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Kids and Calories

April 17, 2013
Children, Food Environment, Scientific Studies
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Earlier this week the Centers for Disease Control released a news brief detailing a surprising decline in calories consumed by our children.  For boys calorie intake dropped 7% to an average of 2,100 calories per day and for girls, a 4% drop to 1,755 calories per day.  I am not an expert in pediatric nutrition but those calories counts still seemed rather high.

I checked into the CDC data base for Stature-for-age and Weight-for-age percentiles.  You can do the same here:

CDC Stature and Weight for Age Tables

I found the 50th percentile of height and weight for an 8 year old boy.  This yields a 55 lb boy who is about 4’2 in height.  From this data I then tried to determine how  many calories are recommended.  There are numerous sites out there that give calorie data for kids, however, I wanted a reputable one and settled on the Baylor College of Medicine Healthy Eating Calculator.  Baylor is well known for its Children’s Nutrition Research Center.

Entering my 4’2, 55 lb, 8 year old version of myself I was then asked to pick an activity level.  (For a moment I reveled in the idea of being 55 lbs when I was 8.  As far as I can tell, the last time I was 55 lbs was birth.)  I chose a moderate activity level, defined as about 1 hour of activity per day.  At this level of activity, and given the above stats, my 8 year old self was told to consume 1,899 calories per day. Not too far off from the CDC reported average of 2,100 calories per day.  However, the catch is that activity level.  Our kids today are not active.  By choosing less than 1 hour of activity per day, my allotted calories dropped to 1,663 per day, and when I chose not active at all, a mere 1,427 calories was given to me.  Children tend to be more active around the age of 8, however, by the time they are 15 the average child gets 49 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity per day, and only 35 minutes on the weekends.

Let’s assume that moderate activity level and take our roughly 1,900 calories.  On average, my 8 year olds self is consuming 2,100 calories.  This represents and imbalance and over time can lead to weight gain.  Habits start young.  We need to help our children make good food choices and encourage them to be active.  Eat less, move more.

More reasons

March 11, 2013
Children, Scientific Studies
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The theme of salientdictates is why we eat and why we exercise.  Interesting questions.  Today I am going to extend the thought and add reason #4,657 to why we should exercise.

Lost in the shuffle of standardized testing and graduation standards at the elementary and high school levels is physical fitness.  Please don’t confuse physical fitness with the gym class we took when we were younger.  Hopefully we have moved past square dancing and shuffling around on scooters.  I have many fond memories of physical education from my childhood, the highlight being Mr. Kuiper teaching me how to jump rope in the basement of Central Elementary while surrounded by orchestral instruments.  Life lesson, surely.  No, physical fitness today should focus on lifelong activity, and I sincerely hope we are encouraging our kids in this regard.

To this end a new study in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism demonstrates that children who are physically active have a better hormonal response to other psychosocial stressors when exposed to them.  That’s a fancy way of saying the body doesn’t get as worked up when it’s test time in math class if you’ve exercised.  Although the current study didn’t look at test scores per se, the researchers did demonstrate that cortisol levels (a hormonal marker of stress) didn’t rise as much in children if they were regular exercisers.  Seems that exercise can help children handle the daily stresses of life more easily.  Ipso facto, they might just do better on those standardized tests if they had some activity built into their day.  Just another example of how incredibly beneficial exercise is for all of us.

And being that school buses are now outfitted with wi-fi, taking the last denizen of non-connectedness out of childrens’ lives so that they can complete their homework on the way home, the ability to handle stress may become that much more important.  Holy run on sentence.  I should have paid more attention in english class.  Then again, if I had exercised more as a child I would have been more attentive, remembered more of what I had learned, and handled it better.  C’est la vie.

Finally, the ban on large sugary drinks in New York City goes into effect tomorrow.  In case the world ends I leave you with this quote from the New York Times, simply because it sums so much up:

“I’m going to drink as many 20-ounce sodas as I can,” just to irritate Mr. Bloomberg, she said.  Michael Jackson, 47, who was having lunch at the Gray’s Papaya in Greenwich Village, said there were few things dearer to his heart than a cold Sprite. “The big size, of course,” he specified on Sunday. “I’m a big guy.”

“I’ll buy a dozen of these,” said Mr. Jackson, 47, pointing to a regular cup. And as he saw it, there was no point in mourning the big sodas: “All I have to do is go to Jersey, or to 7-Eleven.”

Off to Jersey we go.

Fruit soup 1, Appetizers 0

December 27, 2012
Behavior Change, Children, Food Environment
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For the first 41 Christmas’ of my young life my mother has relished in preparation, serving, and eating of the Christmas Eve meal. Times and days of this meal have changed with marriages, kids, and travel, yet the Swedish meatballs, lefse, her mother’s rolls, and mashed potatoes have remained, much to the delight of her family. Tradition runs strong here.

This year the Christmas Eve meal was held yesterday, December 26th. Having the Christmas Eve dinner not on Christmas Eve took some adjusting years ago and the shift takes place about every other year. One tradition altered and maintained. Families were to arrive at 2:00 pm, or somewhere around then depending on nap schedules and how long it took to get the kids’ coats on. We knew one other tradition was to be altered this year, the addition of a kids’ table had become a reality. My mother has always enjoyed having everyone around one big table for dinner, and yes, at the start of the Christmas Eve dinner she has all hold hands for a moment. A moment of peace. I secretly enjoy this. With seven grandchildren under the age of 7, the kids’ table had become a necessity. I secretly enjoyed this as well.

The table was set with little cups, pint sized plates, and even had appropriate height chairs. Too cute.

Rewind just a moment to yesterday morning. At home we had planned out a light lunch so that we’d all have room for my mother’s ubiquitous cheese and cracker spread. A light lunch would allow us to unconsciously gorge to our delight while still saving a bit of room for meatballs. This was tradition. As we rolled down I-35 thoughts of Wheat Thins and Dubliner danced in my head. Oh how I love cheese.

Into the house we bounded, with instructions to bring the Fitts downstairs. Good, I thought, that is where the cheese is. Impinge my surprise when there were no crackers and no cheese. They’ve been here for 41 years, where have they gone? Must be upstairs. Up I went. No cheese. No crackers. That saucy minx, she changed tradition again. I had to giggle, not at my mother, but at myself. Here I was running around her house looking for cheese. When I couldn’t find it I found the nearest opened box of Triscuits in her cupboard. Triscuits aren’t my favorite but they made do.

Food expectations when combined with tradition and habit are a potent mix. I expectedthe crackers and cheese to be there and when they weren’t I began hunting down other crackers that tasted like splintered wood. I could smell the cheese, taste the cheese. My mom’s house brings out some interesting behaviors of mine. Strong associations live there. Food behavior is fascinating.

My mom said a few paused words about some cheese in the refrigerator and could tell she momentarily questioned her tradition change. She needn’t have done so. The fruit soup was there, proud and strong as it has been for over 40 years. Although only three adults choose to consume it. The appetizers were not. Some traditions are stronger than others.

Two amazing things happened yesterday: I was actually hungry for the Christmas Eve dinner and I didn’t walk out with a stomach so full it hurt. I like tradition changes, Mom. Thank you for wonderful moments.

350

December 11, 2012
Behavior Change, Children, Food Environment, Scientific Studies
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350. Calories. That is the average number of calories purchased daily by children in Philadelphia corner stores. Can’t get the junk food at school? Head to the corner. Interesting for city that just reported a 5% drop in childhood obesity, mirroring a phenomena that is being reported widely. 5.5% decline in New York City, 3% in Los Angeles. Maybe, just maybe, we are getting through.

The reasons for the drop are unclear, many theories abound. Fewer obese children entering schools, current students losing weight. Either way if the current climate holds, a seismic shift may be taking place. For the past 30 years obesity rates have been on the incline.

With no clear reason for the drop researchers are asking why. Why is this happening? What has changed? Back to the streets is Philly:

“Philadelphia has undertaken a broad assault on childhood obesity for years. Sugary drinks like sweetened iced tea, fruit punch and sports drinks started to disappear from school vending machines in 2004. A year later, new snack guidelines set calorie and fat limits, which reduced the size of snack foods like potato chips to single servings. By 2009, deep fryers were gone from cafeterias and whole milk had been replaced by one percent and skim.”

Kids spend a large part of their days in school. More and more students are eating three meals a day in the halls of learning. For nearly 10 years the school system of Philadelphia has been addressing this by limiting soda and setting calorie limits. Change is slow, but I believe we are seeing the fruits of their labor. Pun intended. Is it really a surprise that when schools institute smart policies around food obesity declines? The bad food isn’t there, kids can’t eat it. They are being educated about food, and whether we like it or not, they are learning and taking the message home.

A broad set of policies? Sounds about right. You mean it’s just not telling people about bad food, telling them to exercise, and then inundating them with soda and sugar? Thank goodness Twinkies are no more. Or maybe they’re here to stay, hard to tell. The schools of Philadelphia seem to be doing things all schools should do. Lose the soda, cut the calories, unplug the deep fat fryers. Talk about food, educate the children. There is a broad set of policies in action and it seems to be working. As an individual who will rely on the children of today to be leaders of tomorrow, I thank you.

Education?

October 26, 2012
Children, Food Descriptives, Food Environment, Food Rules, Scientific Studies
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We are all shaped by our environment, we are products of the world around us. The people we spend time with, talk to, seek opinions of. They influence us. The places we travel to, the new perspective of environment changes us. Many see this in a large context but struggle with it in the personal. The most important factor in student learning? The teacher in front of the room. Why? They create the environment for learning, or not learning. Why do parents sweat over school and teacher choice? We know that these choices have impact. Has the environment of standardized testing in primary and secondary schools changed education? You betcha. (I’m Minnesotan). Yet when it comes to food and environmental change we struggle. It’s personal in a different way. Be it socially, intellectually, emotionally, politically, foodily, we are a reflection of the place that surrounds us.

From Jane Brody’s recent piece in the New York Times on environment and sweetened beverages:

“Children in the United States consume on average three times as many calories from sugar sweetened beverages compared to Dutch children.”

Care to guess how the bodyweight and BMI of children in the U.S. compares to those in the Netherlands?

“Sugar sweetened drinks, the single largest source of calories in our diet, account for nearly half of the total added sugars we consume and 7 percent of our total calories – nearly 15% in some groups, including adolescent boys….the average student consumes 31 pounds of sugar in sweetened beverages annually.”

31 pounds of sugar in beverages alone. That is not counting all the other food. In a recent study young women who consumed one or more sweetened beverages per day doubled their risk of developing type II diabetes compared to women who drank one per month. A fascinating tidbit here, women who consumed sugar sweetened beverages increased their caloric consumption form other foods throughout the day. That’s right, they ate more as a result of the soda. Not only did they not account for the calories in the drink, they went and ate even more. The authors speculate that sugar sweetened beverages may “induce hunger and food intake.”

Anybody want to argue the power of food environments? I’m ready anytime. Ms. Brody points out that there are numerous individuals in New York City who are still fuming about the drink size regulations recently passed there, arguing that change should come about through only educational efforts. Why didn’t I think of that? Teaching would be so much easier. All I need to do is stand up in front of my classes and tell them what to know and they’ll know it. Even better, simply tell them what I know. Really? The environment matters and when it comes to food our environment sucks. But don’t touch it, we says, that’s socialism. Guess what happens when teachers create an environment of true learning, developing a relationship with the students in the room, getting creative, not lecturing? Students learn. Guess what happens when children’s consumption of soda is limited? They lose weight. Guess what happens when the limits are taken away. They gain weight. Funny.

“It (research study) suggests that if we want long term changes in bodyweight, we will need to make long term, permanent changes in the environment for children,” says David Ludwig, author of a recent study on sugary drinks. Let me add to Dr. Ludwig’s thoughts, changing one word, if we want long term changes in bodyweight, we will need to make long term, permanent changes in the environment for adults. Yes, even as adults we can’t outwit our environment when it comes to food. We have a problem with food. We need regulation, bans on double big gulps and the like. Sincerely, we do.

I have found one place that takes my best interests in food environment to heart, my fitness center.  Here is the sign I ran into just this morning:

 

Good to know I can find healthy food.  Oops, then I walked ten feet to my right and looked in the darkened cafe of said fitness center.  This is what I saw:

 

Maybe this is what my fitness center meant by cage free and organic.  Can a supplement or an energy bar be truly cage free?  If it’s here, it’s healthy, and if it’s here, grab a supplement.  Things that make you go hmmmm.

Finally, it’s Friday and we need a food rule. Harkening back to yesterday’s post here’s the rule as we head to the weekend: Don’t buy baked goods at Walgreen’s.  That’s why we have bakeries.  Don’t want to go to the bakery for your cookies?  Good, then don’t eat the cookies.  My daughter told me that once.

That’s all. Happy Friday.

Sweet Home Alabama

October 25, 2012
Children, Food Environment
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“Look at you.  You’ve got a baby.  In a bar,” Reese Witherspoon famously said in the movie Sweet Home Alabama.  Mainly out of surprise for this baby who was seemingly in an unusual place.  For a baby.  Much like Ms. Witherspoon I am continually surprised when I see food out of place.  I shouldn’t be knowing that food is everywhere these days, but I am.  Can you think of one situation, location, any occasion, where having food is unacceptable?  I can’t.

A long week it has been for those of us at salientdictates, thus the absence.  My apologies.  One of those weeks is happening as I type.  For you educators out here, you know what I am talking about.  So it was with many thoughts running through my head yesterday that I walked into Walgreen’s.  You know, the pharmacy that sells a ridiculous amount of junk food while also advertising diabetes care?  Talk about a good business model.  I digress.  As I stood in line, Sweet Home Alabama went through my mind.  Here’s why:

You’ve got a cookie.  A rather large cookie, in a pharmacy.  Right next to the donuts.  Struck me as odd.  Not the fact that there was candy or junk food taunting me while I stood in line, but rather that there was this random baked good below the Trident.  Look again, you can see how big the cookie is by comparing it to the package of gum above it.

Our environment tells us to eat.  Our pharmacy’s tell us to eat.  Is there no escape?  And if a child is standing in line with mom and dad, or with mom and mom, or dad with and dad, might they see said cookie and begin drooling?  And we all know what happens after the drooling begins.

We’ll get back to blogging soon, once we make it through this week.  Thanks for reading.

 

I’m shocked!

October 9, 2012
Behavior Change, Children, Food Descriptives, Food Environment
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“Before, there was no taste and no flavor,” said Malik Barrows, a senior at Automotive High School in Brooklyn, who likes fruit but said his classmates threw away their mandatory helpings on the cafeteria floor. “Now there’s no taste, no flavor and it’s healthy, which makes it taste even worse.”

I love that last line, “Now there’s no taste, no flavor, and it’s healthy, which makes it taste even worse.”  These quotes come from an article posted late last week in the New York Times in regards to schools serving the mandatory “healthier” lunches.  These lunches limit calories, serving sizes, sodium, etc.  And the kids are in revolt.  Check out this parody of school lunches which comes to us from the haven of Kansas (Remember the book a few election cycles back, “What’s the matter with Kansas?”  Well, there seems to be plenty wrong.)  The video starts with a quote stating that a growing child needs upwards of 5,000 calories to meet energy and growth needs.  I have never seen any data that says a child needs 5,000 calories, athlete or not.  That is alot of calories.  Maybe the Kansas issues portrayed in this video (poor athletic performance, lethargy, etc) have nothing to do with calories but the pizza, ice cream, and other junk they are eating.

One of the new rules states that school lunches must include fruits and vegetables.  The kids are throwing them away, on the floor, and generally not eating them.  Health wastebaskets.  There is so much to be gleaned from Mr. Barrows comments above.  ”…and it’s healthy, which makes it taste even worse.”  Two thoughts come to my mind:  1)  Where do they learn that fruits and vegetables taste bad? and 2) Why do schools announce from the mountaintops that they are going healthier?

To the first question, the answer most likely is parents.  We have ourselves to blame.  Maybe we don’t want to have the nightly tussle with kids at the dinner table.  Maybe it’s easier to buy a pizza than prepare vegetables.  A host of reasons exist as to why we feed our children the way we do.  The research is also fairly clear on how food habits are formed when kids are younger.  They need to be exposed to a variety of foods, even try some they don’t like.  They need to help in the kitchen, be involved in the food process.  We need to take care of our kids in this regard.  Habits are hard to alter.  As we age we don’t change, we become more so.

To the second question, why announce it?  I know marketing is involved and the new law was all over the news.  Yet how many high school kids pay attention to the news especially around school lunches?  This is just a hunch, but had schools not screamed aloud about the new regulations and what they were doing my guess is that there would have been some dust up, but that it would have subsided.  Subtle changes leads to sustainable change.  Maybe the government could have taken action earlier and eased us into these changes.  Alas, neither of these occurred and here we are battling ignorance around food.  As Brian Wansink always says, “The best diet is the one you don’t know your’re on.”  As soon as I tell you NOT to think about ice cream, what do you do?  What are you doing right now? Thinking about ice cream.  Wansink has shown that we can take 20% of your calories away each day and as long as you are not aware of it you will not perceive yourself as hungry.

I am all in favor of these new regulations.  Too many of children eat too many of their meals at schools.  This is for myriad reasons.  However, if this is the world we live in, our schools need to take care of those kids and those meals.  The least we can do is give them a little nutrition.

With change there are always a few bad apples.  Pun intended.

Monkey see. Monkey do.

October 3, 2012
Barriers to Exercise, Children, Exercise, Scientific Studies
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At the end of an article appearing in this morning’ s New York Times the following statement is made:

“Kids naturally love to run around and play,” Dr. Booth said. “But they’re just not doing it as much now. And we don’t know why. So what we really need to understand is, what’s happening to our kids that makes them quit wanting to play?”

A fascinating question and it is asked in the context of new research showing that structured fitness interventions for children don’t make kids more active. Whether the fitness interventions are providing 90 minutes of vigorous activity or 30 minutes of moderate exercise it seems that kids do what their parents do: sit when they’re done. They compensate. Just worked out? Time to sit. Sound familiar? Our friends at the University of Copenhagen demonstrated the same thing in adults. We exercise, we sit. The more we exercise, the more we sit. At least we’re equal opportunity, giving fitness and obesity both a fair shot at grabbing us.

Across the board the children’s total time spent in physical activity increased by an average of only 5 minutes, in some studies even less, when they were part of a children’s exercise program. Why? How could this be? A suggested theory, in addition to increased sitting as compensation, is that the interventions took place when the kids would have been active on their own (i.e. after school). This thought suggests that rather than increasing activity levels by introducing new and fun things to do the interventions simply changed how the kids were being active. If kids are being active let them play. On their own. By themselves.

Both theories, increased sitting and simply changing how kids are active, are plausible. My guess is both are at play. No pun intended. The question remains, why don’t fitness programs for kids increase activity levels?

“It’s a really difficult problem,” said Frank Booth, a professor of physiology at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

At least Dr. Booth is honest, however, we need to solve it. Dr. Booth suggests we need to identify the appropriate time for the interventions (I say during math class, children will remember their arithmetic more readily), and also calls us as parents out (Thank you!) stating that moms and dads can encourage leaving of the couch by “subverting” their children’s desire to sit . I’m all for subversion.

This leads us to the eternal question of parenthood, what’s the best way to trick our kids? Whether it be getting them to eat their broccoli, to go to bed, to stop crying in the aisle of Target, or to be more active, how do we do it? Hmmmm.

“A welcoming setting may also be key…the most important determinant of how much the youngsters moved — or didn’t — was their local built environment. Children with more opportunities to be outside, in a safe, well-designed space, were more likely to be outside, romping.”

Say what? I will not let my kids ‘romp.’ That is just not right! Oops focussing on the wrong word.  I digress, I’ve got it now, you mean if we create safe and fun opportunities for our children to be outside, they’ll actually do it? They’ll go play? Whoa. Let me get this straight, if I change the built environment by turning off the tv, they won’t watch it? They’ll go play? Earth shattering.

Does it really surprise us that kids sit after they exercise? We do the same thing. Monkey see, monkey do. Whether you agree with Charles Barkley or not, we are all role models. If we go outside our kids will to. Want to know the best way to not have our kids sit on the couch in front of the tv? Don’t have a couch in front of the tv. Change the built environment. Have you ever rearranged the living room only to discover on your first attempt at laying down post-rearrangement that you can’t get comfortable andsee the tv? Note to self: don’t rearrange the living room based on tv accessibility and viewing comfort. You’ll just lay down more and watch nearly five hours of television (average American viewing habits). And so will your kids.

I have a wall hanging, a picture of kids playing in the leaves, that was stitched for me by a babysitter when I was young. “Let them play and they shall have their wisdom.” That was 1975. My babysitter was onto something. I wonder if she was secretly an exercise physiologist?

“I wish…”

October 1, 2012
Children, Food Environment, Scientific Studies
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Papa and Grandma joined us this weekend and our daughters were in heaven.  And yes, our 4 year old learned how to ride her two wheel bike at the hands of her Papa. She is so proud, and so is her daddy. The one thing I forgot to do was have her run around the block as soon as she figured out her balance. I hope she remembers how to ride today.

When any of the grandparents arrive, and I am sure this holds true of all grandparents, rules are allowed to fly out the window. “I’m Grandma so I can do that,” is the refrain. I willfully accept this, our parents have earned the right, and hey, they are providing a few minutes of heaven for both our kids and theirs. Food is where the rules at our house get bent quite a bit. As I’ve mentioned, our 4 year old lives for desert. There just seems to be more of it around when Papa and Grandma around. Could be because I use their presence as a way to get desert myself, but that’s another story.

Last night’s dinner consisted of a salad and spaghetti. By all accounts a good meal as even our daughter has taken to eating some salad. How a four year old learns to spread noodles around her plate and then ask, “Mommy, can I have desert? Look I ate lots,” is beyond me. Yet that is what happened. Papa and Grandma giggled, our daughter smiled. Some remarks were made regarding a few more bites. Then, out of nowhere, “I wish I could eat fruit salad for dinner,” was heard. Where do these things come from? I was heartened that she asked for fruit yet still she wasn’t eating her movable noodles. Such is life. There are worse positions to be in.

This episode got me thinking about fruit and as I perused some research found this forthcoming article set to appear in the December issue of Appetite: Greater variety of fruit served in a four-course snack increases fruit consumption. Fruit salad! My daughter, she’s a genius and she doesn’t even know it yet! I’m a parent who thinks his daughter is a genius and already knows it! How unusual.

The researchers found that people consume more fruit when there is variety. They had individuals eat four courses of fruit. Each course lasted 7 minutes (why 7 minutes you ask, why not?) and was under one of two conditions: four courses of their single most liked fruit or four courses of a variety of their most liked fruits. Seems by the fourth course people get bored eating the same thing repeatedly so they eat less of it. However, mix up the fruitbasket and fruit consumption stays high.

Less monotony, the researchers state in their conclusion, as a reason for the increased consumption. Novel. Let us not bore our kids with the same meals and see what happens. This consumption inducing variety had been shown in many foods including ice cream, jam, yogurt, and jelly beans, and it’s the reason M&Ms come in multicolor formation. Variety tricks our brains into believing there are a plethora of tastes even when there isn’t. There occasionally may be, but the M&M color does not impact taste. The blue tastes like the red which tastes like the brown, etc.  The more variety, the theory goes, the more I need to eat so as to try them all.

I’m now trying to think of ways to mix everything up, not just fruit. At tonight’s meal I will take everything on the table and throw it into one big bowl. Not sure what ill call it yet, but I’ll figure it out by 6:00 pm. If that doesn’t work, I’ll just add ketchup.

Get More Better and More Smarter

September 26, 2012
Children, Exercise, Scientific Studies
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My english teaching mother is upset, but we move on.  Big test coming up? Want to impress your friends by juggling bottles of beer? Exercise. Exercise before you study, before you practice that juggling. Exercise after too. The University of Copenhagen is giving us things to talk about, as is the New York Times. Last week researchers from Copenhagen told us that 60 minutes of exercise may cause us to eat and sit more when compared to 30 minutes of exercise. This week they’re telling us that if you exercise before you learn a new skill or after you learn that skill you will more readily remember that skill.

Think about splitting wood. I am sure you do this all the time. It’s a skill I struggle with, the ax hitting the wood part. Give me a wood splitter and I’m set, however, I tend to miss the wood more than strike it when I pick up the ax. Being that we heat our home by wood in the winter months this could be problematic. (Each year I am saved by Craigslist and people selling split wood). Invariably once or twice a summer I find a couple of large pieces of wood and say, “I can split you.” I take a few whacks, each with increasing intensity and error. Sparks fly when I hit the concrete and my neighbors have expressed concern for my safety. The lawn service owner with the mechanical advantage who lives behind us likes to laugh at the college professor with no advantage in all things physical skill related.

This latest research demonstrates that once I’ve hit the wood square a few times, ie learned the skill, I should drop the ax and go for a run. In so doing I will more aptly remember that skill the next time I attempt it. A similar effect occurs if I were to exercise prior to chopping wood. In the present study men were asked to learn a new motor skill: to follow a cursor as it drew a line on a computer screen and using a joystick to immediately trace the line. The goal was to stay on the line and as close to the cursor as possible. There were three groups: resting, exercising immediately before learning the new skill, and exercising immediately after the skill was learned. The exercise was 15 minutes of vigorous cycling.

The men repeated the cursor tracing-line chasing experiment one hour later, one day later, and one week after the skill was learned. After an hour, the group who exercised after learning the skill fared slightly worse than the others. However, one week after the test, that same group (exercise after learning of the skill) tested significantly better than both the other groups. The group exercising before learning the new skill tested well after a week too, beating the resting group. Seems that exercise helps to solidify the learning of new skills. And that timing is everything. The researchers also report on promising preliminary data suggesting that young children subsequently test better when they have exercised after learning a new concept in class. In both situations, learning of a new physical or cognitive skill, the researchers suggest that exercise stimulates certain brain chemicals to be produced which subsequently improve memory and learning.

Today I will stop class a few minutes short and have my class go for a walk. They’ll become smarter than they already are. And more fit.

This weekend Papa and Grandma are coming for a visit. Our 4 year old wants her Papa to teach her how to ride her two wheel bike. There will be struggles and I will not interfere with a Papa’s work and joy. As soon as she learns that skill, once she is sturdy and balanced on the bike, my daughter and I will run around the block. A race it will be and I will surely get beat. That is just fine by me.

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