PROFESSOR DAVID LUBANS

Ms JODIE HARRISON (Charlestown)—I would like to acknowledge Professor David Lubans, a sports scientist and resident of the Charlestown Electorate, whose work has recently been published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. As anyone who has helped a teenager through the HSC knows, the senior years of high school can have both student and parent pulling their hair out. Professor Lubans' work measuring the levels of the stress hormone cortisol in the hair of senior school students has proven that short, high-intensity exercise significantly reduces stress and improves memory, overall wellbeing and fitness in adolescents. The research indicates that changes to lifestyle actually reduces the amount of stress hormone being released in the body, and this was correlated with an improvement in memory and an ability to cope with internalising problems in a subsample of students. The study, called Burn 2 Learn, involved two to three ten-minute High-Intensity Interval Training sessions per week, led by a teacher trained in the program. Classes could choose from ten different styles of workout, with activities as wide-ranging as strength training, dance and martial arts. Study participants report that they have seen huge improvements in student wellbeing. Congratulations to Professor Lubans.

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