Can Cardio Improve Your Memory?
My good friend often says, “I have a good memory, it’s just short.” Well, now exercise might be able to fix that—specifically cardio. A Dutch study mentioned that “newly-learned information turns into long-term knowledge through a process of stabilization and integration of memories. This requires certain brain chemicals that are also released during physical exercise, including dopamine, noradrenaline (norepinephrine) and a growth factor called BDNF.”
Cardio and Memory
To begin the study, the researchers enlisted 72 individuals and split them into three groups—exercise immediately after learning, exercise four hours after learning, and the last group wasn’t to exercise at all. The researchers had each of the exercise groups doing identical bouts of cardio (except the non-exercise group) which involved riding a stationary bike for 35 minutes. Over that timeframe, the participants were to do intervals which contained a full-out maximum output. Prior to the bout of cardio, the subjects had a 40-minute period where they were asked to learn 90 different locations and then match each location with an image. The non-exercise group simply had to learn the 90 different locations and match each with an image.
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After 48 hours the subjects from all three groups were asked to come back and recall the information they learned 2 days ago to test their memory. What they found was that the group who exercised four hours after learning the 90 locations and matching them with images performed better than the other two groups. Interestingly enough, when comparing the group who exercised immediately after learning the locations showed no differentiation when compared to the group that didn’t exercise at all.
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During the study, the researchers also examined how the subjects’ brains functioned by using an MRI during the follow-up. What they concluded was that due to the brain releasing an increased amount of dopamine and norepinephrine, there is a greater efficiency in how the brain handles information and how it is logged into memory.
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