Here’s another reason to drop that doughnut and hit the treadmill: A new study suggests aerobic fitness affects long-term memory.
Michigan State University researchers tested 75 college students during a two-day period and found those who were less fit had a harder time retaining information.
“The findings show that lower-fit individuals lose more memory across time,” said Kimberly Fenn, study co-author and assistant professor of psychology.
The study, which appears online in the research journal Cognitive, Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience, is one of the first to investigate young, supposedly healthy adults. Previous research on fitness and memory has focused largely on children, whose brains are still developing, and the elderly, whose memories are declining.
Participants studied related word pairs such as “camp” and “trail.” The next day, they were tested on the word pairs to evaluate long-term memory retention. Long-term memory is anything remembered more than about 30 seconds ago.
Aerobic fitness was gauged by oxygen consumption derived from a treadmill test and factored with the participants’ weight, percent body fat, age and sex.
The findings speak to the increasingly sedentary lifestyles found in the United States and other Western cultures. A surprising number of the college students in the study were significantly out of shape and did much worse at retaining information than those who were extremely fit, Fenn said.
Her co-authors included kinesiology researchers Matthew Pontifex and Karin Pfeiffer.
I agree that it is important to exercise and live a healthy lifestyle. and I am sure that exercise can help you with your memory, because exercising makes your heart beat faster and cause better blood circulation in the body, thus there will be more blood with better circulation at a faster rate moving through the brain, which will provide a lot of oxygen to the brain, which will then result in better brain functioning. But I also think that this study is a very wide subject, and memory problems can be caused by many different factors according to each person’s experiences and environment. So there is still much research to be done with more and accurate measurements.
A healthy and fit body, I agree is well related to your ability to retain information and the way your brain functions. Exercising on a daily basis might be seen as a waste of time and energy but in actual fact it help the minds functioning as the intake of oxygen is increased and thus increasing the circulation of blood to the brain which then benefits the brain as it gets more nutrients that will in the long run help you remember almost everything that you have learned. Above all being in a good shape helps you feel more confident so get up and start EXERCISING.
Exercise, healthy eating and having a healthy lifestyle is something that one always reads about every now and again and its something that needs to be preached more often than not because I cannot stress any further the importance and the major changes that it can have on an individual’s life. There’s not only the added bonus of looking good, fit,healthy and naturally slim but also it is a major booster for one’s brain. I would encourage more young people to read articles such as these because more often than not we don’t often pay attention to much exercise but yet are constantly worried and are looking to perform well at school in tests and examinations. And at times the amount of information,stress,workload and turmoil that we constantly put our brain through is sometimes too much for our brain and our bodies. That is why having an oxygen enriched brain will help one deal more easily with all the work. So drop that doughnut and hit the treadmill people!
I never thought exercising was good for my health together with my brain but after reading this blog I now know how important it is.as for me I am going to make it a point that I make time for exercising in order to keep my body healthy and fit not forgetting my brain.
Our long term memory can also be enhanced not only by exercises and staying fit but by the amount of activity your brain does. Our brains cannot operate at full capacity if we do not get enough sleep. It is also improved by different activities such problem-solving, being creative, critical thinking and the likes. I also support u14252768 by saying our brains also need rest in order to function to its full capacity.
From the article, it is implied that treating your body well can enhance your ability to process and recall information. From research, it has been reported that exercise may also enhance the effect of helpful brain chemicals and protect brain cells. It is very important to also learn how to balance exercising, studying and resting because our brains function the same as our bodies.
Exercise helps the body to recognize foreign cells in the body which can cause diseases and unusual depression and stress. Physical wellbeing can make a healthy body with a well function mind to start a day everyday. Memory can affect the way we see things and also the way we approach the challenges in life. So if we make exercise one of our everyday life then our minds can carry lot of information throughout without breaking because exercise helps a person to controls his or her mind unlike focusing on unsolved situation which can lead the mind to emphasize unusual information.
I fully agree with this article. Exercise is extremely important because it releases chemicals in the brain that enhance mood and thus concentration, speaking from personal experience. Furthermore, at some high schools especially the ones back home, there is this common misconception that students nearing matric level should not participate in any sport or extramural activity, and this robs learners of the potential mental benefits of an active lifestyle and good time management skills.
This article as many others out there again proves that there is a link between physical activity and brain function. Many times we are told that exercise is beneficial to our intelligence and it is true.
Our body needs balance, if all you do is exercise then obviously you may have the potential to be very intellectually stimulated but aren’t getting that environment. However also if you spend all day sitting and studying your brain will get tired and will need the exercise, not only to have a break but to stimulate the blood flow and other muscle activities other than just straining your brain for information. Balance is the key and exercise and intellectual levels go hand in hand if done properly and in moderation.
I agree completely with this article as it was definitely beneficial to me. I am often accused by my mother for wasting time whilst exercising when I’m supposed to be studying. The value of daily exercise can be concluded to be indeed necessary for students that are endlessly studying. Exercise is of vital importance even when not seen from an academic perspective and improves our overall quality of life. Exercise leads to a happier, healthier lifestyle.
I certainly agree with this article, however, it does not provide enough evidence that being in shape improves one’s memory. It has expert advice, but no mathematical figures or enough medical research. What about unfit college students who perform very well academically and have a good memory? It seems as if the article is a generalisation. Testing 75 college students is not good enough because a college or university usually contains thousands of students. Is keeping fit the only way to having a long-term memory or are there other methods? Does this experiment apply differently to gender and different cultures?
I agree with the article. Physical exercise is suppose to be an important factor of everyday life. Not only does it improve your fitness or muscle function, but physical exercise also improves balance and coordination. It improves your health, and the function of your heart and lungs. More importantly for the women, it burns calories and fat. It is no surprise that physical exercise such as aerobics could improve your brain function and long term memory as well. While you exercise you cause blood to flow to every part of your body including your brain, due to the need for oxygen. The increase in oxygen and blood in your brain could lead to improved brain function and thus a better long term memory. Alzheimer’s is a disease that causes elder people to lose their short term memory and eventually their whole memory. One of the recommendations for this disease is exercise like walking to help slow down the process of memory loss. Exercise is an enjoyment and a form of relaxation thus by exercising you are giving your brain the opportunity to rest and open up. This helps prove how important exercise is for everyone.
An interesting and extremely insightful article. We often tend to forget about our brain and the importance of exercise and diet and how it effects ones mental state and health of the brain. When exercising your body gets more oxygen thus stimulating the feel good hormone which in turn affects the “brain”. It makes me think of the terminology brain fit, which to me proves when exercising and improving your general wellbeing and fitness levels you are getting your brain fit too – long term and short term memory, conceptual thinking, visualisation. Healthy mind healthy body.
This article is certainly applicable to a student as it provides evidence that exercise assists in long-term memory and will hopefully motivate individuals to perform regular aerobic exercise in order to improve in their studies. Furthermore, the exercise will benefit the individual in many other areas including a good night’s sleep, releasing stress and overall happiness.
I have to agree. I saw a trend in my high school last year: all the students who were top athletes seemed to be the top achievers academically. They also seemed to have a lot of spare time to do what they wanted. Reading this blog and its comments clarifies why. I also strongly agree with one of the previous comments which stated that exercise has many other benefits other than increased focus and concentration span. Exercise is a great stress reliever (betters your mood), it also helps burn unwanted fat and develop muscle, improves one’s physic (if one looks good one feels good) and furthermore their self-confidence. Just make sure the exercise you do compliments your conditions and life-style (people with back problems, like myself, should rather go for swimming as it’s less stressful on the back and those who are diabetic would also benefit. I’m type two diabetic and I’ve been told to exercise as it allows my cells to take in more insulin * this is what I’m told). So in summary: “Healthy body, Healthy mind”
I agree with the article. Even just a 30 minute jog a day can increase your concentration and memory span.The human brain benefits from physical as much as it benefits from mental exercise. Physical exercise helps the brain by increasing the flow of blood delivers vital oxygen and glucose to the brain while carrying away waste products. This article is very interesting article especially for young people as they need to have a well focused brain from day to day. Due to the amount of work I’m faced with this year its very hard to find time to do some excise.
It has always been the case that health is an important part of your life. Diet and mental health have always had link to each other in a sense that those who always eat healthy and look after their bodies have had less health mental problems. Every organ,skin, muscle and immune function are affected by what your body consumes such as fats.
Fat can increase cholesterol in your body therefore increase risks of heart diseases,some food can cause increased blood flow which all the effects might end up affecting the brain. Healthy diet and being fit,i agree they affect mentality and memory.
The brain while not a muscle works in a similar manner. While certain valid point are raised in the articles and comments about oxygen uptake and nutritional requirements it should be noted that other factors also play a role. In a book written by Mark Lauren, a certified military physical training specialist, about training using body-weight exercises he mentioned an interesting observation that brings into question the actual accuracy of aerobic exercises being a beneficial method of training. He mentions that the observation made by persons partaking in such activities about how it becomes easier with time is not due to an increase in cardiovascular endurance but rather ones movement becomes more efficient requiring less oxygen to do the same amount of work bring about an illusion of increased fitness. An example of this in everyday life would be a marathon runner capable of completing an 80 kilometer huffing and puffing after 10 minutes of a high intensity soccer game. Thus a reasonable conclusion would be rather than focusing on aerobic exercise and thus other muscle not included in the activity wasting away a more balanced form of exercise that includes training muscles from different parts of the body that do different functions would be better as this would keep one in shape and increase ones fitness to since these muscle would not require as much oxygen freeing up more oxygen for the brain. Genetics also plays a role. You wouldn’t expect a down syndrome patient to be able to compete with persons that have normal genes and the biological equation that accounts for the appearance of certain characteristics could also be taken into account for:”Phenotype= genotype + environment.” This would come back to my first statement about the brain. An individual more prone to engaging his mind in mind-straining activities, activities that require a certain amount of focus, would be more capable of remembering things then someone who simply sits around watching television all day. Thus nutrition and exercise certainly do play an important role but the brain is much too complicated to simply attribute functions such as long term memory to just two factors
I agree with no doubt with this article.Physical fitness do really affect the mentality of an individual.Like myself I do my dance routine every day in the morning to keep my mind focused for the day and if it happens that i skip one I won’t have a normal day.
Lack of exercise affect long term memory of people.Even by merely looking at old people someone could tell,they tend to forget easily compared to young people because they are not physical active.So to stay fit each should stay active and this will help one to also stay alert.
We all know how integrate and complex the organ named the brain is. So much research and studies have been done and yet we have only touched the tip of the iceberg.
At school we were told that we must practice and train our long term memory ability in order to study successful for big exams.
Yes, I do believe that exercise can increase the brains ability to function better (with extra oxygen supply and all the other effects of exercise) and this could have a ripple effect on the long term memory abilities of the brain. But surely we will have to ensure that out nutritional intake is balanced and our bodies are healthy. They say a healthy body houses a healthy brain. Everything in life is about finding the right balance.