2008-06-11T15:11:46Ztag:sursumcorda.salemsattic.com,2018:/isso/thread/post/exercise-and-brain-growthtag:sursumcorda.salemsattic.com,2018:/isso/161/5762008-06-11T15:11:46Zdstb<p>More than a month old, but I only read Newsweek in the doctor's waiting room:</p> <p>http://www.newsweek.com/id/130621</p>tag:sursumcorda.salemsattic.com,2018:/isso/161/5752007-07-05T14:40:24ZAndy Bonner<p>As a teacher, I was <em>constantly</em> hearing about research linking exercise to mental performance. I never looked into it deeply, so I can't point you to the studies, but the general gist is always exercise=good. Like students scoring higher on standardized tests if they walked around and stretched between tests. And yes, a link to retention (stands to reason, if it increases circulation to the brain).</p> <p>With the &quot;dumb jocks,&quot; I bet it has more to do simply with time and priorities. If someone is going to be seriously devoted to athletics, they're not going to be reading John Donne under the covers until midnight, like a certain teenager who will remain nameless. (And who has never been much of a jock.) I've certainly seen some &quot;dumb musicians&quot; with the same phenomenon. A lot of people violently resented Eastman's requirement of a humanity elective per semester. &quot;I'm going to be a musician; I don't need to know how many circles Milton's hell [sic] had, I just need to be able to play octaves scales better than anyone else.&quot; (And yes, I really mean &quot;ignorant,&quot; not &quot;dumb&quot;—except wait, I kind of do. Yes, primarily they simply missed out on trivia and the ability to not be embarrassed when their liberal-arts relatives ask them about color in Matisse or Gatsby. But I do believe we study these things not just to save face; they actually do make us wider and deeper and wiser people. My moral attitude is humbler for thinking deeply on <em>Measure for Measure</em>. My attitude toward personal gain is different for seeing where it got Alexander, Timurlane, and Caesar. My appreciation for the beauty of symmetry and color in creation is heightened by taking some basic art appreciation. And no, I don't think you can be a truly complete musician without appreciating the degree to which the stream of human life before and around the music you're making affects it.</p> <p>Ahem—back to topic—yes, exercise good.</p>