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[00:02]
A
Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast. I'm Andrea Samadhi, and on this podcast, we bridge the science behind social and emotional learning, emotional intelligence, and practical neuroscience so we can create measurable improvements in well being, achievement, productivity and results. And if you've been following along through season 16, you'll know that we've been building what I've called the brain's operating system for human performance. It's a neuroscience based framework that explains how movement, recovery and adaptation work together to improve our health, learning, leadership and performance. And over the past seven years, in more than 400 episodes, I've had the privilege of interviewing neuroscientists, physicians, psychologists, educators, and high performers from around the world. And as I looked across those conversations, I realized they weren't isolated ideas on these episodes. They were pieces of a much larger system. So I've organized that system into five interconnected phases that mirror how we grow and develop throughout our life. And as we work through each of these phases, we're sharpening our saw for productivity, learning and high performance, really with the brain and body in mind. So, just to review, phase one was regulation and safety. And we launched this on episode 384 with Dr. Belangelel on sleep, safety and curiosity. And this phase is where we built the foundation by understanding the nervous system, stress, emotions, and the importance of creating internal and external safety before learning or productivity can take place. Then we went into phase two, neurochemistry and motivation, where we explored how dopamine reward, purpose and emotional regulation influence our choices, our habits, and our sustained effort. And today we're in phase three, movement, learning and cognition. And this is where movement becomes the catalyst that prepares the brain to pay attention, to learn, to adapt, and ultimately to perform at a higher level. In phase four, we'll discover how perception and social intelligence shape the way that we understand ourselves, how we communicate behavior, build trust, and strengthen relationships. And finally, in phase five, we'll bring everything together through integration and meaning, understanding how our experiences become wisdom, resilience, purpose, and lifelong growth. And each phase builds on the one before it. Because meaningful human performance isn't created in a single breakthrough. It's built one system at a time. And together they create what I believe is the brain's operating system for human performance. And if we want to improve the entire big picture of our results, we can dive deeper into each of these five phases to see what areas we could sharpen a bit. And I've put the individual episodes in each phase in the show. Notes in the Resource section for a deeper dive. So today's episode is one of the foundational pieces of phase three. Because before we can improve performance, we need to first of all understand how movement changes the brain. And in episode 402, we introduced this movement loop. It was built around one simple idea. Movement is the input. It's what we do. Recovery enables adaptation. It's how the brain and body grow stronger. And then performance is the outcome. It's the results that we can see, we can feel them, and we can actually measure them. And every cycle expands our capacity to learn, to lead and perform. And every movement we make sends a signal to the brain and body. That signal activates the brain. It increases blood flow, neurotransmitters, neuroplasticity, and it prepares us to pay attention and and learn. When movement is followed by adequate recovery, the brain and body adapt. Those adaptations become the foundation for better performance. Whether that's learning more effectively, thinking more clearly, leading with greater confidence, or improving our physical health. Then on episode 403, Dr. Chuck Hillman helped us to understand why movement changes the brain. We learned that every step increases blood flow. It stimulates the release of brain derived neurotrophic factor that's often called fertilizer for the brain and prepares the neural networks responsible for attention, learning, memory and executive function. But understanding why movement changes the brain is only a part of the story. Today's episode answers a different question. What does that actually look like in real life? How does movement change our brain? And to answer that question, we're returning to one of my favorite interviews From March of 2021 with Harvard psychiatrist and bestselling author Dr. John Ratey, whose groundbreaking book Spark helped to change the way millions of people think about exercise and the brain. And now you might be wondering, Andrea, didn't we already review Dr. Rady's work on episodes 375 and 370? We did, if you've been following along. But today isn't simply another review. Today we're looking at Dr. Rady's work through an entirely new lens. When we first interviewed Dr. Rady in 2021, I knew that movement was important. But after spending the past several years interviewing experts like Dr. Chuck Hillman, Dr. Medina, Dr. Kristin Holmes, and even Jason Whitrock that we'll cover in a later episode and hundreds of others, and then measuring my own health and performance data that we'll explore throughout the season with bonus episodes, I now understand exactly where Dr. Rady's research fits inside this movement loop. And as I look across these conversations, I realized that what they were seeing weren't isolated ideas. They were all pieces of one much larger system. So in today's phase, Phase three and this whole brain operating system, movement, learning and cognition, this is the phase where movement becomes the catalyst for learning, attention, adaptation, and ultimately human performance. In the coming phases, we'll discover how perception shapes our relationships and how finally everything integrates into meaning, purpose, and lifelong growth. But Today's conversation with Dr. Rady is one of those foundational blocks of phase three. And why does this matter? Well, if you've listened to this podcast for a while, you probably heard me talk about movement as one of the true few non negotiables in my day. Before my workday begins, I've already made time to move. Not because I'm training for a race or trying to burn calories, but because I know how profoundly movement changes the way my brain performs. The research is clear. Movement. Movement prepares the brain to pay attention, to learn more effectively, to regulate our emotions, solve problems, and perform at a higher level. And I've experienced these benefits firsthand. On the days I move first, I can think more clearly, I'm more productive, and I'm better equipped to handle whatever challenges the day brings. And I imagine many of you listening have experienced experience the same thing. Once you begin noticing how movement changes your thinking, it becomes much easier to make it a consistent part of your life. And that's why my Hope for season 16 that we're in right now isn't simply to convince you that exercise is simply just good for you. My goal is much bigger than that. It's to demonstrate why movement is the first step in the movement loop and to show how every movement you make begins a chain reaction that improves learning, health, leadership, and performance. And with every cycle, we don't just improve today's performance, we expand our capacity for tomorrow. And as we continue exploring the movement loop, I hope you'll begin to see movement differently. Not as just another item on your to do list, but as the input that starts an entire system of growth. Because movement isn't the goal. Movement is the beginning of everything that follows.
[09:35]
B
You're going to pay better attention if you exercise, you know, because you turn on the all the thinking parts of the brain when you move, you're turning on those thinking nerve cells, if you want to put it like that, and especially your attention system, and that is, allows you to stay with it, to stay with an idea, to evaluate, to understand, to use your ideas, to scan your memory banks, if you will and also to keep in your seat while you're, while you're trying to parse through stuff that David Perlmutter wrote. You know, I mean, to try to understand that you, you need to, you need to have the, the sitting power and also the attention to go with it so that you can understand things. And so exercise also makes us more subtle, social. Okay, not only are we able to think better and manage our emotions better, but we are more social after we exercise for multiple reasons, because we get our brain queued up, we're better attentive, we are more motivated and all that. But we also release the bonding hormone oxytocin. And it is a powerful hormone that we have that helps us want to be bonded and connected to others. And then you get that bonus in with exercise. If you're connected and you've exercised, you have a powerful, powerful incentive in your brain and changes in brain chemistry that help you learn better, that help you learn better in every way, socially, cognitively, emotionally.
[11:12]
A
Let's review now Dr. Rady's clip through the lens of this movement loop. Step 1. Movement is the input. Everything begins with movement. Movement is the signal we send to the brain and body that says it's time to wake up, it's time to adapt. Without movement, nothing else in the loop begins. As Dr. Rady says, movement is what turns on the thinking parts of the brain. Then step two, there's brain activation. The brain wakes up. And this is exactly what we learned from Dr. Chuck Hillman on episode 403. Movement immediately increases blood flow to the brain. It activates neurotransmitters, it stimulates brain derived neurotrophic factor BDNF, helping to create the ideal environment for learning. So Dr. Hillman explained what's happening biologically, and Dr. Rady in this clip explains what we experience. You suddenly feel more alert, more awake, more ready to think. And there's two perspectives here describing the exact same process. And going into step three, Dr. Rady explains how attention is the gateway to learning. This is where Dr. Rady's work becomes especially powerful. He says that movement helps us to stay with an idea, to focus longer, to evaluate information, to scan our memory, and even stay seated long enough to think through something difficult. This isn't just better concentration. That's improved attention, and attention is the gateway to learning. Without attention, very little learning takes place. Movement prepares the brain to pay attention. And at this point in the interview, Dr. Rady was referencing the fact that I had told him that I couldn't write podcast episodes on this topic without moving my body first. In the early days of this podcast, I. I found the science very difficult to understand. There was a couple of times that I really did think this topic was over my head, and I almost considered giving up learning it. Almost. But I'm so grateful where the learning took me when I stuck it through. And that brings us to step four. When we learn, we build new neural connections. Once attention improves, learning becomes possible. Now the brain can process information. It can make connections, strengthen memories, and solve problems more effectively. That's why Dr. Rady says movement helps us to become better learners, better thinkers, better workers, and even better students. Movement isn't improving muscles first. It's improving the brain's ability to learn. And step five is social and emotional readiness. One part of this interview that has become even more meaningful over time is Dr. Rady's explanation of social connection. Exercise doesn't only improve cognition. It changes our emotional state. Where we're motivated, we regulate our emotions more effectively, we become more socially connected. Dr. Rady explains that movement increases oxytocin. That's the hormone associated with bonding and trust. And it makes us more open to connecting with others. And that's important because learning has always been social. Whether we're in a classroom, at work, with our families, our ability to connect with other people influences how well we learn, communicate, and perform. Movement prepares us socially as well as cognitively. And then step six is recovery and adaptation in the loop, where lasting change happens. Now, this is the part that I didn't fully appreciate back in 2021. Everything Dr. Rady has described prepares the brain for learning. But those immediate benefits only become lasting improvements if they're followed by recovery. Recovery is when the brain consolidates learning. It's when new neural connections are strengthened, and it's when adaptation occurs. And this is where Dr. Kristin Holmes work on recovery fits perfectly into the movement loop. And we recently reviewed our 2021 interview with Dr. Holmes, episode 390. What gets measured improves sleep, recovery, and strain. And it was Dr. Holmes who was probably not the first person to notice. I could improve my recovery scores, but she was the first one who was stern enough with me about how important that was and how I was leaving so much off the table by not getting enough sleep to balance recovery to match the strain that I was pushing towards each day. Movement starts the process, and recovery completes it. And together, this won't happen if one is missing. They create adaptation, the biological changes that make us stronger, healthier, and more resilient over time. So My big takeaway. When I first interviewed Dr. Rady in 2021, I thought he was teaching us why exercise is good for the brain. Today, after years of interviewing neuroscientists, physicians, performance experts, and educators, I see something much bigger. Dr. Rady wasn't simply describing the benefits of exercise. He was describing the beginning of a biological process. Movement is the input. It activates the brain. The activated brain becomes ready to focus, learn, regulate emotions, and connect with others. Learning, when supported by recovery, leads to adaptation. Adaptation creates better performance. And every time we move through that cycle, we expand our capacity to meet tomorrow's challenges. And that's the movement loop. It's not just a framework for understanding exercise. It's a framework for understanding how the brain changes, how we grow, and how performance is built one movement at a time. So to review and conclude what we've learned today, Dr. Rady's interview wasn't simply about why exercise is good for the brain. It was about how movement begins. A chain reaction that changes the way we think, learn, and perform. We discovered movement is the input. Every movement sends a signal to the brain and body that it's time to change. Movement activates the brain. Blood flow increases. Neurotransmitters increase. BDNF begins preparing the brain for learning. And the activated brain becomes ready. Attention improves. Executive function sharpens. Emotions become easier to regulate. And we're even more prepared, prepared to connect with other people. That readiness makes learning possible. New neural pathways begin to form. The brain starts building stronger and more efficient networks. But learning doesn't end when the workout ends. Recovery allows the brain to consolidate what movement started. Recovery creates adaptation. Adaptation creates better performance. And every time we complete that cycle, we expand our capacity for whatever challenge we'll be faced with next. And that's the movement loop. This is something I've learned through years of interviewing experts, but also through measuring my own human performance. The days I move first are always the days I think more clearly. I'm more creative with what I write, as well as making connections that are important to me in my day to day life. More productive with the entire day, family and work. I'm more patient with my kids and family, more present and clear. But movement doesn't solve every problem, but it does prepare us to solve problems better and increases our capacity and our productivity. And that's a lesson I'll keep coming back to throughout this season. And there's still one important question that we haven't answered yet. If movement activates the brain, why do some people consistently improve while others seem to work hard without seeing the same results. Is it genetics? Is it motivation or discipline? Or is there something happening between today's effort and tomorrow's performance? Next week in Bonus Episode two, we'll answer that question. We'll explore what I've called a predictable performance system and look at years of my own recovery data to understand why recovery isn't simply the opposite of training, it's the bridge between today's habits and tomorrow's performance. Because the difference between predictable and unpredictable results isn't luck, it's recovery. It's how we're balancing how much we push with how much we're able to rest and recover. And until next time, keep moving. Protect your recovery, build your capacity and continue designing your brain's operating system for lifelong learning, health, leadership and human performance. And thanks for joining me. We'll see you next week.
[20:57]
C
If you're enjoying the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning podcast, please don't forget to subscribe so you'll stay up to date with our new episodes. While you're there, please feel free to give us a review or a five star rating as it helps others find us. For more information on our programs, books and tools for schools and the workplace, Visit us at www. AchieveIt360.com.

Summary5 min read

Podcast Summary: Dr. John Ratey and The Movement Loop: How Movement Becomes Human Performance

Podcast: Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning
Host: Andrea Samadi
Guest: Dr. John Ratey
Date: August 2, 2026
Episode Context: Revisiting and reframing Dr. John Ratey’s groundbreaking work within Andrea Samadi’s “movement loop” framework for human performance—emphasizing how movement initiates a predictable cycle for learning, cognition, emotion, and growth.

Episode Overview

This episode explores the deep connection between movement and human performance, positioning “movement” as the essential starting point for optimizing brain health, learning, emotional regulation, and social connection. Andrea Samadi synthesizes years of neuroscience interviews—especially with Dr. John Ratey, Harvard psychiatrist and author of Spark—to illustrate how movement becomes the catalyst for growth and adaptation. With fresh insights from her evolving “brain’s operating system” framework, Andrea uses Dr. Ratey’s 2021 interview to show how physical activity triggers a chain reaction that sustains attention, enhances cognition, increases social connectivity, and leads to measurable improvements in performance.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Brain’s Operating System for Human Performance

(00:02–06:50)

Andrea reviews the five-phase brain-based framework she’s developed from over seven years of podcast conversations:

Regulation & Safety: Building internal/external safety as a learning precondition (e.g., sleep, nervous system).
Neurochemistry & Motivation: Dopamine, reward, and emotional regulation drive sustained effort.
Movement, Learning & Cognition: Movement as a catalyst for attention, learning, and performance (focus of this episode).
Perception & Social Intelligence: How perception shapes relationships and communication.
Integration & Meaning: Experiences consolidate into wisdom and resilience for lifelong growth.

“Meaningful human performance isn’t created in a single breakthrough. It’s built one system at a time.”
— Andrea Samadi (05:07)

The “movement loop” comprises movement (input), recovery (adaptation), and performance (output), continually expanding our capacity for learning and leadership.

2. Defining the Movement Loop

(06:50–09:32)

Movement acts as the brain’s “on switch”—sending chemical and electrical signals that spark attention, learning, and creativity.
Each loop phase (move—recover—adapt—perform) builds resilience and measurable gains across learning, health, and productivity.
Movement’s effects are not only physical: the neurological “inputs” trigger brain adaptation, not just stronger muscles.

3. Dr. John Ratey: How Movement Changes the Brain

(09:34–11:10 & 11:11–20:56)

a) Attention and Learning

“You’re going to pay better attention if you exercise… you turn on all the thinking parts of the brain when you move…especially your attention system. That is what allows you to stay with it, stay with an idea, to evaluate, to understand, to use your ideas, to scan your memory banks, and also to keep in your seat while you’re trying to parse through stuff.”
— Dr. John Ratey (09:34)

Moving activates “thinking nerve cells,” especially those involved in focus and sustained attention (executive function).
Attention is the gateway to learning; without activating the brain through movement, little true learning occurs.

b) Social and Emotional Benefits

“Exercise also makes us more social. Not only are we able to think better and manage our emotions better, but we are more social after we exercise... because we get our brain queued up, we’re better attentive, we are more motivated… [and] we also release the bonding hormone oxytocin.”
— Dr. John Ratey (10:20)

Movement triggers oxytocin (bonding hormone), making us more receptive to social connection and group learning.
The chemical changes after exercise help us learn better socially, cognitively, and emotionally.

4. Step-by-Step: The Movement Loop Explained

(11:11–20:56)

Andrea breaks the “movement loop” into six steps:

Movement as Input: Movement is the essential signal that wakes up the brain and initiates the loop.
Brain Activation: Blood flow increases, neurotransmitters surge, and BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor) rises, setting the stage for learning (see also Dr. Chuck Hillman, Ep. 403).
Attentional Gateway: Movement sharpens focus, extends concentration, and allows for deeper thinking (echoing Dr. Ratey’s comments).
Neural Connection Building: Improved attention unlocks learning; the brain creates new neural connections and solves problems more effectively.
Social & Emotional Readiness: Increased oxytocin and motivation boost social learning and emotional regulation.
Recovery & Adaptation: Only through sufficient recovery (e.g., sleep, rest) do short-term learning gains consolidate into enduring brain adaptation (echoing Dr. Kristin Holmes, Ep. 390).

Key Insight: Movement alone starts the cycle, but without recovery, the brain cannot adapt or improve long-term performance.

5. Personal Reflections & the Science in Practice

(Throughout, esp. 11:11–15:00 & 19:35–20:56)

Andrea shares how movement has become a “non-negotiable” for her own daily cognition and mood, supporting her writing, focus, and family life.
Listeners are encouraged to reframe exercise—not as a box to check, but as a vital input for the whole brain-body system of growth and resilience.

“Movement doesn’t solve every problem, but it does prepare us to solve problems better and increases our capacity and our productivity.”
— Andrea Samadi (19:35)

6. Unanswered Questions and What’s Next

Andrea raises a pivotal follow-up: If movement is so powerful, why do some people see greater gains than others? She previews a future “predictable performance system” episode focused on the role of recovery as the missing bridge between effort and sustainable results.

Notable Quotes & Moments with Timestamps

“Movement is what turns on the thinking parts of the brain.”
— Dr. John Ratey (09:38)
“Exercise also makes us more social… We also release the bonding hormone oxytocin… and you get that bonus in with exercise.”
— Dr. John Ratey (10:20)
“Attention is the gateway to learning. Without attention, very little learning takes place.”
— Andrea Samadi (12:45)
“Every time we complete that cycle, we expand our capacity for whatever challenge we’ll be faced with next. And that’s the movement loop.”
— Andrea Samadi (18:58)

Segment Timestamps for Key Insights

00:02–06:50: Overview of the brain’s operating system framework; Five phases explained
06:51–09:32: Introduction of the “movement loop”; Movement as non-negotiable input
09:34–11:10: Dr. John Ratey on movement’s effect on attention, learning, and sociality
11:11–20:56: Andrea unpacks the movement loop, step by step, integrating Dr. Ratey’s insights
19:35–20:56: Personal reflections; Preview of next episode’s focus on recovery and predictable performance

Conclusion

Andrea Samadi’s conversation with Dr. John Ratey reframes the science of movement—transforming it from a “good habit” into the keystone of a repeatable, measurable system for thriving. The episode underscores that movement activates a brain-body loop essential for learning, attention, social connection, emotional regulation, and adaptation. But the process is only complete with intentional recovery, which cements gains and prepares us for future challenges. Listeners are inspired not just to move more, but to see movement as the starting point of lifelong cognitive and emotional growth.

For More:

Explore related interviews (Dr. Chuck Hillman, Dr. Kristin Holmes) in the show notes and resource section.
Stay tuned for next week’s episode on the science of recovery and performance prediction.

Loading summary

Transcript4 lines

[00:02]
A
Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast. I'm Andrea Samadhi, and on this podcast, we bridge the science behind social and emotional learning, emotional intelligence, and practical neuroscience so we can create measurable improvements in well being, achievement, productivity and results. And if you've been following along through season 16, you'll know that we've been building what I've called the brain's operating system for human performance. It's a neuroscience based framework that explains how movement, recovery and adaptation work together to improve our health, learning, leadership and performance. And over the past seven years, in more than 400 episodes, I've had the privilege of interviewing neuroscientists, physicians, psychologists, educators, and high performers from around the world. And as I looked across those conversations, I realized they weren't isolated ideas on these episodes. They were pieces of a much larger system. So I've organized that system into five interconnected phases that mirror how we grow and develop throughout our life. And as we work through each of these phases, we're sharpening our saw for productivity, learning and high performance, really with the brain and body in mind. So, just to review, phase one was regulation and safety. And we launched this on episode 384 with Dr. Belangelel on sleep, safety and curiosity. And this phase is where we built the foundation by understanding the nervous system, stress, emotions, and the importance of creating internal and external safety before learning or productivity can take place. Then we went into phase two, neurochemistry and motivation, where we explored how dopamine reward, purpose and emotional regulation influence our choices, our habits, and our sustained effort. And today we're in phase three, movement, learning and cognition. And this is where movement becomes the catalyst that prepares the brain to pay attention, to learn, to adapt, and ultimately to perform at a higher level. In phase four, we'll discover how perception and social intelligence shape the way that we understand ourselves, how we communicate behavior, build trust, and strengthen relationships. And finally, in phase five, we'll bring everything together through integration and meaning, understanding how our experiences become wisdom, resilience, purpose, and lifelong growth. And each phase builds on the one before it. Because meaningful human performance isn't created in a single breakthrough. It's built one system at a time. And together they create what I believe is the brain's operating system for human performance. And if we want to improve the entire big picture of our results, we can dive deeper into each of these five phases to see what areas we could sharpen a bit. And I've put the individual episodes in each phase in the show. Notes in the Resource section for a deeper dive. So today's episode is one of the foundational pieces of phase three. Because before we can improve performance, we need to first of all understand how movement changes the brain. And in episode 402, we introduced this movement loop. It was built around one simple idea. Movement is the input. It's what we do. Recovery enables adaptation. It's how the brain and body grow stronger. And then performance is the outcome. It's the results that we can see, we can feel them, and we can actually measure them. And every cycle expands our capacity to learn, to lead and perform. And every movement we make sends a signal to the brain and body. That signal activates the brain. It increases blood flow, neurotransmitters, neuroplasticity, and it prepares us to pay attention and and learn. When movement is followed by adequate recovery, the brain and body adapt. Those adaptations become the foundation for better performance. Whether that's learning more effectively, thinking more clearly, leading with greater confidence, or improving our physical health. Then on episode 403, Dr. Chuck Hillman helped us to understand why movement changes the brain. We learned that every step increases blood flow. It stimulates the release of brain derived neurotrophic factor that's often called fertilizer for the brain and prepares the neural networks responsible for attention, learning, memory and executive function. But understanding why movement changes the brain is only a part of the story. Today's episode answers a different question. What does that actually look like in real life? How does movement change our brain? And to answer that question, we're returning to one of my favorite interviews From March of 2021 with Harvard psychiatrist and bestselling author Dr. John Ratey, whose groundbreaking book Spark helped to change the way millions of people think about exercise and the brain. And now you might be wondering, Andrea, didn't we already review Dr. Rady's work on episodes 375 and 370? We did, if you've been following along. But today isn't simply another review. Today we're looking at Dr. Rady's work through an entirely new lens. When we first interviewed Dr. Rady in 2021, I knew that movement was important. But after spending the past several years interviewing experts like Dr. Chuck Hillman, Dr. Medina, Dr. Kristin Holmes, and even Jason Whitrock that we'll cover in a later episode and hundreds of others, and then measuring my own health and performance data that we'll explore throughout the season with bonus episodes, I now understand exactly where Dr. Rady's research fits inside this movement loop. And as I look across these conversations, I realized that what they were seeing weren't isolated ideas. They were all pieces of one much larger system. So in today's phase, Phase three and this whole brain operating system, movement, learning and cognition, this is the phase where movement becomes the catalyst for learning, attention, adaptation, and ultimately human performance. In the coming phases, we'll discover how perception shapes our relationships and how finally everything integrates into meaning, purpose, and lifelong growth. But Today's conversation with Dr. Rady is one of those foundational blocks of phase three. And why does this matter? Well, if you've listened to this podcast for a while, you probably heard me talk about movement as one of the true few non negotiables in my day. Before my workday begins, I've already made time to move. Not because I'm training for a race or trying to burn calories, but because I know how profoundly movement changes the way my brain performs. The research is clear. Movement. Movement prepares the brain to pay attention, to learn more effectively, to regulate our emotions, solve problems, and perform at a higher level. And I've experienced these benefits firsthand. On the days I move first, I can think more clearly, I'm more productive, and I'm better equipped to handle whatever challenges the day brings. And I imagine many of you listening have experienced experience the same thing. Once you begin noticing how movement changes your thinking, it becomes much easier to make it a consistent part of your life. And that's why my Hope for season 16 that we're in right now isn't simply to convince you that exercise is simply just good for you. My goal is much bigger than that. It's to demonstrate why movement is the first step in the movement loop and to show how every movement you make begins a chain reaction that improves learning, health, leadership, and performance. And with every cycle, we don't just improve today's performance, we expand our capacity for tomorrow. And as we continue exploring the movement loop, I hope you'll begin to see movement differently. Not as just another item on your to do list, but as the input that starts an entire system of growth. Because movement isn't the goal. Movement is the beginning of everything that follows.
[09:35]
B
You're going to pay better attention if you exercise, you know, because you turn on the all the thinking parts of the brain when you move, you're turning on those thinking nerve cells, if you want to put it like that, and especially your attention system, and that is, allows you to stay with it, to stay with an idea, to evaluate, to understand, to use your ideas, to scan your memory banks, if you will and also to keep in your seat while you're, while you're trying to parse through stuff that David Perlmutter wrote. You know, I mean, to try to understand that you, you need to, you need to have the, the sitting power and also the attention to go with it so that you can understand things. And so exercise also makes us more subtle, social. Okay, not only are we able to think better and manage our emotions better, but we are more social after we exercise for multiple reasons, because we get our brain queued up, we're better attentive, we are more motivated and all that. But we also release the bonding hormone oxytocin. And it is a powerful hormone that we have that helps us want to be bonded and connected to others. And then you get that bonus in with exercise. If you're connected and you've exercised, you have a powerful, powerful incentive in your brain and changes in brain chemistry that help you learn better, that help you learn better in every way, socially, cognitively, emotionally.
[11:12]
A
Let's review now Dr. Rady's clip through the lens of this movement loop. Step 1. Movement is the input. Everything begins with movement. Movement is the signal we send to the brain and body that says it's time to wake up, it's time to adapt. Without movement, nothing else in the loop begins. As Dr. Rady says, movement is what turns on the thinking parts of the brain. Then step two, there's brain activation. The brain wakes up. And this is exactly what we learned from Dr. Chuck Hillman on episode 403. Movement immediately increases blood flow to the brain. It activates neurotransmitters, it stimulates brain derived neurotrophic factor BDNF, helping to create the ideal environment for learning. So Dr. Hillman explained what's happening biologically, and Dr. Rady in this clip explains what we experience. You suddenly feel more alert, more awake, more ready to think. And there's two perspectives here describing the exact same process. And going into step three, Dr. Rady explains how attention is the gateway to learning. This is where Dr. Rady's work becomes especially powerful. He says that movement helps us to stay with an idea, to focus longer, to evaluate information, to scan our memory, and even stay seated long enough to think through something difficult. This isn't just better concentration. That's improved attention, and attention is the gateway to learning. Without attention, very little learning takes place. Movement prepares the brain to pay attention. And at this point in the interview, Dr. Rady was referencing the fact that I had told him that I couldn't write podcast episodes on this topic without moving my body first. In the early days of this podcast, I. I found the science very difficult to understand. There was a couple of times that I really did think this topic was over my head, and I almost considered giving up learning it. Almost. But I'm so grateful where the learning took me when I stuck it through. And that brings us to step four. When we learn, we build new neural connections. Once attention improves, learning becomes possible. Now the brain can process information. It can make connections, strengthen memories, and solve problems more effectively. That's why Dr. Rady says movement helps us to become better learners, better thinkers, better workers, and even better students. Movement isn't improving muscles first. It's improving the brain's ability to learn. And step five is social and emotional readiness. One part of this interview that has become even more meaningful over time is Dr. Rady's explanation of social connection. Exercise doesn't only improve cognition. It changes our emotional state. Where we're motivated, we regulate our emotions more effectively, we become more socially connected. Dr. Rady explains that movement increases oxytocin. That's the hormone associated with bonding and trust. And it makes us more open to connecting with others. And that's important because learning has always been social. Whether we're in a classroom, at work, with our families, our ability to connect with other people influences how well we learn, communicate, and perform. Movement prepares us socially as well as cognitively. And then step six is recovery and adaptation in the loop, where lasting change happens. Now, this is the part that I didn't fully appreciate back in 2021. Everything Dr. Rady has described prepares the brain for learning. But those immediate benefits only become lasting improvements if they're followed by recovery. Recovery is when the brain consolidates learning. It's when new neural connections are strengthened, and it's when adaptation occurs. And this is where Dr. Kristin Holmes work on recovery fits perfectly into the movement loop. And we recently reviewed our 2021 interview with Dr. Holmes, episode 390. What gets measured improves sleep, recovery, and strain. And it was Dr. Holmes who was probably not the first person to notice. I could improve my recovery scores, but she was the first one who was stern enough with me about how important that was and how I was leaving so much off the table by not getting enough sleep to balance recovery to match the strain that I was pushing towards each day. Movement starts the process, and recovery completes it. And together, this won't happen if one is missing. They create adaptation, the biological changes that make us stronger, healthier, and more resilient over time. So My big takeaway. When I first interviewed Dr. Rady in 2021, I thought he was teaching us why exercise is good for the brain. Today, after years of interviewing neuroscientists, physicians, performance experts, and educators, I see something much bigger. Dr. Rady wasn't simply describing the benefits of exercise. He was describing the beginning of a biological process. Movement is the input. It activates the brain. The activated brain becomes ready to focus, learn, regulate emotions, and connect with others. Learning, when supported by recovery, leads to adaptation. Adaptation creates better performance. And every time we move through that cycle, we expand our capacity to meet tomorrow's challenges. And that's the movement loop. It's not just a framework for understanding exercise. It's a framework for understanding how the brain changes, how we grow, and how performance is built one movement at a time. So to review and conclude what we've learned today, Dr. Rady's interview wasn't simply about why exercise is good for the brain. It was about how movement begins. A chain reaction that changes the way we think, learn, and perform. We discovered movement is the input. Every movement sends a signal to the brain and body that it's time to change. Movement activates the brain. Blood flow increases. Neurotransmitters increase. BDNF begins preparing the brain for learning. And the activated brain becomes ready. Attention improves. Executive function sharpens. Emotions become easier to regulate. And we're even more prepared, prepared to connect with other people. That readiness makes learning possible. New neural pathways begin to form. The brain starts building stronger and more efficient networks. But learning doesn't end when the workout ends. Recovery allows the brain to consolidate what movement started. Recovery creates adaptation. Adaptation creates better performance. And every time we complete that cycle, we expand our capacity for whatever challenge we'll be faced with next. And that's the movement loop. This is something I've learned through years of interviewing experts, but also through measuring my own human performance. The days I move first are always the days I think more clearly. I'm more creative with what I write, as well as making connections that are important to me in my day to day life. More productive with the entire day, family and work. I'm more patient with my kids and family, more present and clear. But movement doesn't solve every problem, but it does prepare us to solve problems better and increases our capacity and our productivity. And that's a lesson I'll keep coming back to throughout this season. And there's still one important question that we haven't answered yet. If movement activates the brain, why do some people consistently improve while others seem to work hard without seeing the same results. Is it genetics? Is it motivation or discipline? Or is there something happening between today's effort and tomorrow's performance? Next week in Bonus Episode two, we'll answer that question. We'll explore what I've called a predictable performance system and look at years of my own recovery data to understand why recovery isn't simply the opposite of training, it's the bridge between today's habits and tomorrow's performance. Because the difference between predictable and unpredictable results isn't luck, it's recovery. It's how we're balancing how much we push with how much we're able to rest and recover. And until next time, keep moving. Protect your recovery, build your capacity and continue designing your brain's operating system for lifelong learning, health, leadership and human performance. And thanks for joining me. We'll see you next week.
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