Physical education teachers by way of this new teaching paradigm can augment the academics by improving brain performance through increasing arousal. With increased physical movement, the hear rate increased and subsequent circulation, as a result arousal. Furthermore, with increased heart rate, it intensifies the circulation of blood to the brain, as a result nourishes key brain areas with oxygen. In conjunction with increased oxygen to key brain areas, stretching also provides an opportunity for the eyes and muscular-skeletal system to relax. By nourishing the brain with neurotropins to enhance growth and greater neural connections between neurons. Researchers James Pollatschek and Frank Hagen Stated "Children engaged in daily physical education show superior motor fitness, academic performance and attitude toward school as compared to their counterparts who do not participate in daily physical education". This increased arousal tends to narrow attention to target tasks. Music has been reported to aid runners in improving performances, increasing focus and reducing stress. Because of our nation's emphasis standards and assessments, physical educators can help by integrating brain related strategies with there our activities to provide worthy alternatives to learning.
Dr. John J. Rately, a clinical associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School presented some of the latest findings. Dr. Rately stated, "physical exercise increases cerebral blood flow and levels of brain cell growth hormone, BDNF" . In at recent discovery at the University of California at Irvine, exercise triggers the release of BDNF, a brain derived neurotrophic factor. This natural substance enhances cognition by boosting the ability of neurons to communicate with each other. At Scripps College in Claremont, California. Two groups of 62 subjects were divided equally into an exercise and a non-exercise group. Those who exercised 75 minutes a week demonstrated quicker reactions, thought better and remembered more. In another note, chronic stress can also accelerate bone loss, impair spatial memory, weaken muscles, elevate blood pressure, impair short term memory destroy neurons in the hippocampus and harden arteries. With sufficient physical exercise you can reduce stress, thus adding another fringe benefit to the body and mind through physical activities.
Van Praag in 1999 conducted animal studies that suggest running and other aerobic activities promote brain cell regeneration and growth . Also, the endorphins that relax us into a state of cortical alertness and reduce symptoms of depression are released through aerobic activity.
