It was with true shock that the Naperville Central High School discovered that their ninth graders ranked first in the world in science and sixth in the world in math.
By JOAN RUDDIMAN Special Writer
Are you feeling smarter than you did in March? Are you multi- tasking more effectively? Reading more? Recalling more easily?
Like many, I feel like I come alive in the summer. I’ve long thought this was due to the lengthy days and brighter sunshine that acted as a counterpoint to the ennui that so many of us fight off through the long nights of dark winter. That’s part of the reason.
But consider how the lingering daylight and lovely weather entices us to be outside more — and moving. We take more walks, putter in the yard, golf our brains out. Screen time — computer, television, videos — just can’t compete with the urge to “enjoy summer.”
What some powerful research has proved is that exercise is what revs our brains.
Last spring at the “Learning and the Brain” conference held in Boston, I bought John J. Ratey’s book “Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain” (Little, Brown and Co, 2008). Dr. Ratey is a psychiatrist who is a clinical associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and the author of other books, including “A User’s Guide to the Brain” (Vintage Books, 2001), which lives up to its title as he introduces neuroscience in layman’s terms.
I read “Spark” that night and then met Dr. Ratey the next day when I attended his session. The hook for me, a middle school teacher, was his account of a landmark study of a revolutionary exercise program that transformed a school district.
Naperville Central High School, west of Chicago, was concerned about the rising obesity rate among teens. The physical education department sold the administration on an early morning exercise program called Zero Hour. Naperville has been on the cutting edge of physical education for its emphasis on teaching fitness rather than sports.
“What is being taught, really, is a lifestyle,” writes Dr. Ratey.
Zero Hour was intended to provide students time before the school day began to enjoy dancing, running and other aerobic activities of each student’s choice for 45 minutes, five days a week.
The intent was to raise physical fitness levels, but then the end of the year, test scores came back. In this district of 19,000, all the ninth graders took the TIMSS — Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study. This is a test that usually shows the math/science weaknesses of students in the United States as compared to the international community. Dr. Ratey quotes Thomas Friedman, author of “The World Is Flat,” who cites the results of this exam as evidence that places like Singapore are “eating our lunch.”
It was, then, with true shock that the Naperville Central High School discovered that their ninth graders ranked first in the world in science and sixth in the world in math.
Dr. Ratey writes, “I won’t go so far as to say that Naperville’s kids are brilliant specifically because they participate in an unusual physical education program. There are many factors that inform academic achievement.”
However, the positive results in Naperville have been noted in the Kansas City Schools that adopted Naperville’s morning exercise program throughout the entire district. Like their model, test scores increased, but also the districts documented less truancy, less reported stress, fewer discipline issues overall — much less.
Dr. Ratey is not alone in closely studying the mind-body connection. Norman Doidge, M.D., author of “The Brain that Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science” (Penguin Books, 2007) accepts the importance of physical activity in neuroplasticity — literally how the “plasticity” of the brain allows it to rewire, rejuvenate, rebuild.
He writes, “Physical activity is helpful not only because it creates new neurons but also because the mind is based in the brain, and the brain needs oxygen.” The brain is fueled by oxygen and glucose, thus any activity that pumps oxygen through the blood stream invigorates brain cells.
For those allergic to sweating, here’s the good news. Mr. Doidge writes, “A brutal workout is not necessary — consistent natural movement of the limbs will do.”
We can actually enjoy what is good for us. Swimming can be leisurely and fun. We can golf for five hours, moving much of the time, even as we use a golf cart. And it is OK to walk rather than jog. Citing others’ research, Mr. Doidge notes that “simply walking, at a good pace, stimulates the growth of new neurons.”
Understanding the value of exercise really is nothing new. Dr. Doidge cites the Roman philosopher Seneca who noted more than 2,000 years ago that physical activity yields mental sharpness. Dr. Ratey refers to Socrates in Plato’s “Republic” who said the mind can be changed as the gymnast trains the body.
Where I am fascinated by the benefits of physical activity Dr. Ratey documents for school kids, folks in the field of geriatrics are as enthused about the positive effects of exercise in maintaining mental as well as physical health in older people.
“The correlation,” of exercise to mental acuity and mental health, “is simply too intriguing to dismiss,” writes Dr. Ratey.
“Spark” reads easily, thanks to the good doctor’s collaboration with science writer/editor Eric Hagerman, offering inspiration on how we all can “supercharge our mental circuits, beat stress, sharpen our thinking, lift our mood, boost our memory” and so much more.
Joan Ruddiman, Ed.D., is the coordinator/facilitator of the gifted and talented PRISM program at the Thomas R. Grover Middle School in the West Windsor-Plainsboro School District.

