our brains with neurotransmitters that make us more alert. Next, it stimulates the production of growth factors in the brain that create new neurons and build stronger connections between our existing neurons. Using a computer analogy, exercise adds RAM and increases processing speed to improve learning rate. Like habits, these small improvements over time are going to compound. In one study, fit children between 9 and 10 had already developed hippocampi 12% larger than their sedentary peers.[i]

Just as our muscles begin to waste away as a natural part of the aging process, so do our brains. Brain volume starts to decline at a rate of approximately 5% per decade after the age of 40.[ii] Exercise is the best way to reduce the impact of age-related cognitive decline.

Exercise stimulates brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) production, a growth factor essential to repairing neurons, and encourages the creation of new neurons. Therefore, exercising regularly helps keep your existing brain cells healthy while producing new ones to replace those lost through age-related decay.

BDNF is one of the most studied growth factors. When researchers sprinkled BDNF onto neurons in a petri dish, the cells sprouted new branches, the same structures required for mapping new information. Ratey was the first to describe BDNF as Miracle-Grow for the brain. Besides building brain structures that increase our capacity to store information, BDNF also strengthens our synaptic connections by bolstering signal strength.

Low levels of BDNF are linked to Alzheimer’s, accelerated aging, poor neural development, neurotransmitter dysfunction, obesity, depression, and even schizophrenia. Nearly every form of cognitive dysfunction is attributed to low levels of BDNF.  Normal levels of BDNF are essential for balancing our mood and combating stress. The latest research studies demonstrate that these new neurons created through exercise can map themselves into our existing network of connections to boost mental performance, like adding RAM to a computer.

You might be wondering if strength training produces the same brain-building benefits as endurance training. The answer is yes. A 2021 study concluded that both strength and endurance training improves brain health and function by elevating BDNF and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1).[iii]

The more we learn about the brain, the stronger the analogy that the brain is like a muscle. Exercise is the best way to preserve muscle and mind alike. The universal law of use-it-or-lose-it applies to both. Even the building process for both is similar.

When we lift weights, we produce a stimulus. If we allow the muscle to recover and provide it with building materials, like protein and calories, it becomes bigger and stronger. Without those raw materials, no muscle growth will occur.

Building a new brain neuron follows a similar process. When we exercise, we stimulate the production of new neurons. If we provide our brain with new information, it will map to the new neurological structures. Exercise stimulates the growth of new neurons in the hippocampus, but they will die if there is nothing to code to the new structures.

You cannot merely inject BDNF into your bloodstream and become a genius. For learning to take place, there must be something to learn. It is why I like to follow my morning workout with reading, writing, brainstorming, or listening to audiobooks. The structures for mapping the information are in place, and our rate of learning and cognitive function are also enhanced. If you have an important meeting or test, exercising immediately beforehand is arguably the best way to improve your performance.

Exercise Produces Better Students John Ratey uses the phenomenal success of the Naperville school district’s revolutionary approach to physical education as one of his most persuasive arguments to exercise. Their fitness-focused program has produced some of the fittest students in the country and some of the smartest. Their example of how exercise could be used to promote academic excellence inspired his bestselling book, Spark.

Naperville came to his attention when they received national recognition for ranking number one in science and number six in math on the International Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). Typically, the United States ranks in the middle to high teens. They elected to take the test as a country.

What makes their accomplishment even more impressive is that 97% of the students took the test, not just their best and brightest. Educators from Japan, China, and South Korea began visiting Naperville to learn more about their unique style of physical education to incorporate it into their already impressive programs.

Some people have attributed Naperville’s achievement to its favorable demographics. However, they have consistently outperformed school districts with similar demographics that spend almost twice as much per pupil, considered by educators to be the best predictor of academic success.

Not only are the kids in the Naperville school district outpacing the other schools academically, but they would likely outpace them on the running track. Students at Naperville Central are incredibly fit. While the national average for overweight students in high school is 33%, with another 30% on the cusp, only 3% of Naperville’s kids are overweight.

Naperville’s unique style of physical education has evolved over the years. When Naperville Central’s physical education teacher, Phil Lawer, read a newspaper article in 1990 highlighting U.S. students’ declining health, he resolved to do something about it. He noticed that the sports approach to physical education involved a lot of waiting and inactivity. He started to have the students run a mile at least once a week. When he could equip students with heart rate monitors, he began grading them based on their effort instead of their ability.

Naperville Central has conducted several informal experiments over the years. Between 2005 and 2010, they examined the impact of taking a Learning Readiness Physical Education (LRPE) class before a reading or math class. They discovered that students who took an LRPE class before a reading comprehension class improved 52% to 56% more than those who didn’t and read one grade higher. The benefits of LRPE on mathematic performance were even more dramatic. Students who took an LRPE class improved 93% more than those who didn’t. When you think about how these improvements in learning rates would compound over time, you begin to understand why Naperville Central did so well on the TIMSS and why every school should implement a similar program.

When the California Department of Education (CDE) conducted a study examining the correlation between fitness and academic performance, they discovered that fitter kids scored markedly better on standardized tests, even after normalizing for demographics. Professor Charles Hillman of the University of Illinois wanted to know which physical fitness elements were most predictive of academic aptitude. He found that body mass index and aerobic fitness were the most significant predictors of academic performance on standardized tests.[iv]

Exercise doesn’t just help adolescent brains to function better. A 2007 study using adult participants discovered that they learned vocabulary words 20% faster post-exercise than before exercise. Their increased rates of learning directly correlated to their elevations in BDNF.[v] Another study, with subjects between the ages of 50 and 64, concluded that 35 minutes of exercise at 70% of the participant’s maximum training heart rate improved cognitive performance.[vi]

Age doesn’t appear to be a factor when it comes to exercise’s brain-building benefits. This is excellent news since cognitive decline appears to accelerate after age 70. Multiple studies have concluded that regular exercise is the best thing older adults can do to maintain healthy brain function.

Physical activity slows the rate of cognitive decline through two mechanisms. First, exercise increases BDNF levels in your bloodstream, which promotes better brain health. Second, it supports the creation of new neurons to replace any loss through age-related decay.

Exercise Improves Impulse Control and Behavior

Exercise is more effective than drugs that target specific neurotransmitters because these medications often produce an unnatural imbalance of neurochemicals in the brain. Exercise, in contrast, simultaneously stimulates multiple neurotransmitters to create a healthy balance of brain chemicals.

Another advantage exercise has over medication is greater self-efficacy and improved self-esteem. You are the one improving your mental health, not a pill. It is incredibly empowering when you discover that you can make your life better through exercise. A study in 2000 concluded that exercise is better than sertraline (Zoloft) at treating depression.[vii]

Unfortunately, exercise doesn’t have a Madison Avenue marketing firm extolling its benefits like Zoloft and other psychotropic drugs. The story appeared on page 14 of The New York Times. John J. Ratey says, “I tell people that going for a run is like taking a little bit of Prozac and a little bit of Ritalin because, like the drugs, exercise elevates these neurotransmitters. It’s a handy metaphor to get the point across, but the deeper explanation is that exercise balances neurotransmitters — along with the rest of the neurochemicals in the brain.”

When we exercise regularly, we increase blood flow and circulation to the brain, which improves cognitive function. Exercise floods our brain with powerful neurochemicals that increase alertness, focus, and growth factors that build a better brain. The neurotransmitters regulate the brain’s chemicals to help maintain a healthy balance so it functions properly. Ratey says, “Every year, it seems we are discovering more compounds that are made in the body when we are moving that travel up to the brain to help our brains work better.”

We tend to focus on exercise’s direct weight loss impacts, increased energy expenditure, and insulin sensitivity, but its indirect effects are more important. Exercise is a keystone habit. Keystone habits change the way you see yourself and lead to the development of additional good habits through improved self-control and greater self-efficacy.

Naperville’s example suggests that changing our physical education programs to emphasize fitness instead of sports could reverse the obesity trend and produce better students in the process. Regular exercise promotes a host of better behaviors that help us stay lean and fit.

When people start exercising, they stop smoking, cut down on their drinking, and start getting to bed earlier. These behavior changes are the byproduct of better self-control. Ironically, the biggest obstacle to establishing this willpower-enhancing habit is having the discipline to get started.

Once you make exercise a habit, you’ll discover it is more about feeling good than looking good. People who exercise regularly are much less likely to suffer depression and other psychological ailments. Daily exercise can transform your life because when we feel better, we do better.

Conclusion

Most people think of their minds and bodies as separate, but you know they are bound together. How you use your body profoundly influences your thoughts, emotions, and cognitive performance. It’s the reason Tony Robbins advocates priming yourself each morning through energetic movement, mindful breathing, visualization, and incantations to consistently put yourself in an empowered state. He believes our physiology and psychology are inseparably linked, and studies have substantiated his claims that these two aspects of our being work in a push-pull relationship. For example, numerous studies have shown that striking a Superman or Wonder Woman pose can boost our confidence.

Either can shift the other, but you’ll find it is easier to shift your psychology through your physiology than the reverse. I learned the mood-enhancing and cognitive benefits of exercise early in life. My father, who was always struggling with his weight, liked to run a few times a week. I was at that age when you loved spending time with your parents, so I would tag along. I grew to enjoy it and even craved the feel-good effects of it. It often lifted me out of a foul mood and helped to clear my thinking. I didn’t know it at the time, but it was also promoting the creation of new neurons and improving the performance of my existing neurons.

There is no better way to start your day than with a short workout because, as you now know, it is the best way to prime yourself for peak performance, physically and mentally. Besides elevating your metabolism for hours, it will enhance your self-control, create new neurons in your hippocampus, improve cognitive performance, and enhance your mood for up to 12 hours.

So, I challenge you to begin your day with exercise starting tomorrow. Start with a five-minute commitment and nurture the new habit until it becomes an important part of each day that allows you to be your absolute best!

If I can help you, please email me at LeanByHabit@gmail.com.

Best wishes and best health!

Jeff

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[i] University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “Children’s brain development is linked to physical fitness, research finds.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 16 September 2010. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100915171536.htm

[ii] Svennerholm L, Boström K, Jungbjer B. Changes in weight and compositions of major membrane components of human brain during the span of adult human life of Swedes. Acta Neuropathol 199794345–352.

[iii] Hamid Arazi, Parvin Babaei, Makan Moghimi, Abbas Asadi, Acute effects of strength and endurance exercise on serum BDNF and IGF-1 levels in older men, 2021 Jan 13;21(1):50. doi: 10.1186/s12877-020-01937-6.

[iv] John J. Ratey MD, and Eric Hagerman, Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, Little, Brown and Company; Reprint edition (January 1, 2013) page 25.

[v] High impact running improves learning. Neurobiol Learn Mem. 2007 May;87(4):597-609. Epub 2006 Dec 20.

[vi] Shorter term aerobic exercise improves brain, cognition, and cardiovascular fitness in aging, Published online 2013 Nov 12. DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2013.00075

[vii] Dr. James Blumenthal 4-week study – Exercise vs. Zoloft (two studies were done one in 1999 the other in 2009.