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Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain |  | Author: John J. Ratey
Creator: Eric Hagerman
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Category: Book
List Price: $24.99
Buy New: $13.54
as of 7/29/2010 17:49 CDT details
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Rating:  92 reviews
Sales Rank: 1512
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 304
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6 x 1.3
ISBN: 0316113506
Dewey Decimal Number: 612.76
EAN: 9780316113502
ASIN: 0316113506
Publication Date: January 10, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
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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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 92
 Facinating Book! July 29, 2010
Sunshine (ID United States)
I love this book! It is very informative and interesting! Learning about all the effects that exercise has on the brain has really increased my motivation to exercise on a regular basis. If you're experiencing stress, fear, depression, anxiety, ADHD, addictions, or other mental issues, start exercising and see if it helps you! In addition to this book I would also recommend the following books: "Ready, Set, Go! Synergy Fitness" by Phil Campbell and "Pace: The 12-Minute Fitness Revolution" by Al Sears M.D.
Eye opening indeed July 20, 2010
Kieran Fox (Kopan Monastery, Nepal)
I bought this book for my dad for Christmas a couple years ago, to encourage his New Year's resolutions regarding exercising more. But after the unwrapping I picked it up myself and was hooked.
I have always felt intuitively that the main thesis of this book is true, and lived by it, but I never had any real evidence for that belief and never thought of looking into it myself. It just seemed self-evident that exercise was a necessary and profitable thing to be doing, even as friends during exam-time would ask how I could possibly waste an hour at the gym with finals the next morning.
Well, the evidence is in (and has been for some time, it seems) and Ratey does a very admirable job of collecting much of it in one place, and explaining it all in way simple enough for absolutely anyone to understand. Yes, he oversimplifies greatly (brain-derived neurotrophic factor becomes 'Miracle-Gro for your brain'), but then that's the idea, to get this message out and increase people's awareness of just how beneficial exercise is for the brain/mind.
This message is examined from almost every conceivable angle, again, all in a very easily-comprehensible way. As I studied neuroscience in undergrad, I was astounded that none of this revolutionary information was being taught. Whether you look at grades, motivation, depression scores, etc. on the behavioral level, or go down to the neural and genetic level in mice, looking at dendrites, BDNF, and so on, every measure suggests that exercise (cardiovascular mostly, but some evidence for strength training as well) has positive effects on mood, memory, motivation, intelligence (IQ) and so on and so forth. The list goes on. Not only are these ameliorative effects observed, but exercise seems to have protective/preventive effects as well with respect to degenerative neural diseases like Alzheimer's or relapses into conditions like depression. This is all ON TOP of the many and obvious benefits for the rest of your body's health and wellbeing! And actually looking at the amount of exercise used in many of the studies, it is a truly pittling amount of time to spend (on the order of a few hours a week, at most) for such wonderful benefits.
Furthermore, the book is entertaining and well-written, probably largely thanks to the efforts of the co-author. Ratey himself seems very earnest and to have only the best intentions at heart in getting these ideas out to a nation so wealthy it is creating new diseases of excess for itself (like obesity and Type II diabetes). He's done a great credit to his own mission, and all of us, by marshalling the extensive evidence for his claims in a very readable and well-referenced account.
Read this book, and then stick to an exercise routine! Your grey matter will thank you.
All the reasons exercise is good for you..besides weight loss July 5, 2010
Jessica Herschberg (Nashville, TN, USA)
I enjoyed this book. It's important that people understand the exercise is not just a tool for weight loss, but a critical component of a well-functioning brain and body.
If you want to enjoy optimal health, and that includes mental happiness, then you need to exercise. Not just to lose weight, but because so many aspects of our health, longevity, and happiness are tied to the biological responses to exercise and movement.
 Not informative at all June 23, 2010
C. Harper (Alabama, USA)
0 out of 9 found this review helpful
I thought this book was not very informative. Was not what I thought it would be.
A Fascinating, Enjoyable Read June 1, 2010
John V. Forrest (SAN DIEGO, CA United States)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
John Ratey is a Harvard psychiatrist who subspecializes in the clinical use of exercise in mental diseases. In Spark he examines clinical and lab research in neuro-hormones, the chemical soup that determines how well our brain works.
The front plate quote by Plato says it all," 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." (To this I'd like to add good nutrition, sorry Plato.)
This book has many interesting stories together with the technical information. It is a quick, enjoyable read.
We feel good when we exercise because it allows the brain to function at its best. Muscle building, cardiovascular conditioning, reducing stress and tension are secondary. Our society and its conveniences have made it difficult to get enough physical activity. We now have to work at it.
The Naperville School District (19,000 students) west of Chicago has redesigned its P.E. system. All students participate in P.E. classes which develop cardiovascular fitness. In class students use heart rate monitors to gauge their degree of exertion. The only games played are ones with high levels of sweat like three-on-three basketball. Students are taught to encourage and support each other. The results have been dramatic: 10% of the number of overweight children found in other school districts; only 3% of students in Naperville are overweight. In an international study of 230,000 students those from Naperville were sixth in math (first in the U.S.A.) and first in science, ahead of Singapore, China, Korea and Japan. To confirm that the fitness program is key a study compared test results after P.E. class with results several hours later. Scores were much higher right after the fitness class, findings which confirmed prior animal studies. Vigorous exercise makes your brain work much better especially right after the exercise but also longer term.
Naperville is an upper middle class community where many parents are scientists or engineers. Titusville, Pennsylvania is not. It is a failed factory town north of Pittsburgh where they copied the Naperville P.E. program beginning in 2000. Test scores went from below state average to 18 percent above. Since 2000 there has not been one fist fight in the junior high school. They were common before.
A share of the 2000 Nobel Prize was given to a Eric Kandel who demonstrated that practice (piano, vocabulary etc.) caused neurons to grow new branches and made branches get larger and better connected to adjacent neurons. A neuro-chemical, BDNF, has the same effect plus it causes new neurons to form from stem cells and protects neurons from decay and death. Exercise elevates BDNF levels throughout the brain. Other beneficial body and neuro-hormones also increase during exercise. In summary, exercise increases alertness and motivation; it encourages new connections between neurons; it causes new neurons to form. Adding a complexity to exercise with things such as yoga, Pilates, tennis, or martial arts is even more effective than simple exercise.
Exercise has been studied in patients with depression, stress, anxiety, attention deficit, addiction, menstrual and menopause problems. In general exercise has outperformed standard drug therapy in each of these conditions. That's not even taking into consideration the considerable side effects and cost of medications.
It's been well documented that Alzheimer's disease incidence is much lower in regular exercisers (50% less). Animal studies have shown exercise effects in models of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's where findings in the brain were significantly reversed. Mental exercise is equally important. An epidemiologic study in Minnesota has followed an order of nuns who stay very active. When one died at age 85 of a heart attack she was found to have severe Alzheimer's disease at postmortem exam. But she had tested in the 90% percentile on cognitive tests shortly before her death. Severe pathologic Alzheimer's due to her genetic makeup had no effect on her life. Billions of dollars are being spent on genetic and pharmaceutical cures for this devastating disease, but we already know that a combination of diet, exercise and vigorous mental activity will prevent it.
Ratey's exercise prescription:
Aerobic - Four times a week; 30-60 minutes at 60-70% of maximum heart rate (220 - age = theoretical maximum heart rate)
Strength - Twice a week with weights or resistance equipment.
Balance and Flexibility - Twice a week for thirty minutes. Yoga, Pilates, Martial arts, dance are possibilities.
In general more is better, harder is better, with another is better.
N.B. Interval Training (e.g. 30 second bursts of maximal effort several times during the aerobic sessions causes increase in human growth hormone, a valuable healing and anti-aging substance that normally is at low levels later in life. The author lost his `spare tire' a few weeks after adding this to his exercise regime. Nothing else had worked.)
Showing reviews 1-5 of 92
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