What makes aerobic exercise so powerful is that it's our evolutionary method of generating that spark. It lights a fire on every level of your brain, from stoking up the neurons' metabolic furnaces to forging the very structures that transmit information from one synapse to the next." I have been evangelizing the widespread benefits of regular vigorous exercise for years. Sadly, most people are still reluctant to begin a therapy that could provide them with profound life-changing results unobtainable via any other means... It fosters neuroplasticity. The best way to guard against neurodegenerative diseases is to build a strong brain. Aerobic exercise accomplishes this by strengthening connections between your brain cells, creating more synapses to expand the web of connections, and spurring newly born stem cells to divide and become functional neurons in the hippocampus.

Apache Spark has seen immense growth over the past several years. Hundreds of contributors working collectively have made Spark an amazing piece of technology powering thousands of organizations. And while the blistering pace of innovation moves the project forward, it makes keeping up to date with all the improvements challenging.I love the research based evidence presented throughout the book which not only convince us that exercise is beneficial but also explains how it's beneficial.

Exercise is a readily available tool which we can utilize to enhance our life. You just need to take the first step and ignite that spark. As someone who works out 5-6 days a week and eats clean, I can vouch for all the benefits of exercise as I’ve already seen them first hand. If you’re someone who wants to start your own fitness journey and need a little push, this book will be really helpful and inspiring. It lifts your mood. More neurotransmitters, neurotrophins, and connectivity shore up the hippocampus against the atrophy associated with depression and anxiety. And a number of studies have shown that keeping our mood up reduces our chances of developing dementia. The evidence applies not only to clinical depression but also to general attitude. Staying mobile also allows us to stay involved, keep up with people, and make new friends; social connections are important in elevating and sustaining mood. It fortifies your bones. Osteoporosis doesn’t have much to do with the brain, but it’s important to mention because you need a strong carriage to continue exercising as you age, and it is a largely preventable disease. Osteoporosis afflicts twenty million women and two million men in this country. More women every year die from hip fractures — a vulnerability of osteoporosis — than from breast cancer. Women reach peak bone mass at around thirty, and after that they lose about 1 percent a year until menopause, when the pace doubles. The result is that by age sixty, about 30 percent of a woman’s bone mass has disappeared. Unless, that is, she takes calcium and vitamin D (which comes free with ten minutes of morning sun a day) and does some form of exercise or strength training to stress the bones. Walking doesn’t quite do the job — save that for later in life. But as a young adult, weight training or any sport that involves running or jumping will counteract the natural loss. The degree to which you can prevent the loss is impressive: one study found that women can double their leg strength in just a few months of weight training. Even women in their nineties can improve their strength and prevent this heartbreaking disease. What I aim to do here is to deliver in plain English the inspiring science connecting exercise and the brain and to demonstrate how it plays out in the lives of real people. I want to cement the idea that exercise has a profound impact on cognitive abilities and mental health. It is simply one of the best treatments we have for most psychiatric problems..." This book is simple and straightforward. I went into it with a view to get to know more about the effects of exercise on the brain but learned a lot of important things about the working of the brain. The important thing I learned is that brain can be analogous to a muscle: it can change and improve, it grows with use but withers due to inactivity like it follows the principle ‘use it or lose it’. For people out there, the points stated in the book about how exercise affects your learning and how it can improve your physical and mental health will certainly be a powerful motivator to get them to adopt the habit of exercising in their daily life.Caution - don't read this book if you don't like to move. Because this book will motivate you get moving and hit gym consistently. Book is written in most convincing form that we will never think about impact of exercise on our body and brain in same way again. In my opinion three types of people can grab this book without getting further delay, first- those who do exercise and second - those who doesn't do exercise and third one who love to do but doesn't do exercise. First published in 2008 by PhD and M.D. John J. Ratey, associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and author of many other awesome books. I am already in the habit of exercising nearly every day, as is my husband. I already encourage my kids to be active: I strictly limit the amount of time they spend on screens; they're all in sports on a weekly or more basis (except for my youngest); I take them swimming, to the park, on bike rides etc. I already knew exercise is good for the body and mind but this book takes it to the next level. Basically the author says exercising literally grows brain cells. As you move your body, you move your brain connections. Exercise today puts a deposit in your brain's bank account for your golden years. I believe it and am even more motivated to stay active and to keep my kids active. I feel validated as a mom battling against screens for my kids. (Sorry, kids!) Oh, except I have to say, now I'm thinking about getting Just Dance for our Wii.

The book then dives into the damaging effects of the modern sedentary lifestyle and goes into dozens of studies presenting positive effects of exercise on learning, stress management, anxiety, depression, ADHD, addiction, hormonal changes, and aging related conditions such as Alzheimer's Disease. Every single one of these conditions can be massively improved through exercise.

People who are addicted to bad habits get addicted to it because they need the pleasure to overcome depression, anger, stress and pain. This book tells us how to avoid bad habits and start exercising. People who thinks that exercise is an additional work or burden should read this book and understand the importance of exercise and how it can change their life. Physical activities change biological reaction in the body. People who do regular exercise stay on top on a country level - which includes technology, sports, etc. The other, less important takeaway was that humans do terrible, awful things to rats in the name of research. Poor rats. It’s important to have plans and goals and appointments, and this is why sports such as golf and tennis are great. They require constant self-monitoring and the motivation to improve. The author changed from laymens terms and delightful stories to prove his points to writing as if the book were an academic paper to be published in a neurological journal, and it got very tedious very fast. Being well schooled in neurology I forced myself to continue reading to the end but I am certain most readers would not understand half of what is said in the last half of the book. Exercise helps produce the chemicals in the brain that grow new neurons in the brain, increasing our learning aptitude.