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The Revolutionary Way to Save Your Brain — Spark by John J. Ratey
About Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain
In Spark, author John Ratey discusses the scientific evidence behind the claim that exercise is the single most powerful tool you have to optimize your brain. From becoming a better student, to surviving menopause and PMS and old age, to overcoming addiction, depression, and anxiety, exercise can often work wonders for suffering humans. Perhaps you might be one of them?
Most Interesting Takeaways
- While you can’t learn in the middle of doing intense exercise, immediately afterward, you can improve your vocab memorization speed by 20%
- There are some people born genetically predisposed to not like exercise.
- Regular exercise is what kept the author’s mother alive and well into her late 80s. And all it took was speed walking.
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
Introduction: Making the Connection
The real reason we feel so good when we get our blood pumping is that it makes the brain function at its best, and in my view, this benefit…is far more important…than what it does for the body.
- Our culture treats the mind and body as if they are separate entities, and I want to reconnect the two.
Half an hour of exercise a day gives you the ability to focus and absorb learning.
There’s a biological basis for certain emotional issues. And you can influence that biology.
