Runners add a dash of fitness to school day

There's a running boom in San Diego County among the 5-to 12-year-old set. On most elementary school campuses, children run just before the morning bell while you're on your morning commute – perhaps, in part, because of your morning commute. Parents facing long drives to work drop their children at school early, and teachers and volunteers are using the extra 15 or 20 minutes to fight childhood obesity with before-school running clubs.

Exercise Helps Brain?

NAPERVILLE, Ill. -- Many of us suffer from mid-day brain fog, but did you know exercise can help with human focus and improving the structure in the brain? Harvard researchers say a Chicago-area school is proving it works. The freshmen in Naperville Central's pre-algebra class solve math problems using the calculators and pencils you would expect, but they also play video games in class with the teacher's OK.

Exercise Seen as Priming Pump for Students’ Academic

Seven or eight years ago, studies offered mixed results on the question of whether exercise can boost brain function in children and adolescents. Experts are beginning to contend, however, that the case is getting stronger.
“There’s sort of no question about it now,” said Dr. John J. Ratey, a clinical associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. “The exercise itself doesn’t make you smarter, but it puts the brain of the learners in the optimal position for them to learn.”

Building mental muscles

Minnesota Public Radio, We all know the physical benefits of exercise, but new research is showing that that physical activity can also be good for our brains. The author of a new book says exercise is the most powerful tool we have to optimize brain function.

An ADHD Med Without Side Effects

"Think of exercise as medication,” says John Ratey, M.D., an associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. “For a very small handful of people with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD ADD), it may actually be a replacement for stimulants, but, for most, it’s complementary — something they should absolutely do, along with taking meds, to help increase attention and improve mood.”

District 203 provided SPARK for book

While District 203's PE program has received worldwide attention and serves as an academy site for PE4life, Lawler said he hopes Ratey's book will encourage more schools to recognize the importance of exercise to learning. His hope is that the book will be featured on "Oprah."

SPARK in SELF Magazine

Physical Activity Recharges Brain

SPARK addresses the importance of physical activity, especially of the rigorous variety, for improving brain function at every age level. "Spark" backs up everything with hundreds of scientific studies and research papers, mostly done within the past decade.