Need another reason to make this year a sporty one? Recent research shows that exercising improves short-term memory.
Cycling for Your Exam
Researchers from Edge Hill University presented their study during the annual British Psychological Society’s Division of Sport and Exercise Psychology.
They conducted two experiments. In the first experiment, participants were asked to memorize a list of words. One group did this after half an hour of rest, while the other group did it after half an hour of cycling at moderate intensity. The group that cycled performed better at remembering the words.
In a second experiment, the groups first learned the words, then either trained or rested for half an hour, and then repeated the words. Again, the group that trained performed better at remembering the words.
Our research suggests that an acute bout of aerobic exercise improves your short-term memory. Exercise before learning benefited immediate recall. But when people had to wait to recall the words, they performed best when they exercised after learning the lists.
Our findings are consistent with the idea that physical arousal improves memory, and those who need to learn information may benefit from taking part in exercise.
Dr David Marchant, Edge Hill University, Lancashire.
So, it might be handy to hop on your bike to your exams after trying to cram the material in the morning.
Training for a Larger Hippocampus
This isn’t the first study to show that physical training can have positive mental effects, not only in the short term. For instance, research from 2004 showed that exercise can generate growth hormones in the brain that can create new connections between neurons [2].
A year later, Swedish researchers wanted to understand why running could decrease the risk of depression[3]. They found that running led to cell growth in the hippocampus, an area crucial for storing new information like memories. This could possibly be a cause for improved memory as recently demonstrated by the British researchers.
That training can have positive effects in the long term is supported by various studies showing that the hippocampus is larger in people who exercise [4,5].
This might explain all those profound quotes from fitness enthusiasts.
References
- British Psychological Society (BPS). “Want to improve your memory? Go to the gym.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 13 December 2016.
- Molteni R, Zheng JQ, Ying Z, Gómez-Pinilla F, Twiss JL. Voluntary exercise
increases axonal regeneration from sensory neurons. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A.
2004 Jun 1;101(22):8473-8. PubMed PMID: 15159540; PubMed Central PMCID:
PMC420418. - Bjørnebekk A, Mathé AA, Brené S. The antidepressant effect of running is
associated with increased hippocampal cell proliferation. Int J
Neuropsychopharmacol. 2005 Sep;8(3):357-68. PubMed PMID: 15769301. - Ten Brinke, Lisanne F. et al. “Aerobic Exercise Increases Hippocampal Volume in Older Women with Probable Mild Cognitive Impairment: A 6-Month Randomized Controlled Trial.” British journal of sports medicine 49.4 (2015): 248–254. PMC. Web. 31 Dec. 2016.
- naturalnews.com/2016-12-28-poor-physical-exercise-linked-to-smaller-brain-size-faster-aging.html
