This is the interview led by health writer, Chee Gates when my program was shown to professor John Martin (neurobiology, specialist in the motor system,Columbia University)
About the quote:
Article published in Fitness Magazine
We were drawing a correlation with your BRAIN MUSCLE WORKOUT and Other "multi-joint" exercise, such as Tai Chi, Which scientists use to help restore some memory
Functioning in Alzheimer's and dementia patients.
And I asked, although your program hasn't been
Clinically tested, if it could produce the same
effect in the brain, like Tai-Chi. And he said
Yes, in fact, your program may be even better because the exercises are more complex....
"The more difficult the movement is, the more
brain activity you'll have. Gonzales-Wallace’s
Program challenges balance and coordination within a
limb and between limbs. It's easier to read Ian Fleming
than James Joyce. His is the James Joyce of
exercise."
Chee Gates
QUOTE FROM AN INTERVIEW FEATURING THE BRAIN MUSCLE WORKOUT IN PREVENTION
But it wasn't enough to know the change was there. Gonzalez-Wallace wanted to know why. "When I started seeing these unusual results, I found that no matter how much I was reading, I needed a professional opinion," says the trainer. John Martin, PhD, a neuroscientist at Columbia University, immediately recognized the brain benefits of Gonzalez-Wallace's workouts.
"Michael's exercises require new coordination patterns," says Martin. "They seem to mix a challenging posture requiring balance together with a limb movement. This may be similar to creating a cognitive reserve by learning a new language later in life, or learning to play a musical instrument. The exercises likely drive more neural activity in more parts of the brain. This can strengthen neural connections in the action systems of the brain. Perhaps, the more you need to think during a complex movement, the more you recruit connections in the cognitive systems of the brain. While speculative, this may be a way for exercises that require you to think about your moves to benefit parts of the brain for memory and for learning facts."
QUOTE FROM AN INTERVIEW FEATURING THE BRAIN MUSCLE WORKOUT IN CHICAGO TRIBUNE
When Gonzalez-Wallace was developing the workout, he talked it over with Jack Martin, a neurobiologist at Columbia University. Martin thought it made sense. Brain activity is more limited for motor tasks produced without much thought compared with movement that has to be coordinated on the fly, he said.
"Some of Michael's exercises require new coordination patterns; odd combinations of movements that people don't normally do. Like mixing a challenging posture requiring balance together with a leg movement," Martin said in an e-mail.
"Getting more of the brain to work to produce a complex movement is plausibly beneficial for overall brain function. Maybe it is the motor equivalent of building a cognitive reserve by learning to play the cello at 55 years old or doing crossword puzzles.
In any case, by combining balance and limb movement or other combination patterns, he is forcing the person to use multiple distinct motor systems of the brain. To my mind, that is a lot like an integrative cognitive task, but for the action systems of the brain."
PROFESSIONAL ENDORSEMENT,GREGORY LOMBARDO,MD
Dr Lombardo is board certified in adult, child and adolescent psychiatry and is a diplomate of the American Society of Clinical Psychopharmacology. He is the author of “Understanding the mind of your bipolar child”
According to Dr Lombardo,
The benefits of implementing The Brain Muscle Workout Program may fall into three major groups:
3.1Motor Skills:
Motor skills refers to the abilities which involve the use of hands, develop over time, starting with primitive gestures such as grabbing at objects to more precise activities that involve precise hand-eye coordination. Fine motor skills are skills that involve a refined use of the small muscles controlling the hand, fingers, and thumb. The development of these skills allows one to be able to complete tasks such as writing, drawing, and buttoning. *
The Brain Muscle Workout Program incorporates an active use of motor skills. The importance of exercising balance and coordination may help improve children's brain functioning in the following areas: attention, memory, multitasking, spatial memory and decision-making. For example raising heels and arms at the same time will improve kids’ attention and multitasking skills. This could correlate to listening to the teacher and writing in a piece of paper)
*Wikepedia, Encyclopedia. Search:Motor skills.
Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fine_motor_skill
3.2 Psychiatric Benefits and Benefits in Academic Function :
Improving children’s brain functioning through specific exercise movements.
Regarding brain functioning, it is important to refer to the cerebellum, the area of the brain responsible for voluntary physical movement is connected by neurons to all parts of the cortex, the area of the brain responsible for higher order thinking. Nearly 80 studies have suggested a strong link between the movement and memory, spatial perception, language, attention, emotion, nonverbal cues, and decision-making (Jensen, 1998).
A number of studies also indicate that children suffering from even subtle forms of Bipolar Disorder have difficulties integrating the cognitive function of the left with the right hemisphere. This is also thought to be true for children with dyslexia and dysgraphia, conditions that powerfully affect a child’s scholastic function and their self-esteem.
An essential feature of The Brain Muscle Workout is to improve the integration of motor activity carried on between the left and right hemisphere. This cannot help but improve problems with visual integration and with fine motor coordination and sensory-motor coordination, yielding improvement is some children’s reading and writing (both in the sense of handwriting and in the sense of composition).
3.3 Cardiovascular Benefits:Cardiovascular benefits seen with any regular aerobic exercise are particularly important in school age children.
Among children Type II Diabetes caused by decreased physical activity and poor nutrition leading to obesity has reached epidemic proportions. When a child experiences improper weight gain (because of larger amounts of circulating growth hormone) the child increases the number of fat cells rather than their size (as is the case with adults). Consequently, hyper-cellular obesity is especially hard to reverse later on in life.
The Brain Muscle Workout improves cardiovascular function and glucose metabolism while a child is focused on another goal, removing the burden of shame that can accompany explicit attempts at weight management .
This section has been reviewed and endorsed by Gregory T. Lombardo MD, PhD, Adult, Child and Adolescent psychiatrist; author Understanding the Mind of Your Bipolar Child, St. Martins 11/2006; doctor of English and Comparative Literature, Columbia University; and former teacher of writing and English literature at Columbia College and at The Trinity School N.Y.C.
“A WORKOUT THAT CORRECTS THE HIDDEN PARTS OF BIPOLAR DISORDER” BY DR GREGORY LOMBARDO
GREG LOMBARDO, MD, PH.D. is a child psychiatrist in private practice in Manhattan and Westchester county. He is board certified in adult, child and adolescent psychiatry and is a diplomate of the American Society of Clinical Psychopharmacology.
Gregory Lombardo is the author of the book titled “Understanding the Mind of your Bipolar Child”
http://understandingthemindofyourbipolarchild.com/
The more I work with bipolar children the more I see difficulties which some of them face that have nothing to do with mood or behavior but profoundly influence both.
Bipolar disorder is a condition affecting the entire brain and most importantly the coordination of different parts of the brain.
-Alternating moods are thought to be caused by poor integration of left and right hemispheres.
-Problems with reading and handwriting have to do with poor integration of left and right visual motor activity.
-Problems with peers can be aggravated by problems participating in activities other kids do without effort, activities requiring coordination and focus: baseball, basketball. (Such difficulties can subtly affect a child’s interest in such activities well before they realize they are an important way of joining a peer group)
These fundamentally neurological problems are not captured in current descriptions of bipolar disorder, and they are not remedied by competent use of psychotherapy.
A NEW FORM OF PHYSICAL EXERCISE HAS COME TO MY ATTENTION THAT WORKS TO TREAT THESE PROBLEMS
The program is called “The Brain Muscle Workout”
This is a from of physical training that combines balance and coordination in the same movement maximizing brain activity at the time of performing challenging physical movements.
The program is designed to advance gradually so that a child imperceptible learns to perform more and more complex exercises.
As integration of movement and balance improve powers of concentration and attention improve as well. The body leads the mind toward better coordination, focus and ability to attend complex tasks.
Such resource is particularly valuable for children who cannot tolerate medicines used to treat ADD and for children whose awkwardness tends to isolate them from group activities. Children without these deficits also Benefit from this training but usually begin at and proceed to a higher level of accomplishment. However, the program is designed to focus on each child’s progress without comparison to other children.
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