The Theory Of Relativity Is Simple...For A Runner!

There was a HI-larious scene in an episode of The Simpsons where dimwitted Homer puts on a pair of bifocals and, all of a sudden, exclaims, "The square of the hypotenuse of an isosceles triangle is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides". The implication of this statement is obvious. Simply wearing a pair of glasses will make the wearer smarter. While many do in-fact assume that those who wear glasses are intellectually gifted, that assumption, quite like Homer Simpson himself, is all make believe. However, that assumption is flawed not in its end but in the means to that end. Thanks to the work of Dr. John J. Ratey, professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, had Homer put on a pair of running sneakers instead of the bifocals, his increased intelligence would have been much more believable.

According to Ratey 2008 book Spark, the Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, those who regularly exercise have a higher capacity for learning and have a greater memory than those who don't. Results of tests conducted by Ratey have shown that a fast-paced workout boosts the production of a protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) which makes the process of learning possible. As the levels of BDNF increase, the brain's nerve cells start to branch out, join together and communicate with each other in new ways. This is the process that underlies learning: every change in the junctions between brain cells signifies a new fact or skill that's been picked up and stowed away for future use. In addition to increasing one's capacity for learning and memory, exercise can also maintain those function in older individuals as the levels of their BDNF would naturally begin to die off.

Believe it or not, I wasn't always the funny, witty and handsome writer that I am today. In fact, I'll admit that I used to be quite unfunny. I would make what I thought was a HI-larious remark and yet, nobody would respond with the laughter I felt my comment deserved. My metamorphosis didn't happen all at once but was rather a gradual process in which, like my running pace itself, my sense of humor and ability to convey it through written words grew slowly but surely. And, looking back on it, that process began pretty much in-line with when I took up running. Thanks to Dr. Ratey, I now know why that correlation exists.

If someone were to approach you on the street and offer you a device that guaranteed weight loss and increased intelligence if you committed yourself to using it, wouldn't you use it? I certainly would. I know my dopeness wife CVSW would. I know T,H,E K,I,D would as well. In fact, all three of us have in fact committed ourselves to using it. And I encourage all of you, dear readers, to also use it. The device I am talking about, obviously, is running.