The PQ Initiative is a citizen-scientist’s passion project designed to effect meaningful change in society. There are many alarming epidemics we are frantically trying to solve, including learning and behavior challenges, chronic disease, mental illness, drug addiction and suicide. Most interventions are too little, too late. For the first time in recorded history, the current generation is projected to have a shorter life expectancy than prior generations. What if there was a common thread with an accessible solution?

To live a long, healthy life requires a locus of control, where individuals feel a sense of agency over their bodies, actions, relationships, and ultimately, the direction of their lives. A new theory of intelligence, Physical Intelligence (PQ), can build societal understanding of the role physical movement plays in attaining these traits. In fact, PQ is a necessary predicate of both Cognitive Intelligence (IQ) and Emotional Intelligence (EQ). This is because our movement experiences establish the neurological foundation for mental, social and emotional well-being.

According to the CDC, “Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make healthy choices.” Research demonstrates that higher self-agency is associated with increased resilience to stress, lower levels of cortisol, increased motivation and curiosity. In other words, people with a sense of agency are likely to live longer, happier lives.

A primary driver for developing self-agency involves physical activity. Early movement patterns during the first three years of life determine brain structure and function involved in self-management throughout the life span. Early physical movement is crucial for development of the vestibular system and integration of primitive reflexes. Together, these govern the brain circuitry affecting organization of our sensory systems. When information comes into the brain through our sense of spatial awareness, sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste, that information needs to be organized and processed in the brain in a way that helps us make sense of our world. When the world makes sense, we experience a greater sense of control, or agency. These systems must be developed at birth and they atrophy with age and disuse. There are many activity-based interventions to strengthen the vestibular system among older populations; however, the emphasis should be during the first three years of the life span when 80% of the brain’s architecture is being formed.

Physical activity is on the decline, while adverse mental health conditions continue to skyrocket. The PQ Initiative is revolutionary in that it distills complex neurological research into an accessible concept that can be easily adopted by individuals, organizations and systems. Current physical activity recommendations are too limited. The PQ Initiative expands our understanding of physical movement beyond weight management and disease prevention to its more upstream impact, namely the organizing principles of the body’s nervous system. Widespread acknowledgement of PQ as a separate and foundational intelligence, upon which IQ and EQ are dependent, represents a paradigm shift for behavioral and social norms affecting health outcomes and overall quality of life, especially among populations affected by trauma.

Bessel van der Kolk, a leading researcher in the field of trauma and its effects on the body and mind, emphasizes the strong connection between physical activity and mental health. Van der Kolk explains that people who experience trauma and neurodevelopmental differences may struggle to regulate their emotions or feel disconnected from their physical sensations. He asserts that movement and physical activity, such as yoga, dance, or other body-focused therapies, allows individuals to "reorganize" their nervous system, leading to better emotional and psychological well-being.

The PQ Initiative is bold in that it posits an accessible solution for transforming human health in two ways: 1) Generating mainstream awareness of Physical Intelligence (PQ) as a foundation for mental, social and emotional health and 2) Fostering effective movement-based treatments to address the impacts of trauma, Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and neurodevelopmental disorders.

Implementation for treatment protocols begins by integrating the PQ theory into public policy. A key next step is to use existing research on movement patterns essential for vestibular system development and reflex integration to inform physical activity guidelines for ages zero to three. (Of note, current U.S. Physical Activity Guidelines begin at age three, after 80% of movement-based brain development has already occurred.)

Within healthcare settings, maternal and well-child exams should include assessments for developmental milestones associated with vestibular system development and integration of primitive reflexes. Based on those assessments, families should be provided with recommendations for targeted movement activities and time spent in free play, based on research-backed guidelines. Universal screening and treatment protocols for non-medical, daily activity interventions stand to significantly reduce healthcare costs, alleviate demand for limited mental and behavioral health services and improve health outcomes.

What happens if we miss the early window of intervention? Thanks to neural plasticity, the treatment for a dysregulated nervous system is the same across the life span. Quality movement experiences such as yoga, martial arts, dance and other modalities that combine higher order thinking and motor planning will strengthen the vestibular system and related sensory systems in support of a healthy nervous system and the subsequent development of self-agency. Physical, mental and behavioral health practitioners can use PQ-based research guidelines to integrate activity recommendations into treatment plans. It’s time for the United States to move beyond pharmacological and medical treatment modalities to prioritize proven, movement-based practices for mental and behavioral health treatment.

PQ is merely a synthesis of existing research supporting the connection between physical movement and mental health. As a theory of intelligence, this knowledge can be used to establish a paradigm shift in social norms as well as changes to guidelines for movement within childcare, education, public health and healthcare sectors. PQ presents a low-cost prescription for what ails America; a solution that comes with a substantial return on investment in healthcare spending and improved health and vitality for all.