I just got back from a 38 mile bike ride this morning and am still feeling the euphoric high from the endorphins coursing through my veins. This is the time of year I start getting out on the bike more and I can feel my mood changing. While some people say they do their “best thinking” in the shower, often my “best thinking” takes place as I am traveling down an empty road on the bike. As it turns out, there is a biological explanation behind this and it is something that we, as educators, should consider when thinking about balance with our students.
John Medina, in his book titled “Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School”explained that we humans evolved to be able to think on the move because if we didn’t we weren’t surviving and naturally, our brains evolved/changed to help facilitate our survival. Studies have shown that “exercisers outperform couch potatoes in tests that measure long-term memory, reasoning, attention and problem-solving skill” (Medina, 2014, p.24). Although there have not been as much research on this topic completed on children, many of whom seem to be moving constantly, but the trends basically show that kids pay better attention to their subjects in school when they have been active. As mentioned earlier, there is a biological explanation for that.
While your brain only makes up about 2% of your total body weight, it consumes close to 20% of your body’s energy. That energy comes in the form of glucose which is the basic currency of energy the body uses and it is a product of your food being digested. Glucose circulates throughout your body via your blood and, when combined with oxygen in your blood, the glucose helps to fuel your cells. By exercising, your body increases the circulation of the blood which results in getting your glucose and oxygen (contained in the blood) to your brain cells faster. The more you exercise the more efficient your body becomes at getting these two vital molecules to your brain cells and, by the way, the more efficiently the blood carries away the bi-products of energy production (carbon dioxide as one example) from your brain cells. The result is a relative increase of cognitive function of your brain leading to better performance (thinking & learning). Interestingly, “exercise also aids in the development of healthy tissue by stimulating one of the brain’s most powerful growth factors” (Medina, 2014, p.31) called BDNF (Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factors). These growth factors are especially impactful in the hippocampus part of your brain which is deeply involved in human cognition (Medina, 2014). In short, Medina explains, physical activity is cognitive candy for your brain.
So let’s take these findings and extrapolate to our students in school. We find ourselves pushing hard to raise the academic rigor of our schools, so we can set our students up for success. It is under this rationale that many schools have cut back on the number of recess periods for their elementary students and offered physical education waivers at the high school level if students are involved in various activities, some of which have high physical demands while others not so much. We have also assigned large amounts of homework to our students in the name of raising rigor which basically sends our students home to work a second shift of school rather than getting outside to play (K-5) or work/participate in activities (6-12). The homework, by the way, also leads to a lack of sleep if students are involved in activities as many stay up late to complete it and get up earlier the next morning for school. Medina addresses the impact of sleep on the brain (Brain Rule #3: Sleep Well, Think Well) in his book as well. There are many other examples, but the point I think I am trying to make is to urge all of us to help our students to find balance in their school lives, so it can carry over to their lives outside of school.
Helping our students, and our own children for that matter, to find balance between the demands of a rigorous academic curriculum and a healthy lifestyle which includes exercise can actually lead to greater cognitive growth (learning) for our kids and, more importantly, help them to find a healthy balance in their lives. It is a “stop and sharpen the saw” sort of thing that acts to positively impact the brain. I haven’t even mentioned the value of including the “Arts” in that balance, between “Academics” and “Athletics”, because it is a topic for another day and I think those endorphins in my body I mentioned earlier are starting subside anyway. Ultimately, I guess the challenge for all of us, especially educators, is to find the best ways to incorporate exercise, or physical activity in some form, as a sort of cognitive candy in our schools. I believe, like the positive impact “movement” had on our ancestors, this movement will have the same positive effects on our posterity.
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