As educators every school year is comparable to a Marathon.
We start out happy and excited for what this year’s race will bring. Together
packed in with our fellow educators we rush forward towards our personal and
professional goals and aspirations. Then…. just like in a Marathon, we hit the
wall and question if we can really finish this race. For educators (and
especially those that work in Special Education) that “wall” comes right after
Christmas when the 12 weeks of intervention wraps up, IEPs are due, requests
for evaluations pile up and parents and teachers start to worry if all their
efforts will help that struggling student pass the CRCT. These are the times
when we feel like we want to give up and drop out of the race. However, it is
at precisely these times of doubt we have to push forward and dig deep. We must
take one thing at a time- putting one foot in front of the other until we reach
the finish line. How, one may ask, can we do this if we want nothing more than
to give up? According to John J. Ratey M.D., the answer may very well be
exercise.
In his eye opening book Spark:
The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise, John Ratey elegantly lays out
the science of exercise and how it can beat stress, lift your mood, fight
memory loss, and sharpen your intellect- simply by elevating your heart rate
and breaking a sweat. Exercise, he says,
has many of the same neurobiological affects that prescription medication has
including boosting levels of serotonin and norepinephrine. These are important
neurotransmitters as they are believed to be responsible for regulating our
mood and well-being (serotonin, dopamine) and increasing attention and focus
(norepinephrine). By exercising we are better equipped to focus on what needs
to get done and do it in a positive manner.
Exercise also appears to have a positive result on our
ability to recover from stress and bounce back from the biological effects the
stress-response has at the cellular level. It stimulates cell recovery, which
may have been stripped down from over activation of our “fight or flight
response.” This idea is truly groundbreaking as it highlights the
neuroplasticity of the brain as well as the ability to activate neurogenesis
(brain cell growth). The main player in this neurogenesis appears to be a
protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF, which is known to
promote the health of nerve cells. It is responsible for maintenance and
preservation of nerve cells. It can be compared to the Department of
Transportation (DOT) fixing potholes, paving new roads and building highways in
our brain (only much more efficient). What Ratey shows through research study
after research study is that chronic stress appears to wear down the cells in
our Hippocampus which is responsible for learning and memory. With as little as
thirty minutes of exercise levels of BDNF elevate in the brain and study
participants do better on cognitive test of memory and learning. Further, BDNF
also appear to be responsible for combating the degenerative effects of stress
in the Hippocampus that leads to depression and anxiety.
According to Dr. Ratey, adding exercise to your lifestyle “sparks
your brain function to improve learning on three levels: First, it optimizes
your mind-set to improve alertness, attention, mood, and motivation; Second, it
prepares and encourages nerve cells to bind to one another, which is the
cellular basis for logging in new information; and Third, it spurs the
development of new nerve cells from stem cells in the Hippocampus.” So next time you feel like you want to drop
out of the race due to feeling overwhelmed try to find time to go for a short
bike ride, walk or participate in a sports activity. It may give you the energy
you need to finish out the school year and complete those last few miles in
your professional marathon.
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