Brain Gym - Media Events

Media Events

In 2006, some concepts in the 1994 version of Brain Gym: Teacher's Edition were heavily criticized by Dr. Ben Goldacre of The Guardian's Bad Science pages, who found no supporting evidence for the assertions put forward by Brain Gym proponents in any of the main public research databases. Upon learning that the program was used at hundreds of UK state schools, he called it a "vast empire of pseudoscience" and went on to dissect parts of their teaching materials, refuting, for instance, claims that "processed foods do not contain water", or that liquids other than water "are processed in the body as food, and do not serve the body's water needs." (For further discussion regarding the assertion that some liquids are processed as food and not water sources, see the item on Newsnight, below.) In response Goldacre claimed to receive what he described as "angry, abusive emails from teachers defending exercise breaks", to which he reiterated his point that exercises and breaks were good for students, and that he was merely attacking "the stupid underlying science of Brain Gym".

In early April 2008, Newsnight did a piece on Brain Gym which included an interview between Jeremy Paxman and Paul Dennison. During the course of the interview Dennison was questioned as to why some of the statements in the 1994 version of Brain Gym: Teacher's Edition were "arrant nonsense". Dennison said that he "leaves the explanations to the experts", and, when challenged on his assertion that "processed foods do not contain water", his response was that such foods do not contain available water." The Dennisons refer to biologist Carla Hannaford, who states that: “ . . . fruit juice, soda and milk are high in sugars and salts, which bind up water in the body, depleting the supply available for maintaining electrolyte levels in the nerves. The body treats these as food rather than water sources. . . .”

In April 2008, Charlie Brooker, also writing in the Guardian, expressed incredulity that the Department for Children, Schools and Families is supportive of Brain Gym, despite its broad condemnation by scientific organisations, and despite it sounding "like hooey".

In 2011 Channel 4 news aired a show with biologist and award winning educator and author Carla Hannaford. Hannaford discussed how inactivity can lead to learning difficulties and explained how doing the Brain Gym movements can activate brain/body connections, helping students to think and be attentive.