1. Exercise and the Brain
Matt Trout Supervisor of Health, Physical Education, FCS & Gifted Education

2. A moving brain is a thinking brain
Brief clip – warm-up for learning
A Moving Brain is a Thinking Brain

3. What if I told you, there’s a pill that can…
Slow the aging process in the body and the brain
decrease osteoporosis
decrease cardiovascular diseases
decrease blood pressure
decrease stress - by elevating your stress threshold
decrease anxiety
decrease depression
moderate acute and chronic hormonal changes
regulate metabolism
reduce obesity
boost the immune system
decrease the incidence of cancer
boost motivation
promote neuroplasticity
Build new capillaries and expand the vascular system of the brain

4. And…what if I told you…
It’s essentially free, and has no side effects
Would you take the pill?

6. Session Focus – Exercise and…
Learning
Stress
Depression
Anxiety
Aging
Exercise Recommendations

7. Goals
Provide information that will peak your interest in this topic
Develop an understanding that exercise is not just from the neck down.
Keep in mind…I’m not a neuroscientist
Review some of the implementation strategies used at CV SD

9. Prescription Drugs Statistics
374 billion dollars was spent on prescription drugs in (Reuters)
30 million Americans were prescribed antidepressant drugs in 2014 (New York Times)
The US consumes 80% of prescription painkillers worldwide

10. Most money is spent on treatment – not prevention
Exercise as Medicine
More than half of the physicians trained in the United States receive no formal education in physical activity, according to a 2015 study
Most money is spent on treatment – not prevention
Example – Type 2 Diabetes – preventable disease that costs billions per year
Obesity costs $200 billion annually

12. Synapses in the brain don’t actually touch
The Synapse
Synapses in the brain don’t actually touch
Impulses that start as electrical activity along an axon are carried across synapses (gaps between neurons) by chemicals called neurotransmitters.

13. The Synapse

14. Neuron

15. Neurotransmitters fit into receptors – lock and key
NT & Neuroplasticity
Neurotransmitters fit into receptors – lock and key
Neuroplasticity – the brain changes due to it’s environment.
Younger brains are more plastic, but older brains still experience changes throughout life

16. Drugs and NT Drug Used to Treat Neurotransmitter Prozac
Depression & Panic Disorder
Serotonin
Xanax
Anxiety and Panic Disorder
GABA
Lexapro
Depression and Anxiety
Zoloft
Depression
Ritalin
ADHD
Dopamine

17. Neurotransmitters Serotonin – (Prozac)
the policeman of the brain – keeps the brain under control.
Influences mood, impulsivity, anger and aggressiveness. calmness, less impulsive
Norepinephrine - amplifies signals that influence attention, perception, motivation and arousal.
Dopamine – (Ritalin) learning, reward (satisfaction), attention, and movement, addiction, motivation, satiation, turns on frontal cortex
Ritalin raises dopamine, thus calming the mind.

18. Exercise & Neurotransmitters
Exercise balances NTs, along with the rest of the neurochemicals in the brain
Medications work to address imbalances – Exercise does the same thing

19. Brain Break
Cross-body high five

20. BDNF – Brain Derived Neurotropic Factor
Exercise & Learning
BDNF – Brain Derived Neurotropic Factor
Protein developed as a result of chronic aerobic exercise
Stimulates Neurogenesis – Miracle Grow for the brain
Hippocampus – responsible for learning and memory

21. Hippocampus

22. BDNF
BDNF is literally fertilizer for the brain
Fosters growth and development (neurogenesis)
Promotes stem cells to grow into nerve cells
Increases plasticity
BDNF - is made all the time in the brain - whenever cells are working. However, exercise maximizes the production.

23. Exercise improves learning on three levels
Exercise & Learning
Exercise improves learning on three levels
Prepares and encourages nerve cells to bind to one another, which is the cellular basis for learning.
Optimizes the mindset to improve alertness, attention and motivation
It stimulates the development of new nerve cells from stem cells in the hippocampus.

24. Fitness & Academic Performance
The California Department of Education
Over a five year period, students with higher fitness scores (Fitnessgram) consistently showed higher test scores.
The CDE correlated scores from standard achievement tests with scores from the Fitnessgram (state mandated fitness test) for more than one million students.
Fit kids in the CDE study scored twice as well on academic tests as their unfit peers.
EEG’s of fit students’ brains showed more activity in the fit students’ brains
Indicating that more neurons were involved in attention were being recruited for a given task.

25. Fitness Testing – Texas Study
Fitness Gram utilized for 2.4 million students in Texas public schools
Higher levels of fitness are associated with better academic performance (TAKS)
Higher levels of fitness are associated with better school attendance
Higher levels of fitness are associated with fewer behavioral incidents
Cardio fitness is most associated with academic performance
Schools with the highest and lowest academic performance also have highest and lowest cardio fitness
Fitness levels tend to decline with each passing grade

26. This is your Brain on Exercise

27. Not All Fun And Games: New Guidelines Urge Schools To Rethink Recess
Why Kids Need Recess
Why Kids Need Recess
Studies focusing on recess found positive associations between physical activity and the ability to concentrate in class
A single 15-minute daily recess was correlated with more-positive ratings of classroom behavior.
Not All Fun And Games: New Guidelines Urge Schools To Rethink Recess

28. Exercise Recommendations
Children and youth aged 5–17 should accumulate at least 60 minutes of moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity daily. Amounts of physical activity greater than 60 minutes provide additional health benefits. Most of the daily physical activity should be aerobic.

29. Brain Break
Ear, Nose
Ear, Nose, touch elbow (arm holding nose) to opposite knee

30. Stress
Brain loses plasticity with chronic depression - exercise-induced BDNF production reverses this.
Chronic stress causes increased secretion of Cortisol - increases fat deposits in the mid-section.
Abdominal fat is more “metabolically mobile”, - greater risk for high cholesterol, heart attacks and stroke.
Chronic stress = increased cortisol = damage to neurons = reduce ability to learn = reduce memory

31. Stress
The hippocampus is loaded with cortisol receptors
Chronic stress damages neural networks and halts brain development, thereby decreasing learning and memory
Chronic stress can decrease cognitive performance by up to 50%

32. Stress
Exercise raises the stress threshold of neurons in the brain.
Optimizes energy usage by triggering more insulin receptors - better usage of blood glucose and stronger cells.
Exercise wards off the ill effects of chronic stress and can also reverse symptoms.

33. Why Exercise Makes you Less Anxious
Anxiety
Why Exercise Makes you Less Anxious
“It looks more and more like the positive stress of exercise prepares cells and structures and pathways within the brain so that they’re more equipped to handle stress in other forms,” says Michael Hopkins, a graduate student affiliated with the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory Laboratory at Dartmouth
It takes between 3 and 6 weeks

34. Depression
17% of American adults experience depression at some point in their lives = $26.1 billion in health care costs each year.
20% of teens experience depression
Exercise regulates all of the neurotransmitters targeted by antidepressants.
Exercise immediately elevates norepinephrine, improves, self-esteem which is one component of depression.

35. Depression
Exercise boosts serotonin & dopamine - improves mood and jump starts the attention system.
Dopamine is all about motivation and attention.
Chronic exercise
Increases dopamine storage in the brain
Creates dopamine receptors in the reward center of the brain.
Regulates Serotonin – calming (Policeman)

36. Depression
1999 Duke University study - exercise reduces the effects of depression better than Zoloft.

37. ADHD
Exercise is ADHD Medication

38. Three contributors to the decrease in the onset of Alzheimers
Aging
Three contributors to the decrease in the onset of Alzheimers
Low caloric intake
Continued learning
Exercise
All are low levels of stress - recovery period where brain cells grow healthier.

39. Exercise and Aging
Exercise slows brain aging by 10 years
Sitting Too Much Ages You by 8 Years

40. Exercise and Cancer Risk
Increased risk of breast cancer for inactive women
Physically active people have 50% less chance of developing colon cancer
Active men over 65 have a 70% lower chance of developing the advanced, fatal form of prostate cancer

41. Aging and Strength Training
Twelve months of once-weekly or twice-weekly resistance training benefited the executive cognitive function of selective attention and conflict resolution among senior women. (NIH study)

42. Exercise Recommendations
Aerobic exercise times per week at 60-65% MHR for 45 minutes. We should do MORE as we get older.
Aerobic and some type of skill acquisition has additional benefits - complex movements strengthen and expand neural networks.
New circuits are created through movement - can be recruited by other areas and used for thinking. This is why learning to play piano makes it easier for kids to learn math
Any motor skill more complicated than walking has to be learned, thus challenging the brain.

43. Increasing intensity enhances the release of HGH.
Intensity and HGH
Increasing intensity enhances the release of HGH.
Mix in periods of high intensity with cardio activities for second intervals.
HGH levels increase for hours after exercise as well.
HGH decreases fat due to increased metabolic rate, especially belly fat.
Helps mood and alertness as well.

44. BDNF Formula
Multiply your bodyweight x 8 to figure out how many calories you should burn for the high doses of BDNF.
150 pounds (150 lbs. x 8 = 1,200 calories) and burn 200 calories in 30 minutes on a piece of cardio equipment, you’d want to do 6 sessions a week to meet the high dose.

45. Sedentary = Lost Benefits
Benefits of exercise diminish quickly
After just 10 days of rest

46. CV Health & PE
Department Goal – Spark book study
Book separated into chapters with group assignments and presentations during department PD and department meetings
Relevant content incorporated into Health & PE curriculum district-wide

47. District-Wide Promotion
Provided Exercise and the Brain PD sessions for district staff in October and February ( )
Included exercise & the brain facts in monthly reports to the school board
Included E & B facts and updates during my annual school board presentation
Developing district-wide PD for “Brain Breaks” (for classroom teachers)