SPECIAL TOPIC

I
M
A
G
E
B
Y
M
A
R
K
B
O
N
H
A
M
Recently, colleagues and I proposed
the term wellth to describe a focus on
health as a foundation for performance
rather than as a preventative for illness
[ 1]. Wellth foregrounds the “brain-body
connection”: The state of the brain is
mirrored in the state of the rest of the
system to which it is attached. This
in-bodied connection is something our
dominant sedentary work paradigm
ignores. But sedentarism—this attempt
to live from the neck up, where the
body is constructed as a carrier of the
brain from one place to another—is
injuring us, costing us our quality of life.
Illnesses such as metabolic syndrome,
stress, fatigue, and other lifestyle
conditions, as well as falling national
Raverages in innovation, discovery, and creativity, are all strongly correlated with sedentary lifestyles. A wellth approach suggests that connecting the brain with the body, prioritizing the body’s needs, has immediate benefits for performance and quality of life. Sport exemplifies the brain- body connection. As such, sport is a fantastic mechanism to help redress edentarism and support wellth in a knowledge economy. At its best, sport has many benefits: It develops motor skills (not just aerobic strength); it builds perceptual-cognitive awareness
of others in a constrained, rules-
based environment; it provides
opportunities to create new solutions
to solve dynamic problems; it creates
opportunities to learn, develop, and
practice social skills; and it drives
physiological requirements from sleep
to eating to movement, which help
burn off stress and improve cognitive/
creative performance.
Knowledge work, which is primarily
a sedentary activity, is carried out by 40
percent of the U. K. population [ 2] and
likely at similar levels in North America
and Europe. Critiques of sedentary
activity—which is undertaken an
average of 9.75 hours a day [ 3]—refer
to it as “the new smoking” in terms
of its effect on cardiovascular health.
Related studies show the ill effects of
sedentarism on hormonal processes,
FROM FIELD
TO OFFICE
TRANSLATING BRAIN-BODY BENEFITS
FROM SPORT TO KNOWLEDGE WORK

m.c. schraefel, University of Southampton