You are getting graded for physical education

Most report cards don’t record a mark for physical fitness, but even though officially no one is recording what your muscles look like, your brain knows.

Unfit bodies lead to unfit brains…

The connection between muscle health and neuron health is intuitive. If you cannot run round the corner, odds are the neurons are going to struggle to carry information around.

Proving the connection is a little complicated, because bookworms sometimes exercise their brains more than their bodies, so they “appear to be smarter” than their more athletic counterparts who fail to open a book. But true genius requires a well oiled machine, below the brain.

The Wood County experience

Researchers from West Virginia University analyzed 725 middle school learners, over two years to see if there was a relationship between being smart and being fit.

NOTE : The researchers did not worry about fatness but fitness. Fitness is about how well you move, not how much of you is being moved about. So skinny bean poles can end up being really unfit and hefa-lumps can actually be pretty fit.

So kids were categorized as being :

• Superfit – they were fit at the beginning and fit at the end
• Fell off the fitness wheel – fit at the beginning but unfit two years later
• Fitter uppers – unfit to begin with, but by the end of the two years, they were fit
• Fit-less – not fit at any stage of the study

The superfit were also the super smart – they scored best for their ability to read, do maths, science and social studies. Next came in the fitter uppers. Then came those that fell off the fitness wheel during the two year study and performing worst of all were the fit-less.

So muscle power means brain power.

Hup two three four, hup two three four…..

Flexing the body muscles helps to keep the neurons in tip top shape. The more stamina and strength the nerve cells possess, the better your report card will look.

Added bonus, you probably will look better too and you’re more likely to live happily ever after.

So what are you waiting for ……….. MOVE !

Adapted from materials on the  American Heart Association website.

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Further reading

Looking for a drug-free prescription for a restful night’s sleep ?	How to juice up the heart battery so it pumps in a crisis	Add chewing gum to your to-do-list to lose weight

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Balance Eicosanoids	Rein in insulin	Dial down stress	Sleep !	Increase Vit D	Culivate microflora	Think champion

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