Health
by John J. Ratey
Why does a run clear your head?
John Ratey, a Harvard psychiatrist, thinks we've got exercise the wrong way round. We treat it as something for the waistline and the heart. Spark argues that some of its biggest effects are in the brain, on how we learn, how we cope with stress and how we feel.
Hear a sample · read by Laura
Exercise raises a protein called BDNF, which helps brain cells survive, grow and connect to each other. Ratey calls it Miracle-Gro for the brain. It's one reason, he argues, that people take in new material better after they've been moving.
Ratey describes exercise as a controlled dose of stress that the body learns to recover from. For anxious people, it has an extra benefit. A pounding heart on a run teaches the body that a racing pulse doesn't always mean danger.
Exercise lifts levels of serotonin, dopamine and noradrenaline, the brain chemicals many antidepressants target. Ratey cites a Duke University study where exercise helped older adults with depression about as much as medication. He sees it as part of treatment. Anyone on medication should talk to their doctor before changing it.
Ratey argues that aerobic exercise builds the brain's raw materials, while activities that demand skill, like dancing, tennis or climbing, put them to use. His advice is to do both. Ideally, some of your exercise should make you think as well as sweat.
Brain first
Exercise is at least as good for your brain as it is for your body.
Naperville
Schools in Naperville, Illinois, made PE about getting fit, and their pupils' test scores climbed.
BDNF
Moving makes your brain release BDNF, a protein that helps brain cells grow and connect.
Mood
A hard workout can ease anxiety and low mood, working in some ways like medicine.
New skills
Sports where you have to learn moves, like dance or tennis, give the brain an extra workout.
A story from the book
In Naperville, Illinois, PE teachers swapped team games for fitness, with pupils wearing heart-rate monitors and graded on effort. Naperville's eighth graders went on to score among the world's best in an international science test. A high school then tried PE before lessons, and those pupils did better in class.
Hot take · true or myth?
For some people, exercise helps depression about as much as medication.
True. Ratey cites a Duke University study of older adults with depression where exercise did about as well as an antidepressant. Anyone on medication should talk to their doctor before changing anything.
One thing to try
Tomorrow, before the task you're dreading most, take a brisk ten-minute walk. Ratey's case is that moving first primes the brain to focus. Notice whether you settle into the work any faster than usual.
Knotd has the key ideas from 250+ non-fiction books, each in a few minutes, in plain words. Spark comes with a Hot Take round to make it stick.
Get the whole book on KnotdOpen in the appWhy does a run clear your head? John Ratey, a Harvard psychiatrist, thinks we've got exercise the wrong way round. We treat it as something for the waistline and the heart. Spark argues that some of its biggest effects are in the brain, on how we learn, how we cope with stress and how we feel.
Miracle-Gro for the brain; A calmer way to be stressed; Mood medicine; Moves that make you think.
Tomorrow, before the task you're dreading most, take a brisk ten-minute walk. Ratey's case is that moving first primes the brain to focus. Notice whether you settle into the work any faster than usual.
Yes. Knotd has the key ideas from Spark in a few minutes, in plain words, plus a Hot Take round to test them. It's one of 250+ non-fiction books in the app.
