brain chemistry

There are (at least) two things Mom always said about brain chemistry: (1) chemicals (e.g. antidepressants) really affect your thoughts, not just your emotions; (2) exercise makes you smarter.

I've been reading this book called "The Now Habit: A Strategic Program for Overcoming Procrastination and Enjoying Guilt-Free Play," and one of the things it keeps mentioning is how important it is to have play time in your schedule. Really successful people (what the author calls "producers") play more than workaholics and procrastinators. I'm somewhat skeptical of this conclusion because I think he's lumping exercise in with other forms of play, and I think it's probably really exercise that does the trick, not just any form of play. I could be wrong. Anyway, I was reminded of Mom's wisdom on brain chemistry as I was thinking about this...