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The body was designed to be pushed, and when we push our bodies, we push our brains, too. Learning and memory evolved in concert with the motor functions that allowed our ancestors to track down food. As far as our brains are concerned, if we’re not moving, there’s no real need to learn anything.
Exercise improves learning on three levels: It optimizes your mindset, by improving alertness, attention, and motivation. It prepares and encourages nerve cells to bind to one another, which is the cellular basis for learning new information. And it spurs the development of new nerve cells from stem cells in the hippocampus, an area of the brain related to memory and learning.
Several progressive schools have experimented with exercise to find out if working out before class boosts a child’s reading ability and her performance in other subjects. Guess what? It does.
We know now that the brain is flexible, or plastic, in the parlance of neuroscientists -- more Play-Doh than porcelain. It is an adaptable organ that can be molded by input in much the same way as a muscle can be sculpted by lifting barbells. The more you use it, the stronger and more flexible it becomes.
Far from being hardwired, as scientists once envisioned it, the brain is constantly being rewired. I’m here to teach you how to be your own electrician.
Next: Exercise: A Drug for Your Brain?
How the Brain Learns and Creates Memories
The More Your Body Exercises, the Better Your Brain Functions
Discovering the Power to Change Your Brain
How to Grow and Nurture New Neurons
Smart Exercises to Improve ADD/ADHD Brains
This article comes from the Fall 2010 issue of ADDitude.
To read this issue of ADDitude in full, buy the back issue.
