John J. Ratey, MD, is an Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and an internationally recognized expert in Neuropsychiatry. He has published over 60 peer-reviewed articles, and 11 books published in 15 languages, including the ground breaking ADHD “Driven to Distraction” series with Ned Hallowell, MD.

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With the publication of "Spark:The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain", Dr. Ratey has established himself as one of the world's foremost authorities on the brain-fitness connection. His latest book, “Go Wild”, explores how we can achieve optimal physical and mental health by getting in touch with our caveman roots, and how we can “re-wild” our lives.

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>Presentation Topic: Exercise and COVID-  Time to boost your immunity and well-being

WELL-BEING is necessary anytime, but no time like the present as being well and fit  is the most powerful antidote to COVID, both preventing infection and helping to mollify its potential ravages. Exercise is one of the main levers of well-being in general- maximizing physical and mental fitness. We raise our mood, our motivation, our connections, while keeping in check our stress, anxiety, and cravings. As well we maximize our cognitive abilities by pushing our brains to grow which leads to better memory, attention, creativity, problem solving and keeps our brain cells young can perky.

 

Exercise also lowers our chronic inflammation and boosts our natural immunity making us ready to deal with infections of all sorts and especially necessary in this time of COVID. As well exercise has a few unique effects that helps mitigate the binding of the virus and we produce more specific antioxidants that can help forestall lung and kidney complications.