Can exercise make you smarter?

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Pumping up the brain

Here some stats from Napperville School District.
19,000 students
Before: 30% overweight and poor academic performance
After: 3% overweight and #1 in science and #6 in math in the WORLD!!!!!

This information has also been published in books and research such as Brain Gym by Dr. Dennison and his follow up books, also the book by Sharon Promislow - Making the Brain Body Connection, shows more of this. The better our body works, the better our brains work.

As explained in the news story along with the books, it is relatively simple science. We have to use our brains to move and exercise. This increases blood flow to the brain and improves how it works. Not only in exercise and movement functions but also language, math, science, etc. Our brain has a main component, the corpus callosum, that connects the right side and left side of the brain. When we exercise and use both right and left sides of our body, the two sides of the brain have to send lots of info back and forth through the corpus callosum. Our right side of our brain is generally the artistic side, where the left side is the more analytical side. The improved communication between the two sides allows us to better bring these two sides together to maximize our brain function.  Also the increase in brain activity improves the neurotransmitters in the brain.

So next time you or your child is struggling and you need to improve your brain power, think about maybe taking a walk and getting some exercise to boost your potential.

So, why is it with so much research and data out there that shows significant improvements in academic performance can be achieved with increased exercise that schools have less gym and recess time? Why is this information not getting through to school administrators and our legislators to make programs like this mandatory for all schools? Also I ask for your support on pointing these issues out to your school boards, principles, and legislators. If we could put more exercise back into school, we might actually see our children's academic performance start improving again.

Exercise Studies of Interest

I get info updates from a few sites (Medscape Daily News from WebMD and Daily News from Healthfinder.gov). Often times there are articles directly related to exercise that I will pass on. This is great stuff because it produces actual evidence (truth) as to why we need to exercise certain ways to optimize our health and why exercise can make us healthier and live longer and better.

High-Impact Exercise Reduces Stroke Risk. While research has shown for some time that light exercise is beneficial to reducing stroke risk, this new study adds further insight that moderate to high intensity exercise may be even better. This is great info that needs to be shared with everyone. Unfortunately, our society and way of life often looks for the easiest way to do things. Many people take the same approach to their exercise, what is the least I can do to get some benefit. To get the greatest benefit we need to find what is the most I can do. We need to be smart about this, though. I am not advocating everyone go out and run as fast as you can for as long as you can till you throw up or pass out. But with proper monitoring and gradual training we need to try and increase our intensity with our workouts. A great quote I heard once was, “You shouldn’t run to get in-shape, but you should get in-shape so you can run.” Monitor things such as your heart rate, your breathing patterns, listen to your body while you are exercising. We shouldn't experience pain, but we do have to get to the comfortable side of uncomfortable. It is okay to get a little short of breath when you are exercising, just rest as needed.

I take a simple insight from Ella my soon to be 5 year old. She loves to play tag in the yard. She runs as fast as she can to get away from me, when she needs to rest she stops, touches something and says “base”. When she is rested off she goes again while I chase her throughout the yard. This is great exercise and great fun!!!

When exercising at a higher intensity realize you need appropriate rest and should not perform the activity as long as light to moderate exercise. This is great news for those that have a hard time finding time to exercise. Higher intensity means less time exercising, plus better benefits – sounds like a win-win to me. We just need to review the Exercise Guidelines of the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Heart Association to see how true this is. “Do moderately intense cardio 30 minutes a day, five days a week Or Do vigorously intense cardio 20 minutes a day, 3 days a week.” This is why looking at adding some interval training to your workout is beneficial, which I will post on in the future.

Lifelong Exercise Keeps Senior Young at Heart. This study found that seniors (people over 65) that exercised the most throughout their life had the healthiest hearts. While any exercise showed that they had better hearts than those that did not exercise, those that exercised more frequently had the best hearts. Those with the best hearts were the master athletes. Master athletes are seniors who've exercised six to seven times a week for 15 to 25 years and retained 100 percent of their heart's youthful characteristics and have hearts similar to those of 30-year-olds. This is a great study to show the importance of starting early with our exercise and continuing on as a lifestyle and not something to ever stop. The more you put in the more you get out of it. Just like simple investing principles of our money – the more you put in over a longer time will produce more in the end.

Got too or Get too?

John Wooden is arguably one of the greatest coaches ever. Winning 10 NCAA basketball championships in his last 12 years there and at one point winning 88 games in a row are just a few of the accomplishments of the UCLA teams he lead as their coach. I wonder during the midst of his teams amazing success if a newly recruited athlete thought, “I get too play at UCLA under Coach Wooden” or “I got too play under Coach Wooden”. With a get too mentality we see it as an opportunity to achieve great things we could never get elsewhere, even though we have to submit to someone else’s teachings and guidance. Whereas a got too mentality it is more of an obligation to do something that we often feel resentment for it because we personally may not want to do it because we don’t want to follow someone else and may not agree with them all the time. I’m thinking of a lesson from his book Wooden - "Details Create Success".

In this section he talks about how at the first practice every year he would teach his players how to put on their socks. This was to make sure that they understood paying attention to every detail was important. If you put on your socks with wrinkles you could get a blister and that would affect their performance during practice and games. I wonder if the players thought of it as a get too or got too moment. When you understand the principle and wisdom behind it, it is an amazing get too opportunity. But if your selfish pride steps in and you think it is stupid drill then it is a got too moment.

This same principle comes in our spiritual and fitness life as well. Is it get too or got too moment? Is it a get too opportunity to believe in Jesus as our savior and be open to all He has to offer from his teachings and wisdom too help us achieve our greatness in the purpose He has designed us for? Or does it feel like more of a got too moment that is trying to follow rules and obligations we really don’t want too. Is it a get too moment to get our exercise in to help keep our body healthy so that we can be the hands and feet of Christ here on earth? Or does it feel like a got too moment that is a dreadful obligation of a task that has to be completed. It can be an amazing mind shift and transformation when you see your faith and your fitness as get too opportunities compared to a got too obligation.

Core of Fitness and Health - Physical Activity and Exercise

The last core principle is my favorite - exercise.  It is the main topic I have spent the last 20 some years of my life learning more about.  I know many of us will say, well exercise isn't for me.  Lets understand a little more what exercise really is.  First we need to understand that physical activity is defined as bodily movement that enhances health.  Exercise is just a form of physical activity that is planned, structured, repetitive, and performed with the goal of improving health or fitness.  So we need to remember that exercise is not just lifting as much weight as possible at the gym and running on a treadmill for hours till we can't go no more.  For some that maybe the case, but for most of it is not the right planned structure we should be repeating to enhance our health.

It seems like today everyone is looking for the “magic pill” to help prevent cancer, prevent heart attacks and heart disease, improve lymphatic flow, lower cholesterol and raise the good HDL, lower blood pressure, lower stress, promote weight loss, prevent diabetes and control blood sugars, slow aging process, builds strong bones/decreasing risk of osteoporosis, improve digestion, improve sleep patterns, help prevent colds and flu, reduce depression, improve memory retention and reaction time, slow Alzheimer’s disease, increase lung capacity, alleviate pain – exercise has been proven to be that “magic pill” to do all these things. But amazingly enough up to 70% of Americans do not get enough physical activity and exercise on a daily basis.


While many of us may have been active at some points in our life, research shows us that it is more important to have a life time of moderate activity then brief moments of high activity. The American College of Sports Medicine and the American Heart Association current recommendation based on current research is that all people should partake in 30 minutes of moderate intensity cardiovascular physical activity five (5) days a week or 20 minutes of intense cardiovascular physical activity three (3) days a week. Also strength-training exercises need to be performed two (2) days per week. Are you putting in the time needed to optimize your healthy habits?

We all realize that sometimes we know what to do and why to do it, but we struggle with how to do it. Let’s look at a few tips that can help you. Time is often a limiting factor, so try doing your exercise in short bouts, instead of 30 minutes at one time break it up into three 10-minutes sessions throughout the day. Try to make double use of your time – walk on a treadmill or ride an exercise bike during your favorite TV shows; take a walk with your spouse, children and/or friends to use it as some socialization and relationship building time; walk around the ball park while your child practices their sport. Find an exercise that you enjoy, there are many types of exercise and physical activity to help you meet the guidelines find ones you like and mix it up. Also remember it doesn’t take expensive equipment to stay active as most commercials while try to sell you. Set a schedule, if we don’t schedule exercise time into our often-hectic day it will often be left out. Search out qualified professionals to help you learn more to maximize your exercise time and prevent injuries by contacting your physician and physical therapist to help you with this. Proper dosing of your exercise through frequency, intensity, type and time is just as important as proper dosing of medications.

Core of Fitness and Health - Nutrition

The old saying “garbage in – garbage out” is very true when we look at our nutritional intake and what our body does with it. I will keep this post pretty basic as I am a Physical Therapist, not a nutritionist, but we can't ignore the importance of nutrition and its affect on our core physical health and fitness.   A key to good nutrition is not the latest fad diet of the month, but being true to the good old food pyramid (www.mypyramid.gov/).

We should be getting five to nine servings a day of fruits and vegetables. If you double your fruit intake you can decrease your risk for some cancers by 50%. Look for whole grains not the processed enriched flour. Studies show men can reduce heart disease by 27% with eating a whole grain cereal over those eating non-whole grain or no breakfast. Also look at eating proper fats, actually the kind of fat you eat may be more important then the amount you eat. Try to eat monosaturated or polyunsaturated oils such as those found in olive oil, nuts and beans.  An interesting article shows improved mood with low fat diet as compared to low carbohydrate diet like some of the fancy fad diets.  Plus it shows no improvement in reduction of weight.  Also Yo-Yo Dieting has shown to usually fail due to stressing the body to much and the body resisting, just another reason to stick to the old fashion food pyramid diet and not all of those fancy fad diets that try to trick the body.  A simple rule is stick to living foods the closer to the vine the better (if it's been processed enough to sit on the shelf for months think what it is doing when it's in you?) just as Jesus taught us in John 15 the importance of not straying from the vine.

Keep a diary of what you eat; it may surprise you. Always think about: “Does what I am eating add value or take away value from my health?” Also in that diary keep track of how much you eat; this will probably suprise you as well.  One big change in our diets over the last fifty years is portion sizes. We SUPERSIZE too much! In 1955 a McDonald’s meal consisted of a 3 oz. hamburger, about 15 french fries and an 8 oz. pop.  We have become so accustom to these larger sizes, I don't think many of us would be happy if we ordered our meal and got this portion size today.

Core of Fitness and Health - Hydration

The next couple of posts will look at what we can take in that should be at the basic core of good health and fitness practices. This is a foundational habit that even with a small change; long term can make a big difference. Hydration, simply drinking enough water to keep our body hydrated to the level it needs to function properly. Jesus taught us a valuable lesson at the well, John 4: 1-30, that if we drink water we will be thirsty again and we need to drink more water.


While many of us drink “fluids” we still leave our bodies in a semi-dehydrated state. Much of what we drink has caffeine and sugars that actually can deplete our body of water. By maintaining proper hydration we can decrease joint pain, improve skin tone, increase the efficiency of our immune system, improve circulation, decrease the risk of heart attack and stroke, improve brain function and decrease memory loss as we age. Not bad for just getting enough water each day.

So how much is enough? The gold standard is seven to eight 8-ounce glasses each day. New research is setting a new standard, which is your weight in pounds divided by two will equal the total amount of ounces per day. So for example, a 180-pound person will need 90 ounces or just over eleven 8-ounce glasses a day. That may seem like a lot to you; if it does you may be one of the semi-dehydrated people not gaining all the benefits of making a wise choice of the foundational habit of drinking enough water each day.

I had a patient a few weeks back that was a classic example of being semi-dehydrated. She was a young girl that had been having headaches for the last few years almost on a daily basis. After going through an examination, she did not have much wrong with that I could assess other than a little tightness in her fascia around her head. Our fascia is the connecting stuff all throughout our body that holds all of our parts together. It is also a larger reservoir area for water in our body, when our body needs water it will pull water from our fascia to use iit in our more vital organs. Think of it as a sponge, when it is dried out the sponge is hard to bend and twist, when it is filled with water it is more pliable. I asked this girl and her mother how much water she drinks. She laughed and her mom stated she was not a very good water drinker. I did some simple fascial mobilizations and encouraged her to start drinking more water. In about three treatments and a week’s worth of increasing her water intake and her headaches were gone for the first time in about three years. Just a simple example of how important having the proper amount of water intake is to our overall health and fitness.

Core of Fitness and Health - Sleep

We control about 70% of our own health in the daily choices we make. A foundational healthy habit that we basically control nearly 100% ever day is how much sleep we get at night. Needing rest and sleep is even a biblical principle as seen in Genesis 2: 1-2 or Mark 4:38. Study after study continually comes back showing that we need seven to eight hours of sleep each night. Also it is best to go to bed prior to 11:00 pm each night. The reason we need the seven to eight hours is that our body requires that we go through five to six complete sleep cycles each usually lasting around 60 to 90 minutes. During sleep our body does much of its recovery through the regulation of releasing important hormones to control brain and body functions. This proper control helps boost the immune system making us less susceptible to disease and illness. Also it will improve brain function by reducing a chemical called cortisol.


Cortisol is released, as part of a stress response in the body, which is why when you are over stressed you do not always function at your best. Cortisol actually disrupts the neurotransmitter balance in the brain. So some of us think we just need more caffeine to improve our alertness when we lack sleep, but unfortunately caffeine actually increases stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol.

With consistent lack of sleep you actually increase your risk of Type 2 diabetes, increase clumsiness, increase risk for accidents, increase risk of disease and decrease your sex drive. Actually those who consistently get less than seven hours of sleep may shorten their life span by eight to ten years. All that time we think we are saving by staying awake longer we are actually losing on the other end of our life and not able to enjoy our current time as much.  Also studies have shown that lack of sleep triggers chemical responses in the brain to increase our appetite. And unfortunately many of these food choices when we are up late at night are usually not the best.

I have talked with many patients about this issue and its importance to help them recover most optimally from their injury or surgery. Many say they do just fine with less than six hours. The problem is they do not understand and have never experienced how much better they will do with sticking to a core health principle of getting seven to eight hours of sleep. So one of those core lessons is to sleep more like a baby.  I will talk more about the core priciple of eating right in my next post.

Core of Fitness and Health

You can't really go anywhere these days in the fitness world and not hear the word "CORE".  It's all about working the core.  Try to find a DVD or book on exercise and fitness that doesn't take about the core.  Well what is this core?  Often times it might depend who you talk to.  If you look at the Wikipedia definition of the core, in its most general of definitions, is the body minus the legs and arms. It also states that functional movements are highly dependent on the core, and lack of core development can result in a predisposition to injury.  While there is general consensus on which muscles these are, there is some varying opinions out there. That debate can be left for a different time.  What I want to talk about today is the simple fact that most of us would agree on that we need to develop our core, whatever those muscles are.

I really like this definition, especially looking at the part talking about lack of core development can result in a predisposition to injury.  I think that is vital in all the things in life the importance of developing our core.  I appreciate watching my newborn, Lanie, grow up at this point in her life all of 3 months into it.  She has the basic understanding of what it takes from a health standpoint what needs to be done to develop her core.  Why is it as we age and supposedly get wiser we complicate it and get it so confused and many times wrong?  We cheat the basic ideas and try to find short cuts or work around that might still allow us the ability to develop our core without sticking to the basic principles we knew from birth.  Often times its because we do not want to take the time to develop them, development takes time.

At this point in her life she primarily does three things (four if you count the making diapers dirty): she sleeps, she eats and she gets some physical activity/exercise.  Yep that's it.  Those three things done properly are all we need to do to develop our core and help so we don't predisposition ourselves to injury.  Over the next few posts I will dive into each a little deeper on these three things as the core of health and fitness.

First post

I graduated from the University of North Dakota in 1994 with a Masters in Physical Therapy. I have worked for community based hospitals located in Gillette, WY; Sioux City, IA and currently in Cherokee, IA since my graduation. Working in community based hospitals have given me insights into care for a wide variety of patients in a broad spectrum of clinical environments. My primary interests have been in outpatient orthopedics but I have also delivered care in acute care, inpatient rehabilitation, and skilled care.


By working general outpatient orthopedics it has given me the opportunity to work with patients of all ages, races and types of diseases and injuries. I also worked as manager of a rehab department for nine years before deciding to get back into full time patient care, which offered and amazing insight into management and leadership.  My passion is to assist in the management of rehabilitating optimal movement, through creating an environment of efficient function in all three planes of motion for my patients.  To be able to see patients move again with their body will also affect their mind and spirit to become more alive and move forward also.

I have been blessed to learn from many great physical therapists through my years through continuing education courses.  I am currently also enrolled in the transitional DPT (Doctor of Physical Therapy) Program through Des Moines University. Anticipated graduation is December of 2010.  I have been a member of the American Physical Therapy Association and been able to serve on Iowa Physical Therapy Association Board in the past.

All of these opportunities have given me wonderful chances to learn more about the human body, mind and spirit and the amazing connection between them. I hope to share and discuss some of the many things that I have been able to learn trough the years to help people optimize their movement and overall health.   Through movement we know things are alive, hopefully we can use movement with physical activity and exercise to find success in life -- which I like to define as: Peace of body, mind and spirit that I am listening and fulfilling, God’s perfect plan for me.  By managing my God given physical, mental and spiritual gifts to serve and witness to others, while maturing in my relationship with Christ.