Dr. John Ratey Excerpt from Spark, The Revolutionary Science of Exercise and the Brain CHAPTER 1 The first chapter discusses the benefits of exercise using Naperville Central High School as a case study. Within this school, they have a program known as Zero Hour PE in which students participate in cardiovascular activities before school in order to increase their ability to focus and perform in school. Through a series of studies and tests, it has been found that students who participate in exercise before class outperform students who did not participate in exercise before class. Engaging in as little as 30 minutes of cardiovascular activity, students were demonstrating markedly improved academic achievement. CHAPTER 2 Chapter two discusses in depth how the brain works. Elements such as neurons, neurotransmitters, the cerebellum, frontal cortex, hippocampus, and the many different chemicals that assist brain function are described and explained. Ratey, through scientific evidence and discussion, proves how exercise greatly increases the abundance of cell growth within the brain, as well as elevating the levels of important hormones and chemicals that allow neurons to transmit their messages with greater speed and efficacy. Ratey argues that movement (particularly cardiovascular exercise) is an essential factor in human development and health, thus regular exercise allows our brains and bodies to continuously grow, heal, and become stronger. CHAPTER 3 Chapter three focuses upon stress: the definition, the causes and effects, the ways in which stress can be alleviated. Ratey defines stress as “a threat to the body’s equilibrium. The feeling of stress is essentially an emotional echo of the underlying stress on your brain cells” (59). As is expected, Ratey argues that stress can be alleviated by exercise. The brain activity caused by exercise generates molecular by-products that can damage cells, but under normal circumstances, repair mechanisms leave cells stronger for future challenges. Neurons are broken down and built up just like muscles—stressing them makes them more resilient. This is how exercise forces the body and mind to adapt. Because exercise stimulates the recovery process in our muscles and neurons, it leaves our bodies stronger and more resilient.