{"id":27,"date":"2009-10-08T10:50:03","date_gmt":"2009-10-08T17:50:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/dasblog\/?p=27"},"modified":"2009-10-08T10:50:49","modified_gmt":"2009-10-08T17:50:49","slug":"get-some-%e2%80%9cmiracle-gro%e2%80%9d-for-the-brain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/dasblog\/2009\/10\/08\/get-some-%e2%80%9cmiracle-gro%e2%80%9d-for-the-brain\/","title":{"rendered":"Get some \u201cMiracle Gro\u201d for the Brain"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Midterms and exams are approaching and although you can\u2019t miraculously learn course material overnight, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.johnratey.com\/site\/profile.aspx\" target=\"_blank\">Dr. John J. Ratey, MD<\/a> says there are some things you can do to \u201cfertilize\u201d your brain.<\/p>\n<p>In his book <em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Spark-Revolutionary-Science-Exercise-Brain\/dp\/0316113506\">Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain<\/a> <\/em>he describes how exercise is just what the doctor ordered for increasing focus, reducing stress, and improving mood\u2014things which can assist students in learning.<\/p>\n<p>He describes how exercise affects learning in three ways:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Exercise improves the      learner. Their senses are heightened, their focus and mood are improved,      they\u2019re less fidgety and tense, and they feel more motivated and      invigorated.<\/li>\n<li>In addition to priming your      state of mind, exercise influences learning directly, at the cellular      level, improving your brain\u2019s potential to log in and process new      information. Exercise creates the environment for our brain cells to wire      together, which is the basic building block of learning. One of the key      ingredients that exercise increases is BDNF, Brain Derived Neurotrophic      Factor, or what I call Miracle Gro for the brain &#8212; as it truly is      fertilizer.<\/li>\n<li>Exercise is also perhaps the      best way to increase neurogenesis, which is the making of new neurons that      happens on its own daily. The process is pumped up greatly after we      exercise, by releasing factors to encourage the process of our innate stem      cells to divide and then provide a healthier internal environment for them      to grow up to be functioning nerve cells on their own.<a href=\"#_ftn1\">[1]<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<figure id=\"attachment_28\" class=\"wp-caption thumbnail alignleft\" style=\"width: 300px;\">\n    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-28\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/dasblog\/files\/2009\/10\/treadmills-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"Students on treadmills at dixon\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" srcset=\"https:\/\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/217\/files\/2009\/10\/treadmills-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/217\/files\/2009\/10\/treadmills.jpg 737w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>\n    <figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students on treadmills at Dixon<\/figcaption>\n    <\/figure>\n<p>Exercise can be especially helpful for students who are ADD\/ADHD or struggle with stress and\/or anxiety. Here at OSU we have a plethora of resources to help you get your heart rate elevated including<a href=\"http:\/\/oregonstate.edu\/recsports\"> Dixon Recreation Center, Sports Clubs, Intramural Sports and more! You can even schedule a free 30 minute fitness orientation. <\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Check\u00a0 Dixon out today and fertilize your brain!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em><br \/>\n<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<hr size=\"1\" \/><a href=\"#_ftnref1\">[1]<\/a> http:\/\/add.about.com\/od\/treatmentoptions\/a\/ratey.htm<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Midterms and exams are approaching and although you can\u2019t miraculously learn course material overnight, Dr. John J. Ratey, MD says there are some things you can do to \u201cfertilize\u201d your brain. In his book Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain he describes how exercise is just what the doctor ordered for&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/dasblog\/2009\/10\/08\/get-some-%e2%80%9cmiracle-gro%e2%80%9d-for-the-brain\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":302,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/dasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/dasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/dasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/dasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/302"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/dasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/dasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/dasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27\/revisions\/38"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/dasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/dasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/dasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}