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John J. Ratey QUOTES

John J. Ratey QUOTES

1 " Exercise is not an instant cure, but you need to get your brain working again, and if you move your body your brain won't have any choice. "

― John J. Ratey

2 " One small but scientifically sound study from Japan found that jogging thirty minutes just two or three times a week for twelve weeks improved executive function. But it's important to mix in some form of activity that demands coordination beyond putting one foot in front of the other.... Aerobic exercise and complex activity have different beneficial effects on the brain. The good news is they're complementary. "

― John J. Ratey , Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain

3 " After a stressful event, we often crave comfort food. Our body is calling for more glucose and simple carbohydrates and fat... And in modern life, people tend to have fewer friends and less support, because there's no tribe. Being alone is not good for the brain. "

― John J. Ratey , Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain

4 " The essence of physical education in Naperville 203 is teaching fitness instead of sports. The underlying philosophy is that if physical education class can be used to instruct kids how to monitor and maintain their own health and fitness, then the lessons they learn will serve them for life. And probably a longer and happier life at that. What's being taught, really is a lifestyle. The students are developing healthy habits, skills, and a sense of fun, along with a knowledge of how their bodies work. Naperville's gym teachers are opening up new vistas for their students by exposing them to such a wide range of activities that they can't help but find something they enjoy. They're getting kids hooked on moving instead of sitting in front of the television. "

― John J. Ratey

5 " Students would be assessed on effort rather than skill. You didn't have to be a natural athlete to do well in gym. "

― John J. Ratey , Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain

6 " The more we build these networks and enrich our stores of memory and experience, the easier it is to learn, because what we already know serves as a foundation for forming increasingly complex thoughts. "

― John J. Ratey , Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain

7 " Just as anxiety can feed on itself, so can courage. "

― John J. Ratey , Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain

8 " 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 "

― John J. Ratey , Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain

9 " At every level, from the microcellular to the psychological, exercise not only wards off the ill effects of chronic stress; it can also reverse them. Studies show that if researchers exercise rats that have been chronically stressed, that activity makes the hippocampus grow back to its preshriveled state. The mechanisms by which exercise changes how we think and feel are so much more effective than donuts, medicines, and wine. When you say you feel less stressed out after you go for a swim, or even a fast walk, you are. "

― John J. Ratey , Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain

10 " you are born to move with grace, born to embrace novelty and variety, born to crave wide-open spaces, and, above all, born to love. But one of the more profound facts that will emerge is that you are born to heal. Your body fixes itself. A big part of this is an idea called homeostasis, which is a wonderfully intricate array of functions that repair the wear and tear and stress of living. "

― John J. Ratey , Go Wild: Free Your Body and Mind from the Afflictions of Civilization

11 " exercise is as effective as certain medications for treating anxiety and depression. "

― John J. Ratey , Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain

12 " It turns out that moving our muscles produces proteins that travel through the bloodstream and into the brain, where they play pivotal roles in the mechanisms of our highest thought processes. "

― John J. Ratey , Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain

13 " What it means is that you have the power to change your brain. All you have to do is lace up your running shoes. "

― John J. Ratey , Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain

14 " Exercise Is Medicine,” so "

― John J. Ratey , Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain

15 " What makes aerobic exercise so powerful is that it’s our evolutionary method of generating that spark. It lights a fire on every level of your brain, from stoking up the neurons’ metabolic furnaces to forging the very structures that transmit information from one synapse to the next. "

― John J. Ratey , Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain

16 " Today, of course, there’s no need to forage and hunt to survive. Yet our genes are coded for this activity, and our brains are meant to direct it. Take that activity away, and you’re disrupting a delicate biological balance that has been fine-tuned over half a million years. Quite simply, we need to engage our endurance metabolism to keep our bodies and brains in optimum condition. The ancient rhythms of activity ingrained in our DNA translate roughly to the varied intensity of walking, jogging, running, and sprinting. In broad strokes, then, I think the best advice is to follow our ancestors’ routine: walk or jog every day, run a couple of times a week, and then go for the kill every now and then by sprinting. "

― John J. Ratey , Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain

17 " Getting older is unavoidable, but falling apart is not. "

― John J. Ratey , Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain

18 " A little is good, and more is better.” The best, however, based on everything I’ve read and seen, would be to do some form of aerobic activity six days a week, for forty-five minutes to an hour. Four of those days should be on the longer side, at moderate intensity, and two on the shorter side, at high intensity. "

― John J. Ratey , Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain

19 " One of the prominent features of exercise, which is sometimes not appreciated in studies, is an improvement in the rate of learning, "

― John J. Ratey , Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain

20 " From an evolutionary perspective, exercise tricks the brain into trying to maintain itself for survival despite the hormonal cues that it is aging. "

― John J. Ratey , Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain