If busy neurosurgeons can find time to exercise, can you?

A top-notch neurosurgeon by day, night time finds Raymond Turner doing push-ups with his daughter. She likes to put a five pound sandbell on her back just to show off. 

The packed crowd at the Charleston Library Society laughs as Turner shows a slide of him and his daughter at his lecture, “The History of Physical Education in America and Exercise’s Effect on the Brain.” Obviously, Turner passed on his competitive genes, and because he knows just how much exercise affects the brain, he’s glad to see his daughter has gotten the message. 

Turner’s talk is part of a new partnership between the Library Society and the Medical University of South Carolina called the MUSC Health Care Series. Turner’s lecture is the second installment.

Turner, chief of the Neuroscience Integrated Center of Clinical Excellence at MUSC Health, sees firsthand through his work with patients what not getting enough exercise and failing to have a healthy diet can do to a person’s body and mind. 

The idea that chemicals are fired up due to physical fitness is a major part of Turner’s work. Chemicals in the brain, such as norepinephrine, dopamine, glutamate and serotonin are directly affected by regular physical exercise. “It prepares the brain to learn, priming the pump.” To explain this idea, Turner talks about the La Sierra Program at MUSC.

The program was created by Turner and Alex Spiotta, M.D. in the Department of Neurosurgery. It’s designed to teach residents getting their advanced training in neurosurgery to take care of themselves, both physically and mentally. Faculty members also take part.

Toward the beginning of the program, they found that 80 percent of the participants had abnormalities such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and sleep disorders. “That’s scary,” says Turner. “These are doctors in their 30s and 40s.  Many were former scholarship athletes in college. They’re supposed to take care of you, and they can’t even take care of themselves.”

They started taking care of themselves through the neurosurgeons’ La Sierra program, which emphasizes exercise, good nutrition, getting enough sleep and managing stress. It started in the summer of 2015, and Turner believes it played a role in helping the residents pass their board certification tests on their first try. Typically, about a quarter of all residents across the country who take the tests fail.

“Academically, they are learning,” says Turner. Neurosurgery leaders are taking notice of his team’s success, with similar fitness initiatives popping up in neurosurgery departments across the country, including University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Wake Forest and University of Wisconsin.

But it’s not just doctors who can benefit from exercise programs, Turner tells the audience. Physical education is essential for children as well. “Believe it or not, Charleston is a little ahead of the curve in this aspect. Last year, the Washington Post came down and did a big article on the Charleston County school district because of the kinesthetic classroom movement that was the brain child of the district’s recently retired  athletic director, David Spurlock.” 

Kinesthetic classrooms let kids move while they learn. In Pinckney Elementary in Mount Pleasant, for example, the kids have exercise desks that let them move their legs and lower bodies while they do their school work. Turner says the result is happier kids and better academic performance. “The data is there, from primary school to university, that there is a link between fitness and academic performance, with the greatest link being in socio-economically underserved population.”  Charleston County has these classrooms in many elementary schools across the district, and Turner hopes to see more in the coming years.

But the results of a healthy lifestyle aren’t just psychological or academic, Turner says. He shows a slide of a heavier version of himself. “This was me about 40 pounds ago,” jokes Turner.

The benefits extend to how the neurosurgery team works together as well. The program builds camaraderie, Turner says, and helps lower residents’ stress levels. That could pay off throughout their careers. “We wanted to make sure they have the support and resources to succeed throughout their career, and we felt this really helps.”

Turner says the program was inspired by one that dates back to the presidency of John F. Kennedy and his fear of the “Soft American,” the title of a Sports Illustrated article he wrote in 1960. In the article, Kennedy said he feared for the youth of the United States and their lack of physical fitness. He later applauded the fitness program at La Sierra High School in Carmichael, California. That program spread to more than 3,000 schools across the nation. The MUSC La Sierra program pays homage to that school. 

The California high school program, like Turner’s, focused on the importance of physical education and helped produce nineteen Navy Blues. Navy Blues were teenagers, some of whom came from broken homes and found solitude in the physical and academic activities encouraged during by La Sierra program. They were the pinnacle of fitness in the program.

Turner says these elite students were highly active members who influenced other students. 

“One of the things you had to do was be able to carry someone on your back of equal or greater weight and run 5 miles, so this was their level of fitness. This was their high school. They started their day like this. They started with physical education, and then they went to school.” 

Turner’s lecture closes by returning to the impact of his team’s fitness program on the neurosurgery residents. “Metrics improved in our residents across the board. We had all high blood pressures improve and it was statically significant. Anxiety disorders and sleep disorders improved dramatically. Everything improved in our guys,” he says.

“I think there’s a better outlook for residents than there was twenty years ago. We have to make sure the work force is healthy and ready to take on challenges. We need to integrate and teach how learning can become more efficient through exercise.” 

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Daniel Castro is an MUSC News intern.