"Spark" - A Book Review

John J. Ratey, MD, is an associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and has co-written several books over his long career in medicine. Eric Hagerman is a former editor at Popular Science and Outside magazines, and his articles have also appeared in The Best American Sports Writing 2004, Men's Journal, and PLAY. In 2008, Ratey and Hagerman teamed up to release "Spark", which discusses the relationship between physical activity, exercise, and the brain. I took an interest in this book after having a conversation with the Head Freshman Football Coach at Dominion High School, Carlos Hercules. He and I attended a sports expo for rising 9th graders at the school that took place before the high school day typically starts. I had noticed that there was activity going on in the main gym, which I then learned was called Zero Block. I had heard of Zero Block before (it is called Zero Block because it takes place before the traditional First Block period), but I assumed it was some sort of punishment. In fact, kids voluntarily sign up for Zero Block because evidence shows that performing physical activity early in the morning helps people of all ages to be more alert, focused, and have more energy for the first several hours of the day.

The first chapter (after the introduction) details the radical and experimental program that took place at Naperville Central High School, which is located just west of Chicago. Here is where the concept of Zero Hour P.E. was first implemented, and it was spearheaded by physical education teachers Neil Duncan, Phil Lawler, and former high school football coach Paul Zientarski. In Zero Hour P.E. the students did not participate in just the traditional team sports and games that you would expect to see in your standard gym class, but they had a menu of options that included kayaking, dance, rock climbing, as well as running the mile. Students were graded on effort rather than performance, which encouraged them to stick with it and not give up, and they had targets to shoot for in terms of heart rate, blood pressure, and body fat, which motivated them to take ownership of their fitness. Even better was the fact that Zero Hour P.E. had a positive impact on standardized test scores and graduation rate. According to the authors, the two high schools in the Naperville district "...boast a 97 percent graduation rate." At Naperville Central High in particular the "...composite ACT score for the graduating class of 2005 was 24.8, well above the state average of 20.1." Pretty impressive.

The second chapter discusses learning, and right off the bat Ratey and Hagerman tell us that, "In addition to priming our state of mind, exercise influences learning directly, at the cellular level, improving the brain's potential to log in and process new information." Exercise can strengthen the affinity between the brain's neurons, thus making the connection easier and the new information that is processed is more likely to stick in your memory. VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) is a hormone produced during exercise that can push through the blood-brain barrier and help stimulate the machinery of learning. The authors note that, "When our body's cells run short of oxygen, as they can when our muscles contract during exercise, VEGF gets to work building more capillaries in the body and the brain." Just learning how to properly perform Total Results exercise challenges your brain, and perfecting your form shows that you have strengthened the circuits linking different parts of your brain such as the cerebellum, prefrontal cortex, and basal ganglia.

Most of us are aware that exercise helps improve depression, but many of us probably don't know that it can be just as effective as taking antidepressant medication. Researchers at Duke University undertook a study in 1999 in which 156 people participated. They were split up into three groups: one took Zoloft, one group exercised, and the third group did a combination of the two. The exercise group, it should be noted, walked or jogged for 30 minutes, three times a week, at 70 to 85 percent of their aerobic capacity (although how they measured that was not discussed in the chapter). At the end of the study, all three groups showed a significant drop in their depression, which led the chief researcher to conclude that exercise is as effective at improving depression as medication. While those results are certainly encouraging (I know that I would rather walk than take medication with nasty side effects), I have worked in the field of exercise for long enough to have some skepticism with how exercise related studies are often conducted. Certainly this would merit further examination.

I have a few concerns about this book, even though I did enjoy reading it. One question I have is, why is there so much reverence for Kenneth Cooper? Sure, he's a notable figure in the world of running, but in my opinion he did far more to wreck people's knees than improve their hearts with his "Aerobics revolution" that began in the late 1960s. According to Ken Hutchins, Cooper was far more of an evangelist than a scientist, and we have come to learn of the extreme muscle-wasting that comes from developing a running habit, not to mention the overuse injuries. Second, there is no real definition of exercise in this book. It seems to me that any type of movement or activity would qualify in the authors' eyes. One must also understand that a truly clinical definition of exercise has only been developed by the aforementioned Hutchins. He defines exercise as, "A process by which the body performs work of a demanding nature, in accordance with muscle and joint function, in a clinically controlled environment, within the constraints of safety, meaningfully loading the muscular structures to inroad their strength levels to stimulate a growth mechanism in minimum time." Sure, I believe that movement is good for you, and that as human beings we were not designed to sit still, but some activities are higher risk than others. Extreme activities may alleviate depression and improve mood, but what if you get injured in the process? That could also cause depression, and that other side of the coin seems to be ignored. Improved body image, confidence, and mood elevation can result from one or two Total Results workouts each week. I have not conducted any studies on the matter, but I have enough anecdotal evidence over the past 25 years to realize that I am onto something.

Although "Spark" is slow-moving at times, I thought it was beneficial to read in order to comprehend a different point of view. Dr. Ratey and Mr. Hagerman write well together and give a lot of good information. I encourage you to give the book a read and draw your own conclusions.