Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain
by John J. Ratey
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Book Summary Information
Author: John J. RateyContributor: Eric Hagerman
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2008-01-10
ISBN: 0316113506
Number of pages: 304
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780316113502
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Book Reviews of Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain
Book Review: good primer on exercise and the brain
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a decent book with an optimistic message. We can alter our brain growth, chemistry and function by the simple expedient of moving ourselves and doing some exercise. The exercise will boost our physical and mental effectiveness, and counteract, or prevent entirely, our tendencies to be anxious, down, depressed, irritable, poor concentration or "hormonal". Exercise will boost the function of our brains and our bodies to our own and our family's, friends' and colleagues' benefits.
Exercise does this by boosting BDGF and rebalancing the levels of sertraline, norepinephrine (noradrenalin) and dopamine and by helping it get the right balance of excitatory and inhibitory traffic across synapses. The microscopic effects lead on the good macroscopically observable (psychological) effects we can feel and observe. Oh and the exercise is helping your body develop well too.
By the time you have read this book you will have come to realise that exercise is a GOOD THING for your brain and your body. As animals we are meant to move, and we feel better when we travel a certain distance each day under our own efforts.
The real question is does the author establish his case fully? I think mostly he does, but we are taking a lot on trust here. It is obvious in the text that at times the author is referring to specific papers (as he should be in a text making large claims as this one does). The corresponding references are not given so we have to take the author's assertion and we cannot check the references for ourselves. So we are having to take the facts presented on trust...although the author does come across as trustworthy. The lack of references does make for faster reading, but as the book is not long they could have been given.(..or maybe the modern way would be to put the links on a website?)
The second potential drawback of this book is that exercise comes across as a bit of a panacea, which it isn't. I know this book is written as advocacy, but a bit of perspective and review wouldn't go amiss. There's an element of preaching in the book which is within tolerable limits.
The basic thesis of this book is that mental dysfunction is often a reflection of our sedentary and stressed lifestyles and that seems a reasonable proposition. The idea that thinking is a motor act, and intimately related with movement is plausible. The idea that exercise will help a lot of people with mental health problems to get better is one that I hope will become more widespread with time. It offers many people a way out of mental illness that is entirely self help, drug free and readily available. I hope the ideas of this book Spark many of us into action.
I recommend this book, and acting on it. It lost a star for the lack of references and slightly preachy style.
Summary of Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain
A groundbreaking and fascinating investigation into the transformative effects of exercise on the brain, from the bestselling author and renowned psychiatrist John J. Ratey, MD.Did you know you can beat stress, lift your mood, fight memory loss, sharpen your intellect, and function better than ever simply by elevating your heart rate and breaking a sweat? The evidence is incontrovertible: Aerobic exercise physically remodels our brains for peak performance.
In SPARK, John J. Ratey, M.D., embarks upon a fascinating and entertaining journey through the mind-body connection, presenting startling research to prove that exercise is truly our best defense against everything from depression to ADD to addiction to aggression to menopause to Alzheimer's. Filled with amazing case studies (such as the revolutionary fitness program in Naperville, Illinois, which has put this school district of 19,000 kids first in the world of science test scores), SPARK is the first book to explore comprehensively the connection between exercise and the brain. It will change forever the way you think about your morning run---or, for that matter, simply the way you think
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