Innovations - IHRSA

John Ratey, M.D.
By Patricia Amend
CBI: You’ve written eight books and lectured on exercise and the brain,
throughout the world, for many years. What attracted you to this area
of research?
DR. John RatEy: When I graduated from college in 1970, and decided that I wanted
to become a doctor, researchers were just beginning to suspect that the brain might
have something to do with the psyche. Interest in the study of neuropsychiatry was
rising, so, in medical school, I took all of the related courses that I could, and I just
loved them.
I’ve always been intrigued by how the brain, its natural chemicals, and the drugs
we take play a role in personality. For example, during my residency, I discovered
that beta blockers, which are heart drugs, have a profound effect on aggression
and self-abusive behavior. I received grants to study related areas, and developed
an interest in attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD). Eventually, I began to
lecture on aggression, autism, and ADHD. I knew that exercise had a huge impact
on these disorders, and began to follow the related literature, sparse as it was at
the time.
CBI: The Surgeon General’s Report on Physical Activity and Health, published
in 1996, contained little about the effects of exercise on the brain. When was
the connection first clearly identified?
JR: In 1995, researchers began to study exercise and its effect on Alzheimer’s disease
and our cognitive ability as we age. The field started to explode, and, today, it’s one
of the most popular areas in neuroscience. By 2000, there was so much to say that I
wrote A User’s Guide to the Brain to explain how the brain works to the general public.
Like all of my books, this one has a heavy emphasis on exercise. Since then, I’ve been
lecturing about exercise and its effect on mood, cognition, anxiety, attention, addictions,
and aging. As a result, exercise has come to be regarded as a treatment.
CBI: In your latest book, Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and
the Brain, you begin by talking about the physical-education (PE) program in
the public schools in Naperville, Illinois. What intrigued you about it?
JR: I’d been looking for a simple way to illustrate the effects of exercise on learning
in children. Naperville provides a powerful case study on how aerobic activity can
transform not only the body, but the mind as well. The Naperville 203 School District
has 14 elementary schools, five junior high schools, and two high schools, for a total
of 19,000 kids; and, for the last 18 years, it’s offered students a fitness-based PE
program. The kids can choose from among 18 activities—from using an exercise
bike with a video monitor, to running on a treadmill, to scaling climbing walls, to
playing various sports. The key is that they wear heart-rate monitors and focus not
on how well they perform the activity, but, rather, on how much time they spend >
| CBI Interview |
The renowned psychiatrist and best-selling author shares startling
new findings about the dramatic effects of exercise on the brain
Highlights
» ‘Smart’ to exercise
» The benefits of PE
» The brain: a muscle?
» Prescribing exercise
John Ratey, M.D., earned
a bachelor’s degree in philosophy
from Colgate University;
studied premedical sciences
at Northeastern University,
Harvard University, and Boston
University; and received
his M.D., from the University
School of Medicine. He’s an
associate clinical professor of
psychiatry at Harvard Medical
School, a research synthesizer,
speaker, and author, and
maintains a private practice.
He’s lectured and published
60 peer-reviewed articles on
aggression, autism, ADHD,
and other neuropsychiatric
issues, and has edited several
textbooks. He’s also authored
or co-authored eight books,
including A User’s Guide to the
Brain (2000); Shadow Syndromes
(1997) with Catherine Johnson,
Ph.D.; Driven to Distraction
(1994); Answers to Distraction
(1995); Delivered from Distraction
(2005) with Edward Hallowell,
M.D.; and Spark: The
Revolutionary New Science of
Exercise and the Brain (2008)
with Eric Hagerman. —|
www.ihrsa.org | APrIL 2010 | Club Business International 25