OBESITY: A Threat to our Children’s Brain

Picture a group of Teenagers sitting in front of a computer or a video game snacking on chips and drinking soda.  While their brains are engaged in this highly visually stimulating activity their bodies are not burning sufficient calories to maintain their weight.  Soon their waist lines are expanding and their health is deteriorating.  Now, think of the young girl who allows herself to gain a large amount of weight to protect herself from men, as a reaction to her abuse.   Today, obesity among our youth is a major health problem.  The National Center for Chronic Disease and Health Prevention reports that obesity has more than tripled over the past 30 years.  The prevalence of obesity among children age’s 6-11years old increased from 6.5% in 1980 to 19.6% in 2008.  The prevalence of obesity for adolescents during that same period increased from 5.0% to 18.1%.  Decreased activity levels has been associated with decreased long term memory, reasoning, abstract thought, problem solving, attention, visual spatial abilities and reaction speed.  The question of how decreased exercise correlates with decreased cognitive functioning has been of interest to researchers the past several years.

John J.  Ratey, M.D.  , in his book Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, highlights the connection between exercise and brain functioning related to learning.  Darwin described learning as a survival mechanism that allows us to adapt to a changing environment.   Our brains are made up of 100 billion neurons each with connections to hundreds of other neurons.  These neurons form networks that allow energy and information to flow.  It is this flow of energy and information that generates the functions of the human body.  The connections between neurons are called a synapse.   The neurons don’t actually touch but a narrow space or “gap” is established to allow chemicals to move from the end of one neuron to another.   To understand how the brain perceives, processes, encodes, stores, retrieves and acts upon environmental signals we have to understand how information is communicated within the brain. 

Sensory stimulation activates sensors in the body (eyes, ears, nose, and skin).   These sensors convert  stimuli into patterned electrical signals.  The electrical signals move down the cells outgoing structure called an axon.  The electrical signal reaches the end of this branch called the pre-synapse.  The pre-synapse is where neurotransmitters are stored.   The neurotransmitters will facilitate the transmission of the message across this gap to the receiving branches, dendrites, of the next neurons in the network.    The chemical messengers plug into receptors on the post-synapse and change the chemical balance and generates an electrical charge.  If the charge is large enough it triggers a signal in the next neuron and information is passed on. 

Learning requires a modification of the connection between neurons.  Eric Kandel, a Nobel prize winner for his work in neuroscience, discovered that repeated activation of a neural connection actually causes the synapses to swell and to become stronger.  This allows this network to fire more easily and results in long term memories.  The neurons ability to change in response to environmental stimuli is called “plasticity”.  This is how our life experiences actually get wired into our brain. 

In the 1990’s neuroscientist began to discover a group of proteins that didn’t transmit information but are used to build and maintain the health of the cells in a network.  This group of proteins (called “factors”) improves the efficiency of neurons, encourages their growth and protects them against deterioration.  Exercise increases the production of these chemical proteins and their ability to cross over a barrier into the brain to facilitate more efficient and effective information flow.  Exercise has been connected to improve functioning in the hippocampus, facilitating long term memory storage.  In addition, exercise influences the functioning of the prefrontal cortex, which mediates working memory, body and emotional regulation, response flexibility, empathy, fear regulation, and problem solving.   All of these functions are beneficial in helping individuals negotiate the complex social environment we currently must adapt to for our survival. 

A child or adolescent’s lack of physical exercise is not only results in weight gain but also deprives him or her of important biochemical processes necessary for social, academic and healthy functioning.  Parents and schools need to encourage aerobic exercise programs at least 30 minutes twice to three times per week.  Sensorimotor activities should be integrated into the classroom structures for those children that seem to require movement to improve attention and concentration.  These physical focused programs are even more important to children and adolescents who have suffered exposure to chronic stress related to abuse, neglect, and exposure to violence and are suffering from mental illness.  For some children, physical exercise is enrichment because they are involved in many extracurricular activities after school.  Many children are not willing or capable of participating in these activities.  The statistics are telling us all that our children are at greater risk and these programs are a necessity.  During these economically challenging times let us all think twice before we cut programs that will hurt our children and cost us much more in the long run.