TEDx: Exercise and the Brain

Neuroscientist Wendy Susuki delivers a TEDx talk in Orlando, Florida. She presents the following question: can aerobic exercise improve your learning and cognition? Can it make you more creative? She discusses her attendance to Intensati classes, an exercise in which the participants repeat empowering mantras as they engage in movements. a class she developed at NYU titled “Can Exercise Change the Brain?” while teaching this class, she became a certified Intensati instructor. She conducted an experiment in which she conducted Intensati exercises in one class, and none in another. She found that the students who engaged in the exercise were extremely energized by the Intensati and that this energy carried over into the class lecture. She also found that students’ ability to retain information and succeed at memory tests were profoundly better in her exercise classes.

In listening to Wendy Suzuki speak, I discovered that the hippocampus, which can be greatly effected by exercise, is important not only for memory, but also for creativity. Suzuki also made it clear that brains grow when exposed to enriched environments, such as exposure to exercise. This information is consistent with Better Than Yesterday’s video on exercise and the brain.

Wendy Suzuki’s TEDx talk is relevant to my research as it specifically addresses practical effects of exercise on the brain. She conducted an experiment and presented practical information about how exercise effected her students’ memory and creativity.

TEDx. ( 2008, November 4). Wendy Suzuki: Exercise and the Brain [Video file].