How Exercise Primes the Brain: Insights from Dr. John Ratey

Season 14, episode 375 reviews episode 116 with Dr. John Ratey, exploring how exercise and lifestyle shape brain health and learning.

The episode highlights Naperville’s Zero Hour PE case study, explains how physical activity boosts attention and academic performance, and introduces BDNF (brain-derived neurotropic factor) as “miracle grow” for the brain.

Practical takeaways include exercising before challenging work or school, prioritizing low-glucose nutrition, using hormesis (fasting, intense exercise, sauna) to increase resilience, and improving sleep and stress management to support cognitive health.

On today's episode #375, we review our 2021 interview with Dr. John Ratey and will learn:

✔ How physical activity boosts attention and academic performance to improve results at school or in the workplace.

✔ What should we all understand about BDNF (brain-derived neurotropic factor) also known as “miracle grow” for the brain.

✔ How to build a faster, stronger, more resilient brain with exercise, nutrition, and with understanding hormesis.

Welcome back to SEASON 14 of The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, where we connect the science-based evidence behind social and emotional learning and emotional intelligence training for improved well-being, achievement, productivity and results—using what I saw as the missing link (since we weren’t taught this when we were growing up in school), the application of practical neuroscience.

I’m Andrea Samadi, and seven years ago, launched this podcast with a question I had never truly asked myself before: (and that is) If productivity and results matter to us—and they do now more than ever—how exactly are we using our brain to make them happen?

Most of us were never taught how to apply neuroscience to improve productivity, results, or well-being. About a decade ago, I became fascinated by the mind-brain-results connection—and how science can be applied to our everyday lives.

That’s why I’ve made it my mission to bring you the world’s top experts—so together, we can explore the intersection of science and social-emotional learning. We’ll break down complex ideas and turn them into practical strategies we can use every day for predictable, science-backed results.

Episode 375: Featuring Dr. John Ratey

For today’s Episode 375, we continue with our review of past episodes as we make connections to prior learning with whatever it is that we are currently working on this year. I’ll create a roadmap at the end of this season so this pathway will make sense to us (I hope!) as we piece together important parts of our success puzzle and begin to bring them to life.

You’ll notice that around the time of the pandemic, in 2020, our interviews took a turn towards health and wellness, and to stay on track, I created a framework of our Top 5 Health Staples on Episode 87[i], which eventually evolved into our Top 6 Health Staples.

Today, we covering the first health staple of exercise, jumping to Episode 116[ii]  on “The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain” with best-selling author Dr. John Ratey. Dr. Ratey is also an Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and an internationally recognized expert in Neuropsychiatry.

Dr. Ratey has published over 60 peer-reviewed articles and 11 books in 17 languages, including the groundbreaking ADHD “Driven to Distraction” series with Dr. Edward (Ned) Hallowell, MD. With the publication of “Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain,” Dr. Ratey established himself as one of the world’s foremost authorities on the brain-fitness connection.

His most recent book, “Go Wild,” explores how we can achieve optimal physical and mental health by getting in touch with our caveman roots and how we can “re-wild” our lives.

🎧 Listen to Episode 87: The Top 5 Brain Health and Alzheimer’s Prevention Strategies[iii]

🌐 Learn more about Dr. Ratey: www.johnratey.com

We also did a Deep Dive into Dr. Ratey’s books

🎧 Listen to Episode 118[iv]:

A Deep Dive into Dr. Ratey’s books, Spark, Go Wild and Driven to Distraction.

VIDEO 1 Click Here to Watch

The Power of Exercise to Prime the Brain for Learning

In our first video clip, reviewing our interview with Dr. Ratey he talks about the power of exercise to prime our brain for learning:

“You’re going to pay better attention if you exercise, because you turn on all the thinking parts of the brain. When you move, you’re turning on those thinking nerve cells, and especially your attention system. And that allows yo