How sports may focus the brain written by Gretchen Reynolds - Essay Example

Analysis essay “How sports may focus the brain,” written by Gretchen Reynolds, looks into the differences between the brains of athletes and the brains of non-athletes. A study was undergone to determine if college athletes or regular college students would be more successful when attempting to dodge a street that was busy with traffic. A lab was set up that had treadmills and numerous video screens displaying traffic; each participant of the study wore special goggles to make their surrounds pop out and look as realistic as possible.

The video placed the participants in an alley, where they were then given numerous chances to make it to the other side of the virtual street, having to weave their way through traffic. At the end of the experiment, the greater success group was the athletes, having made it to the other side of the street with fewer virtual casualties. It is believed that the reason why the athletes proved more successful in the study is because their brains are able to process information at a quicker speed.

While many people would assume that their success was due to their athletic prowess, Reynolds’ article goes on to discuss that “the constant multitasking and information processing demanded by athletics increases both the capacity of the athletes’ mental information processing systems and their speed (Reynolds, 2011).” A study undergone in China during a badminton game proved a similar theory when professional badminton players were able to successfully predict where the shuttlecock would land each time.

The most important idea that this article shows is that sports can help with the functioning of a person’s brain, especially in regard to the areas that read and process information being given from an external source. An athlete is able to process information faster, as well as make split-second decisions that they can benefit from (like which direction is the best to move in to avoid being hit by a car, as the article shows). As such, sports can also be useful in other aspects of the brain, such as memory and being able to bring up remembered information faster.

Instead of having to think things over, their brains will be wired to be quicker in the thinking and remembering process. Similarly, they can respond to suggestions with more speed as their brains will have already processed whatever the suggestion is, weighing the negative and positive aspects of the suggestion, and quickly coming to a conclusion. Also, athletics may decrease the amount of information that is forgotten since their brains are always working to take in and analyze outside detail.

Their brains seldom stop processing information. The article is very important because it shows how vital exercise is to the functioning of a person’s brain. Athletics does not mean just the major sports such as football or soccer, but it also includes swimming, running, or playing tennis, as well as many others. A person who is athletic uses their brain more, which helps them in school, work, or in simple, everyday tasks. They are able to recall more detail about their surroundings, are able to be aware of many things at once, and are capable of processing numerous bits of information.

In the study, the athletes had what it took to cross a busy street without being hit by a car. So, in essence, death can be a consequence of not being athletic, especially when it comes to judgment or making a split-second decision. Losing one’s memory or else having a smaller capacity for holding information are also consequences of not being athletic. Sports not only helps keep the body in healthy shape, but they can also keep the mind in healthy shape. Likewise, this concept of athletics helping the brain could also help in future studies, possibly finding ways to avoid certain brain disorders, like memory loss, dementia, or Alzheimer’s disease.

It has been proven that working one’s brain as often as possible through different means, like word puzzles, can help prevent the deterioration of the brain that comes with old age. As athletics has proven to be very beneficial to the mind, perhaps this study can benefit other studies involving the brain and memory. Being a student, I know many people that are not athletes and I know quite a few that are athletic. This concept of sports helping the speed and capacity of the brain can be influential to everyone who is a student.

It would be beneficial to remember more information during a test, or being able to quickly come to a decision with a small amount of information. I believe that this topic is a vital piece of information for anybody since it proved that being athletic helped people to be more aware of their surroundings, and more capable to act quickly, though accurately. References Reynolds, G. (2011, March 23). How sports may focus the brain. Health and Wellness - New York Times. Retrieved March 29, 2011, from http://well.blogs.nytimes.

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