PE 62 Kinesiology

Question

You must respond to at least two of your class peers about their post. Your response should be about three or four sentences. What do you think?

(1) The video that I am reacting to is the Activity and Our Brain video by John J. Ratey, MD. In the video, he talks about how exercise is not only good for the body, but it is also good for the brain. He believes that physical exercise turns our brains on and gets our bodies to be healthy. He goes on to discuss how he first learned about the power that exercise has on your brain when he was doing his residency in psychiatry at Boston. At the time that he was there was also the same time as the Boston Marathon's explosion and everybody in Boston was running. He said that they had to see patients who had to stop running because of their injury for the first time in a long time. Since they were not able to run, they fell into a depression and they found themselves not wanting to do anything anymore because they missed running so much. These people could no longer pay attention well and these were all people who were professors from MIT and Harvard and now, they call this deficit disorder. This all led Ratey to be interested in exercise as a treatment for disorders because it is a way for people to self-medicate. 

A study came out from Duke University Medical School that showed that exercise can help with our emotions and our depression. Exercise has been shown to help with our anxiety, depression, and just for the growth of our brain in general, which is why Ratey wanted to show how much exercise and PE class can affect our brains and lead us to do better in school. When watching this video, I found it very informative and very useful for me to know about. It made me want to do more research on exercise and how it can help us, especially those with disorders. The reason why I was so drawn to this video is that I have used exercise to help me with my anxiety and my depression. I was in a really dark place at one time in my life and exercise really helped me to relax and not overthink a lot, which is something that I have always struggle with. Being able to do exercise has helped me reduce my anxiety and not have it be so bad. Exercise is very useful and helpful, not only for our bodies but also for our brains. It has a way of helping us to relax and to ease away our stress. 

(2) Dr. John J. Rates , MD, believes physical activity is needed for our brain health. He believes physical activity is what actually "turns our brains on". While he was working on his psychiatry residency during the Boston Marathon, some of his patients were the runners from the tragic event. For the first time many of them stopped running due to the incident, and some suffered from depression and even ADD. They needed the normal daily activity their bodies had already grown accustomed to. A study from Duke University Medical School found that exercise makes our emotions "better". Anxiety, depression, and aggression were all lowered from exercise.

I once had a track coach who said, "People usually hate running because they see it as a punishment. Most of the time, in sports, you are made to run when you do something wrong." I think this is true. Some people have been conditioned to see it as as a bad thing so they grow up disliking it and it can turn into not wanting to exercise. I believe this can impact someone's mental health because this can cause depression and anxiety from not getting the proper exercise that all bodies crave. 

Answer 1

Hello, Susan,

My response to the point of view expressed by both statements:

The statements present strong and credible evidence linking excercise and good mental and physical health. I know from personal experience that even a boring activity, such as jogging, can actually become addictive. This reflect's the body's response that excercise is good, and this activates pleasure hormones in the brain which contribute to good mental health, as well as a continued excercise regime, especially if such activity is chosen, and not demanded as part of a routine.