Reading, 'riting, 'rithmetic.
And running?
Emerging new research
in animals and humans suggests physical exercise may boost brain
function, improve mood, and otherwise increase learning, according
to findings presented yesterday at a meeting of neuroscientists
and educators. While it is too soon to conclude that children
who do not exercise fare worse in school, the research raises
questions about the recent national trend toward cutting physical
education programs, some scientists and educators said.
Such cutbacks are "a
crime" considering the new research showing exercise's benefit
to the brain by improving blood flow and spurring cell growth,
said Dr. John J. Ratey, clinical associate professor of psychiatry
at Harvard Medical School. Ratey presented some of the latest
findings at a Boston conference titled "Learning and the
Brain."
A 1997 survey by the
National Association for Sport and Physical Education, the latest
available, found that only one state, Illinois, mandates daily
physical education for students in kindergarten through 12th
grades, even though federal guidelines call for such regular
activity. Massachusetts still has on the books a requirement
that K-12 students participate in physical education, but the
requirement that a minimum amount of time be spent each week
has been eliminated, according to Joyce Tolken, past president
of the Massachusetts Association for Health, Physical Education,
Recreation and Dance.
The three-day meeting
at the Park Plaza drew about 2,000 neuroscientists and educators
from around the country to explore the potential for brain research
to reshape classroom practice. In addition to the findings about
exercise and brain function, educators yesterday learned what
the latest animal research is showing about the ability to grow
new brain cells and what the latest developmental psychology
studies are revealing about how young children learn. They also
heard how to structure a classroom to take advantage of the latest
brain research findings.
But the findings about
physical activity and brain function seemed the most intriguing,
reflecting a growing understanding of the brain's amazing ability
to adapt and develop. "It's helpful to think of the brain
as a muscle," said Ratey to hundreds attending a session
called 'The Care and Feeding of the Brain.'
"One of the best
ways to maximize the brain is through exercise, movement,"
Ratey said. "Everybody feels better after exercise. There's
a reason for it." Ratey cited a variety of research in animals
and humans, showing how physical exercise increases cerebral
blood flow and levels of a brain-cell growth hormone. He also
pointed to studies of exercise's positive effect on mood-altering
brain chemicals known as neurotransmitters.
Physicians are already
starting to take advantage of some of these findings in treating
depressed patients. For instance, one study of depressed cancer
patients found that those who were prescribed exercise saw a
more than 40 percent drop in their scores on tests measuring
depression, according to Ratey. "Exercise on its own can
function for some people as an antidepressant," Ratey said.
Elizabeth Gould, a
Princeton University neurobiologist who also spoke at yesterday's
conference, cited research by California scientists in mice showing
that physical activity increases the number of brain cells in
the hippocampus, and that learning improved with exercise. While
her own animal research has not looked at the effect of physical
activity, it has shown that the growth of new brain cells in
the hippocampus increases with exposure to female sex hormones
and with learning, while it is slowed by exposure to stress hormones.
But Gould urged caution in using animal research as a basis for
educators to change classroom practice.
"I think what's
interesting from the perspective of education is that this is
new information about how the brain works, and it also gives
us a sense of how the brain is structurally changing throughout
life," Gould said.
Physical education
teachers like Jean Blaydes of Richardson, Texas, and Tolken,
who heads the program at Wellesley public schools, said they
are convinced by the research so far and their own experience
of the importance of exercise to schoolchildren. Physical activity
adds to the children's overall education and keeps them from
becoming obese as so many children and adults are in this country,
they said.
"Yet we are cutting physical
education programs left and right," said Blaydes, an elementary
school physical education teacher who attended Ratey's talk. The research
suggests that exercise "seems to be really important in the learning
process," she said, yet physical education programs are often considered
"fluff."
