Exercise for brain power!
“Exercise is the single most powerful tool you have to optimize your brain function.” (John J. Ratey, MD)
How many of you, with a desire to lose weight, chose exercise for your new year resolution?
If you did, that’s great! But the best news is that you’re also doing your brain a favor.
In his book Spark, Dr. John J. Ratey – clinical associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard medical school – uses research and evidence to show the mind-body connection, proving that exercise is truly the best defense against everything from mood disorders to ADHD to addiction to depression to Alzheimer’s.
For most of my life, rising in the early morning hours to run, swim or bike, it didn’t take long for me to experience the benefits. Although my goals were mostly to run faster race times, I always felt better throughout the day doing my daily activities. When I was teaching full time, I called exercise my “second cup of coffee”. It provided the stimulus I needed to get through another busy day with kids.
I even went so far as to begin a morning fitness class for kids, running or playing games in the gym, just before school started. The parents were overjoyed and commented on how it seemed to help their child focus during the school day.
Beyond Broken
“There are still days I don’t have a reason to run, but I do it anyway. I run a different race as I run for Julia and simply because I can run. The hills get harder and, at times, my will is weak. But when I pump my arms and work my way to the top, I always enjoy the view and the feeling of accomplishment.
Running is like life. Through running I learned that pain was temporary and would yield the results I was looking for. Just as daily exercise builds stamina and health, daily positive habits established truth in my mind and removed my self-defeating thoughts.”
(Excerpt from Beyond Broken: Surviving and Thriving Beyond the Death of Your Child)
Daily Living
So what does this mean for you?
When I read that “exercise improves learning on three levels”, I was able to see that exercising wasn’t just a good idea, it was critical to living our best life – physically, mentally and emotionally.
“First, exercise optimizes your mindset, improving alertness, attention and motivation; second, it prepares and encourages nerve cells to find one another, allowing new information; and third, it spurs the development of new nerve cells.” (p. 53, Spark)
I encourage you to read Spark and to begin your own exercise regimen. It doesn’t matter whether it’s yoga, walking, ice skating or biking. Any type of movement has a positive net effect. Just as it takes discipline to work through adversity, the same discipline applies to exercising.
At the time, you won’t always feel like it. But it will reap the results you need to live your best life!
What are you waiting for? Let’s go!!!
P.S. My “100 Day Journey to Living Beyond Broken” journal is currently in the final phase and I’m excited to share it with you soon. I’ll have images for you next time.
P.P.S. For your Living Beyond Broken series that includes, 5 Stages of Loss video series and Beyond Broken Super Bonus Chapter CLICK HERE
