President Ma Ying-jeou met on the afternoon of October 4 with Harvard Medical School Associate Clinical Professor Dr. John Ratey. The president expressed his admiration for Dr. Ratey's work, in which he provides scientific evidence to show the benefits of exercise. He also congratulated Dr. Ratey and his fiancée Alicia Ulrich, who will be married in the Wulai District of New Taipei City on October 5 in a ceremony based on the traditions of indigenous tribes here.
The president stated that Dr. Ratey relied on scientific evidence and actual cases in his book Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain to describe how exercise effectively promotes mental and physical health. According to Dr. Ratey, exercise boosts brain’s learning abilities, such as coordination, memory, judgment, and concentration. In addition, exercise can help to treat depression and obesity, he said. President Ma remarked that Dr. Ratey's findings have been important in the government's advocacy of exercise among the public at large.
President Ma stated that the Executive Yuan's Sports Affairs Council has already received permission to translate and capsulize the content of the book into a book in Chinese that can be read by parents and their children. The book, with a title that basically means "Smart Learning Relies on Exercise: Exercise Transforms the Brain and Is the Crucial Password to Better IQ and EQ," will be distributed to libraries at primary and secondary schools throughout Taiwan in an effort to promote the concept that "exercise is crucial to intelligent learning," the president said.
The president expressed his belief that the public should have a regular exercise habit, exercising three times a week for 30 minutes each time and raising one's heart rate in the process to above 130 beats per minute. Alternately, people can engage in continuous exercise for at least 15 minutes daily to achieve similar results, he said. President Ma pointed out that presently the percentage of the public that has a habit of regular exercise has increased to 27% from 24%. Even though this is only a small improvement, the results are already being seen, he said. The president added that the government will continue its efforts in this regard and hopes that the percentage of the population involved in regular exercise will reach 30%, which is the level of advanced nations.
President Ma also mentioned that given the importance of physical fitness among the nation's military, three years ago he requested that the military strengthen its training. Each conscript is now required to meet minimum requirements for push-ups, sit-ups, and the running of 3,000 meters. In addition, the percentage of people in the military who are able to swim 50 meters has risen considerably to 71%, up from 48% in the past. This proves that one can enhance physical fitness through training, he said, adding that more and more members of the military have begun to experience the benefits that come with regular exercise.
President Ma congratulated Dr. Ratey and his fiancée Alicia Ulrich for their upcoming marriage on October 5 in a traditional aboriginal ceremony at Wulai Vigor Village in New Taipei City. He furthermore said he hopes that Dr. Ratey and the future Mrs. Ratey will in the future frequently visit Taiwan.
Accompanying Dr. Ratey and Ms. Ulrich were National Taiwan Sport University President Kao Chin-hsung (高俊雄) and Dean of Academic Affairs Lan Hsiao-chin (藍孝勤). The group was escorted to the Presidential Office by Ministry of Education Chief Secretary Wang Jough-tai (王作臺) to meet President Ma. Also attending the meeting was National Security Council Deputy Secretary-General Philip Y. M. Yang (楊永明).