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.
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I agree beacuse it is said that one 30-minutes cardio session pumps up extra blood to the brain, delivering oxygen and nutrients it needs to perform at maximum efficiency. Cardio exercises are also said to flood the brain with chemicals that enhance functions such as memory, problem solving and decision making. What i have mentioned above corresponds with the main idea of the article, lack of exercise lead to a poor memory and threatens ones health one’s memory as well. In conclusion exercising will definitely improve your cognitive ability.
I think most of the people that read this blog already knew the information but didn’t want to believe it.
I support this article 100%! Like previous comments said that when you practice or do something active and cause your heart and the blood flow through your veins to accelerate. It increases the oxygen levels in the blood that pumps the high in oxygen blood to the brain. This cause the brain to be able to perform better, which leads to a result of concentrating and learning better and then later improves ones long term memory.
If one doesn’t want to believe this blog they can go and try it out for themselves!
From personal experience, I’ve noticed that my concentration improves when my heart is racing, not only during a game but also afterwards when doing homework. It became more like a habit, and now if I didn’t went for a jog or done my training, I find it very difficult to continue with any academic.
The brain is no different than rest of the muscles in your body-you either use it or you lose it. Exercise increases heart rate which pump more oxygen to the brain. Exercise and a healthy diet improve concentration, which is necessary to perform at your very best. I definitely agree that exercise doesn’t only have a positive effect on muscle function but brain function as well.
i always liked studies that involved the youth and their behaviour and this one is no exception, being healthy is one of the most important things one can do for themselves. we all want to remember our varsity days when we are 75 years old, for us to do that exercise is the only solution.
I’m glad this is a study that focuses on young adult’s health, anything about health in today’s articles consists of weight loss methods that never work but instead kill people. This study won’t just improve the academic life of students but their daily lives as their long term memories will be improved and pro-longed.
I couldn’t agree more. Exercising boosts the blood flow in the body and it allows more blood to flow to a memory part in the brain therefore the more the blood flow you have the more sharp you will be. It also helps because blood releases chemicals which help in concentrating. Unfit people are usually lazy therefore a good exercise is always good to keep yourself sharp.
I do agree with this blog, i was out of shape. at school it was very hard for me to get information, I had a short term memory but i started playing soccer and doing some exercise each and everyday things started to go well, my memory now work faster than before, it easy to get information now.
I don’t think the is a person who disagree with this blog because it is a quiet clear one, out of shape mean unhealthy body, if the body is unhealthy every part in the body is also unhealthy too including the brain.so let us keep our body in shape so that our memory cant suffer and perform well
I do agree with this blog, i was out of shape. at school it was very hard for me to get information, I had a short term memory but i started playing soccer and doing some exercise each and everyday things started to go well, my memory now work faster than before, it easy to get information now.
I don’t think the is a person who disagree with this blog because it is a quiet clear one, out of shape mean unhealthy body, if the body is unhealthy every part in the body is also unhealthy too including the brain.so let us keep our body in shape so that our memory cant suffer
I do agree, I believe that your mind and body work hand in hand. In my opinion, exercise combined with a balanced diet can improve your concentration while studying therefore you will be able to retain more information.
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We all need healthy bodies for a healthy good life,so nothing to argue about,healthy body healthy minds.
it’s more capable than of those aging people.
The whole idea can be a myth to some people because there are lots of people out there who are not fit but still their long-term memory ability is superb. Actually which one exactly conveys the ability of long term-memory between neurons and your body shape? I think it is psychological that your body shape determine your memory capability even though it is biological proven. To be realistic not bias there are lot of unfit people who got better memory than fit one. According to biologist are those unfit people having some certain disorders?
I agree, when you are exercising you body healthy , fit and the mind also . Balancing a good diet also play a role , this will make you more healthier and you are less likely get disease like sugar diabetes, high blood pressure and heart attack. everyone want to look good and the only way to look good is to get you body into shape
It is very sad how little people take care of their bodies and how easily they can let themselves go, and whats even sadder is that looking good is the main objective when working out to lose weight and the health benefits are not even considered. Research has shown that people who are overweight have about 5% less brain tissue than people who are of normal weight. This results in reduction of short term memory and thus affecting everyday life and academic life in turn. And mostly the parts of the brain affected are the frontal and temporary lobes which are important for memory and planning.
I totally agree. I’ve experienced it time and again. If I do sports regularly, I study easier and more effectively. Whenever I skip my training, I become lazy and struggle to study. I strongly recommend a healthy and fit life- it just has so much benefits.
I totally agree. When I regularly do sports, I study faster and more efficiently, but when I don’t, I am lazy and I don’t want to study. This fact has proven itself time and again. So I do reccomend a healthy and fit life- it just has so much more benefits!!
healthy body is a healthy mind.Intake of sugars and fatty food can result in diabetes which causes memory loss .High diet of sugar can affect the brains insulin receptors which results in less learning and memory skills
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.
I don’t completely agree with this article. Yes, it is crucial for a person to life a healthy balanced lifestyle, but can the amount of exercise really affect the long term memory of an individual? Every person is different and our brains function differently. By that I mean that some people can remember faces better, others can remember words better, so can we really determine whether or not exercise really does have an effect on someones long term memory? I think this article is very interesting, but I think there should be more studies done before we would really know.
Is it possible that the oxygen intake and blood flow to the brain is increased, therefore bettering long term memory?
It is very interesting reading the various comments made. I would like to add to what 14012074 has mentioned in his comment. It is all true that that aerobic exercise is the best manor to get oxygen, a major component in brain cell function, into the brain. What caught my attention was the last sentence of his comment. A balanced diet is fundamental. Yes, the brain needs oxygen but it also requires the right vitamins to function at an optimal level.
The brain is part of this wonderful instrument known as the body. If the instrument is not working efficiently, how can we expect the components that make up our instrument work efficiently, vice versa. The one cannot function without the other. Yes go for a run, do a sport, do some cardio exercises, but remember that you can run as often and as far as you like, but if you are eating an enormous amount of fast foods, or foods high in fats, you are still at a higher risk of cholesterol, heart-attacks and clotting in the brain than the people that have the perfect balanced diet and lifestyle.
I can clearly see that: better memory = a fitter lifestyle + the correct nutritional intake
A healthy lifestyle was never a question,was it? we all want to be healthy yet still tend to get lazy at times and “indulge”,which is bad for our bodies. Keeping a healthy body is significant to student life because it enhances you to live a balanced life between books and social life without getting a burnout along the way. Junk food is highly related to many coronary diseases which even lead to obesity.
We all know that exercise is fundamental in maintaining a healthy body and mind. this article proves that keeping fit directly influences our mind, The key is that the type of exercise must be aerobic fitness, therefore lifting weights would not be the preferred type of exercise to do. Cardio is more applicable, something that gets your heart rate up and expands your lungs. Getting oxygen to the brain is key in this experiment, therefore the fitter a person is the better their oxygen circulation will be. they will be able to transport oxygen to the brain more efficiently and thus helping with long term memory.
Unhealthiness is a big problem in the world today, people are getting lazy and they eat a lot of bad foods. Exercise is not a big thing in one’s lifestyle anymore, this is a problem because if exercise is directly linked to long term memory, our future generations might not be mentally strong as previous generations. Therefore it is key to live a balanced lifestyle
I think this article is a incredible motivation , the think one just has to remember is that exercise does not mean becoming a body-builder or competing in the crossfit games or anything like that , if one could only train for a half and hout each day it would be enough to see a remarkable difference . i think aside from the research done from this study they should also bring into account the boost in confidence training gives you! The saying ” if you look good you feel good” is exactly what is happening, training makes yu feel good about yourself and gives you that self-confidence to tackle any kind of challenge in your path
I agree to a great extent with this article. Its relevance to us as first years could not have been more accurate as most of us are facing challenges of committing to regular exercise. This article emphasizes how important it is to stay fit and healthy. I believe that exercise enhances our mindsets by improving our alertness, attention, motivation and discipline. These factors are fundamental in striving for academic success. By pushing our bodies in exercise we are in turn pushing our brains to learn and forcing our memory to evolve.
I do agree with the conclusion but not entirely. The human brain needs oxygen to function properly. That means that if an unfit person can find a way to get oxygen to the brain by whatever means, they wont have any memory problems although it is going to require a lot of effort thus it is advisable to just drop that doughnut.
Being a first year university student, staying away from home, I have found little time to exercise. Having read this blog and the comments from various people I am determined to reintroduce aerobic exercise into my routine. Looking back I realise that last year when I exercised regularly I felt more disciplined when it came to time management and I agree with the finding that my ability to retain information was better. Exercise not only improves your long term memory but also improves mood and sleep and reduces stress and anxiety. Problems in these areas regularly cause or contribute to cognitive impairment.
I agree with this article.Since i’ve been exercising more my grades became better as well as my health.It’s remarkable how much better you can focus after just n few minutes of exercise.It also helps to relieve some stress and get me on the go every morning.Maybe i will exercise more and study less to get the perfect grades i want.
I’m definitely not a very fit person, and exercise sometimes scares me, but after reading this post I suddenly got a new perspective. I read that moderate exercising such as walking, and other aerobic exercises like running, cycling and swimming also “boosts memory power”. These kinds of exercises has such big of an effect on the brain and the body. After doing more reading I found out that regular exercise releases certain chemicals in the brain that not only helps with memory loss, but also with concentration and mental sharpness.
Doing the right amount of exercise will not only get you into good shape, it will also help you with a variety of other things.
I agree that other factors also play a role in memory loss, but if exercise can help with so many aspects in our lives, why not do it? So my question is what amount of exercise will be the “correct” amount to do to ensure that the amount of memory loss throughout our lives will stay as little as possible?
I agree wit this article, a person need great and fresh mind to work out lots of things and exercise is the key to all of this. exercise helps to keep a person fit physically and also mentally. we need exercise to improve our daily way of living.
This article clearly states yet again how important health and especially fitness is to the human body. For the body to function correctly, it is critical that each part of it should be exercised and developed. Thus retaining a good memory can be associated with fitness. It has been proven that ones heart is strengthened through aerobic exercises and by improving your heart, more blood can be transferred to your brain and thus more oxygen. With this happening, your brain receives its necessary “food” and better memory retention is obtained.
It’s interesting that there hasn’t been as much research on the immediate effects of exercise on the brain as there has been for how exercise slows down the main functions of the brain as we get older. I think it’s important that we look to keep ourselves healthy now while we are young and not have to worry about finding solutions to defects such as Asperger’s Syndrome when we’re older.
Even small changes can be beneficial. According to a study done by the Department of Exercise Science at the University of Georgia, even exercising for 20 minutes helps the brain with acquiring and retaining information better.
Exercise indirectly causes more pumping of oxygen to the brain by increasing your heart rate and it releases certain hormones that create a better environment for the growth of neurons and their branches (dendrites).
So its definitely worth the time to take a jog early in the morning to get yourself ready for the all the information you’ll be taking in. It really gets you off to a good start and maintains a whole host of nourishment for your brain and body.
I agree with the research as known that a strong memory depends on the health and vitality of our brain. when you exercise the body, you exercise the brain. Related studies state that when treating your body well can enhance your ability to process and recall information. Physical exercises increases oxygen to the brain and reduces risk for disorders that lead to memory loss, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Exercise may play a big role in our brains as they enhance the effects of helpful brain chemicals and protect brain cells. On the other hand, when you nurture your brain with a good diet and other healthy habits also play a huge role in resharpening the brain.
Furthermore, healthy relationships: the ultimate memory booster. Human are highly social animals. We are not meant to survive, let alone thrive, in isolation. Relationships stimulate our brains, in-fact interacting with others may be the best kind of brain exercise. Research shows that having a meaningful relationships and strong support system are vital not only to emotional health, but also to brain health.
This article provides a good motivation for people to become more fit, particularly students, which seems to be becoming more necessary in our current fast-paced society. Especially now that there is more work that needs to be remembered, it would be even more beneficial for students to invest their time into methods that could aid in maintaining good health and improving memory retention.
As it becomes more physically fit, the body increases its ability to take in oxygen in the lungs, and is able to function more efficiently. This includes the brain, which, after receiving more oxygen, may be able to send signals within the components of the brain better, thus improving memory and thinking skills.
In fact, regular exercise is a good investment that everyone can afford for both present and future, in maintaining good physical health, improving grades and preventing memory degeneration.
It is true that fitness is essential to optimal mental function. The mind and body are not two separate things, one has to make it work together. So not only will the memory be enhanced, but so also the other functions (for example: conceptual thinking, visualisation etc)? I can’t wait to see a more comprehensive and detailed study.
In response to Advaitaa Haripershad 14227497, I do agree that fitness in general improves on an individuals long term memory capacity.
However I personally feel that aerobic activity( activity that lasts for greater than 2minutes) imposes more stress on the individual as compared to anaerobic activity( activity that lasts less than 2minutes).
Anaerobic activity ie Strength training is more relative to our daily lives as students because we are consistently on the move therefore long term benefits on the individual will include a physically and mentally stronger individual.
In general we have a “stop and go” lifestyle not a “marathon” lifestyle, so as an individual you would be required to bulletproof your entire well being not just your memory.
The article is very good because it encourage people from the benefit of being fit.it tells us that if u are fit it is good for your healthy and your mind because the mind will be able to retain the information for a long time.it also explain the negative effects of being not fit and being out of shape as such person will be easily forget and not storing the information for a long time.it also tells us that the excess in oxygen within our brain also help the brain to retain the information for long time.as the conclusion the exercise is good in mind and also in the healthy of a person.
i agree with this article because as a person is more fit there is great ability to store information in a memory for long time without forgeting,because as the person do more exercise the ability of oxygen intake increases and as the oxygen is increasing within the body the more oxygen will be transported to the brain,so that it will maintain the activity of brain and also increasing the ability of brain to retain information for a long period of time.i can encourage that if u exercise you get healthier and your mind will be healthier.
Wow!.. Somethings we overlook are so important. I totally agree with the above passage as it is so important to take care of our memory by taking care of our brain. A strong memory depends on the health and vitality your brain. Your ability to remember increases when you nurture your brain with a good diet and healthy habits. Physical exercise which we take as “time consuming” increases oxygen to your brain and reduce the risk for disorders that lead to memory loss and can also enhance effects of helpful brain chemicals and protect brain cells. So next time you think of changing your study pattern which you might see not working for you, consider checking on your diet and exercise pattern.
Take care of the minor things and have the major ones taken care of by just getting rid of that doughnut and getting on that treadmill.
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I totally agree to the statement because a healthy body equals a healthy mind.I say so because when fit and healthy one’s concentration is at a high level meaning that it is easier to absorb information as when unhealthy with the reason being the fact that when healthy, the amount oxygen entering your cerebrum is more than when unfit.
It is quite advisable to students that they should embark to exercise as it helps with distressing, health control and mental strength.More than 50% of students who are fit and healthy turn to achieve good marks in school due to their mental strength.
During exams exercise would help improve one’s participation and help boost one into reaching their goal.Exercise in an indirect manner teaches one responsibility which is one of the key tools towards success.
Exercise is good for both the mind and the body. Subjects such as Life orientation are encouraged at schools so that learners may be active, have more energy and be able to participate in school activities.
A good work-out in the evening would result in a good concentration level when you have to study. Don’t mess it up with the wrong food, and you wont regret.
Well this has been an interesting article. This article builds a connection between Memory loss and fitness, I believe this is a very hard thing to test and prove, although it is true that the level of fitness does affect all body functions including our brains I find it hard to believe that memory span can be affected by our level of fitness. The level of remembering things is different in all of us, it is an individual thing, no two people have exactly the same memory span in any given time, there are multiple factors that affect our memory span, our health, and diet are one of these factors, attempting to prove that a single factor can exponentially affect memory loss is a daunting task, nearly impossible to prove efficiently.
People should keep fit for a healthy mind and body.
I agree completely with this concept that your cognitive ability is influenced by your physical activities. It makes sense to say that people who exercise and are fit has a better chance to remember their work more effectively. If I taken myself as an example, if I go to the gym and exercise, I feel that I have more energy and I find that after a workout I learn my work better and faster, so that alone proves to me that when I have exercised my ability to memorize is faster and the work seems easier to me. So I definitely agree with this blog and I think that it is so necessary that much more people see this information because it can motivate so many children especially the children at a critical age where their weight is starting to get affected by hormonal changes and changes in their body as well. So I think that if more children (grown ups as well) see this blog, it will encourage them so much to exercise to not only maintain a healthy lifestyle but also see a drastic improvement in their academics. The percentage of healthy living people will increase as well as school’s academic performances (the student’s performances will also of course show improvement).
Physical fitness has been known to help induce greater memory skills and this is quite vital for any individual, not only to stay in good shape and remain physically fit while maintaining a good and healthy lifestyle, but also to help maintain a well-balanced cognitive ability and memory skill for greater academic functionality.
Cardiovascular fitness helps keep one’s memory sharper with age. Physical fitness helps in a great deal to improve one’s health and it may be beneficial for any individual. It also helps with improving brain health as brain blood flow is increased while exercising, meaning more blood reaches your brain and your brain receives more oxygen to help improve its functioning abilities.
Exercising prevents cognitive ability decline as you age that is also associated with Alzheimer’s Disease Fitness is a vital tool to maintain a healthy body, a healthy mind and a good memory, with age, while preventing cognitive decline.
There is no doubt that exercise has an impact on brain functioning as it does on the body. As some of the other bloggers have already stated,other external factors including a healthy diet,sleep etc. play a major role. Does exercise improve long-term memory?
It is debatable. If we approach this question on a nonscientific level,we can agree that such things obviously have different effects on different people. For me personally,having been involved in a number of sporting activities,hockey,athletics,and even rugby for 16 years running,i can say that day after day exercise did not alter any change in long neither short term memory.
There is no doubt that exercise has an impact on brain functioning as it does on the body. As some of the other bloggers have already stated,other external factors including a healthy diet,sleep etc. play a major role. Does exercise improve long-term memory?
It is debatable. If we approach this question on a nonscientific level,we can agree that such things obviously have different effects on different people. For me personally,having been involved in a number of sporting activities,hockey,athletics,and even rugby for 16 years running,i can say that day after day exercise did not alter any change in long neither short term memory.
There is no possible doubt about the theory that was just proposed. Physical fitness can affect the mentality of an individual. According to educational experts, physical fitness improve concentration level.
I also start my day with a brain gym that of a dance routine just to wake up my mind. This then makes my brain more ready to learn.
Finding also reveals that staying physically fit has been found to help people to maintain memory longer enough.As people get older ,their memory skills deteriorate and to ward-off this effect physical exercise is required.
This is an interesting topic, we all know that exercising improve your body and make you healthy and a healthy body goes with a healthy mind. Hormones release fat in the body that can cause inflammation that could affect cognition. Lots of fats in the body can restrict blood flow to the brain which will affect your memory. So having so much fat in your body can cause memory loss. Losing weight is one way of improving your memory.
I agree with the results shown by these studies, it is very important to keep your body functioning at its optimal best to have the best possible recollection power. However like u14150400 commented, memory is not solely affected by the extent of exercise, other factors such as diet and external environment also play a large role in the effectiveness of the brain’s ability to store information.
Exercise does however still add a large contribution, studies done by The Center for BrainHealth and by the New York University School of Medicine show that increased blood to the hippocampus of the brain (area of the brain used memory recollection) ,caused by Aerobic exercise,can improve the treatment Alzheimer’s disease, and increase overall long term spatial memory.
Not only does does exercising increase blood flow to important parts of the brain but it also helps maintain a healthy weight.
A healthy weight means that the body can maintain its glucose regulation levels and this furthermore aids in the improvement of a person’s memory. As patients with a greater glucose regulation develop a larger hippocampus than those compared with lower glucose regulation levels.
Furthermore many hormones are released during exercise which aid in providing a healthy environment for new brain cells to develop.
To conclude, the saying “a healthy body is a healthy mind” reigns true in more ways than one as science has helped prove this statement many times over.
I agree with the theory above. A healthy body = a healthy mind. I find that when I exercise more and eat healthy I have a lot more energy and think more clearly. My brain feels “fresh” and I remember things more. It makes retaining information easier and increases blood levels which pumps more oxygen to your brain. Everything is great for you when done in moderation, it is about getting the balance right.
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I agree with what is said in this article above. I try to exercise everyday to keep in shape and healthy, and I can honestly say the days that I cannot exercise and have to work or study I find it difficult to concentrate and I have to spend longer on some concepts. Exercising puts more oxygen in your body and therefore your brain as well and you can think more clearly and improve your long term memory.
Keeping in shape doesn’t only improve your health, but also your long term memory. So keep exercising!
There is no doubt that exercise does improve memory as exercising allows the brain to concentrate on anything other than retaining information. Additionally, it increases your heart rate and therefore more oxygen is pumped to your brain.
I’d like to comment on 14008654 FR Ntsitsi’s comment as I believe that the article does not necessarily state that exercise is the determining factor for academic success. It merely improves your long term memory. Therefore although the nerd (as mentioned by 14008654 FR Ntsitsi) does not exercise as much as the jock, the nerd will still receive better grades as the amount of exercise will not drastically alter this.
I agree with the theory up to a certain point.There is no doubt that exercise in moderate amounts is good for you .Surpassing these sufficient amounts could be harmful to your body as well as your brain.Exercise releases good endorphins which could rid you of tense feelings due to stress .Exercise could enhance your concentration levels.
However from an academical point of view -The nerd has far better memory than the jock.What is the explanation for this ? The nerd who’s exercise is walking up the school stairs definitely does not exercise as much as the jock whose training is a major priority in his life.When looking at memory one can not merely look at the exercising regimes ,you have to look beyond that.How are the people’s eating habits(there are certain foods which are said to be good for memory)?How many hours of sleep do they get in?There are many factors which lead to good memory abilities.The theory does make a great point .There is no doubt that exercise is good for you and your concentration but the influence on your memory is to be further tested.
I undoubtedly agree with this research. Physical exercise is good for our memory and health. Related studies have shown that exercise has a lot of effects on the brain and those influences include increase in neurotransmitter levels, improved oxygen and nutrient delivery. I believe exercise has important implications in our lives because it improves our academic performance, maintains our mental abilities, prevents neurological diseases it even has the potential to cure them so people “drop that doughnut and hit the treadmill”
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I don’t entirely believe that memory retention is based on a person’s increasing blood flow to the brain and oxygen intake as a result to exersice. How does one the explain how geniuses retain their memory so incredibly when most of them are not necessarily exersicing people? Keep in mind that their memory retention is of a higher level than an average person
The theory stated, I believe, is very true. Fitness and concentration go hand in hand and therefore, so does memory. I train seven days a week for at least half an hour. Some say that I spend too much time training and should rather spend that time studying, but if I don’t get my daily exercise in, I struggle to focus and find myself procrastinating often. As some of the previous comments show, studies have proven this.
The studies also prove that concentration and overall brain function is improved by exercise, making studying much more effective when combined with physical activity. Thus, with the ability to concentrate properly while studying, you are able to interpret concepts and therefore remember with a lot less effort, for long term memory is mainly based on interpretation.
Thus fitness will not only get you into good shape, but will definitely improve your long term memory too.
This is a very interesting and understandable study, and it is applicable to every individual. It is vital to stay fit, because our memory system affects how we live. Memory controls learning, association and inference. It is not situated in one part of the brain, but rather a brain-wide process in which several different areas of the brain act in conjunction with one another. Exercise stimulates the brain areas that are involved in memory function to release a chemical called brain-derived neurotrophic factor, which improves memory circuits. Fortunately exercise has other advantages, such as increasing energy levels and reducing the risk of diseases, therefore every person should make exercise a regular part of their lifestyle.
I agree that aerobic activity ie. running in the treadmill improves an individual’s long term memory. However the aerobic system is used over a prolonged period of time, therefore resulting in stress on an individual’s mental capacity, as this system is from greater than 2 minutes to a few hours. There have been hypotheses inferred that anaerobic activity also results in an improvement in an individual’s long-term memory. As a student, would it be of greater benefit if aerobic and anaerobic activity is used in conjunction with each other, to lead to an overall improvement in our long-term memory?
In 2011, me and my friend started a strategy of going to gym at least two times a week if not once. As students it helped a lot in our studies, going to gym also helped us to have a better time management skill. This article is really related to what happened to me and my friend. By the end of the year 2012, I started realizing that I’m living a better life, my fitness, my grade 12 results were even better than I expected.
Working out can also help fade some of the dangerous diseases away, Hearts problems, high blood and some other dangerous diseases can be caused by obesity. Exercising helps, I am a witness.
I agree to the claim made. I too, realized that. In my 13 years of studying, exercise helped me tremendously. To add on, exercise increases the heart beat which leads to increased breathing. This helps with more oxygen molecules for the brain. Thus, the brain gets one of its most important resources. It is known that the brain is the most ‘selfish’ organ in the body. It demands a lot of nutrients. Exercise, amongst other things, helps the brain achieve this.
Exercise is really for the brain, not the body. It affects mood, vitality, alertness, and feelings of well-being. I found studies of children, who ran around for 15 to 45 minutes before class and cut their ants-in-the-pants behavior by half when they got to class, and also preliminary animal research that suggests that exercise can cause new stem cells to grow, refreshing the brain and other body parts. Physical activity affects the number of new brain cells and impacts its ability to remember things.
This finding could also prove significant for potentially using exercise as an intervention for mental illness. Experiments in laboratory rats with ADHD-like behavior revealed that exercise was able to reduce the extent of these behaviors. You can also observe that in the same way as exercise affects male and female children with ADHD differently, exercise also proves more beneficial for female rats than males. Thus making the factors differ from your gender.
Dynamics of how exercise appears to improve learning and memory, the ‘brain derived neurotrophic factor’ (BDNF), which plays a role in the developing brains’ grow. There are discoveries that BDNF expression in exercising rats was positively connected with improved memory; and observed that the effects of exercising as an adolescent were longer lasting compared with adults who exercised for the same duration. (Medical News Today)
Daily exercising have so much more benefits in it for us. Not only are we able to look good, and feel good about ourselves – it relieves stress and also is a great “exercise” for our brain.
This is really interesting how physical fitness and mental fitness are linked ,living to the saying a healthy mind a healthy body , since the study included college students and measured they brain capacity , and the study concluded that physical fitness and mental fitness are directly proportion so why is that college students mostly have the worst diet in their age group and are not physically active as much as they should and further most become obese during they studies but still maintain they average even do their work gets harder and grows in proportion. This situation is highly contradictive to the article or is the exception the idea.
This is really interesting how physical fitness and mental fitness are linked ,living to the saying a healthy mind a healthy body , since the study included college students and measured they brain capacity , and the study concluded that physical fitness and mental fitness are directly proportion so why is that college students mostly have the worst diet in their age group and are not physically active as much as they should and further most become obese during they studies but still maintain they average even do their work gets harder and grows in proportion. This situation is highly contradictive to the article or is the an exception.
In 2011, me and my friend started a strategy of going to gym at least two times a week if not once. As students it helped a lot in our studies, going to gym also helped us to have a better time management skill. This article is really related to what happened to me and my friend. By the end of the year 2012, I started realizing that I’m living a better life, my fitness, my grade 12 results were even better than I expected.
Working out can also help fade some of the dangerous diseases away, Hearts problems, high blood and some other dangerous diseases can be caused by obesity. Exercising helps, I am a witness.
This makes sense as when you do Cardio you tend to be thinner and healthier (no offense to overweight people) thus are more awake and focused.
Now it sort of makes sense to me, when I was in Secondary school I used to exercise daily, pumping weights and running 2kms every day. This had a tremendous boost in my energy levels and thus my focus and attention span at school work. I remember that yes most definitely I was more diligent and my memory was much more better, but as you know one gets caught up in work and life so one becomes lazy to commit to such activity so as a consequence my ability to remember things did decrease. This only proves to me that I should definitely take time out to train daily.
This is very true, I exercise every day and I do just simple exercises and this really has improved my memory and concentration. What makes this amazing is simple exercise like taking the stairs and walking to the mall to do grocery shopping has the same effect and less time consuming. I started exercising while I was in matric at the end of last year and my marks improved in the last quarter. I used to study the whole day and I would forget all the things I studied at the beginning of the book due to not exercising at all and this wasted my time as I had to go back and reread. Therefore I advise everyone to try and fit in the exercise in their schedule and they will love the results. Being in good shape and achieving good marks it is a great feeling
I have found that excessive physically exhaustion can also lead to less satisfactory cognitive function. I’v made this assumption through my personal experience as someone who is physically active. I believe a healthy diet would be something to help as a positive reinforcement to study. So i believe that you should have a healthy diet and lifestyle to help with brain functionality and that weight doesn’t determent your cognitive functionality.
I can relate to the information published in this study and agree that excercise boosts memory. It makes logical sense that individuals who are more physically active will have better information retention in that when you ecxercise it improves bloodflow and oxgyen-flow to all parts of the body- including the brain. Excercise is also known to relieve stress and tension which inhibit clear thought and information recall, which leads to ‘blanking-out’ in a test. This used to happen to me regularly throughout my final year at high school, as I had cut-out most physical activity to devote more time to my academic work. The result that came about was the opposite to what I was trying to achieve and my marks decreased. I started to take up sports at a social level and not only did my marks increase but I felt better overall. Excerise is always a good solution and a allows for a good break from work and can be done as a social activity with friends. Great article
I believe that this theory requires more specific testing.
Possible methods to increase legitimateness of this statement include:
1) Wider population spectrum
2) These tests were conducted in the US, why not make it international and involve other backgrounds?
In addition, this statement, as i believe , raises certain questions like: What specific weight does a person must achieve, in relation to his age group, for his memory to suffer?
Is it the same for both sexes? (i believe, even though this is stated in the description above, it is not properly explained.)
Is it the same for all ethnic backgrounds?
Until these factors are achieved, this statement will remain, at least in my point of view, as a mere theory.
I have recently been told that I’m gaining weight every week so now I have the perfect excuse to start jogging and exercising as examinations are approaching.
During my Matric year; whenever I had to learn for a test I started by: taking a jog around the block, drank lots of water in the process to increase oxygen circulation in the blood and I ate fruit and vegetables, thus my brain would remain active for a longer period and increased my memory span.
I believe that fat people are lazy and do not want to push themselves and their brain’s memory span to remember what they have been taught; they lack oxygen in their blood and do not eat the right food ie. veggies, fruit and water whilst studying and that’s why they would suffer memory loss
I can really relate to this. I remember when I was busy with my finals in my matric year , I made it a priority to get atleast an hour’s exercise in daily, and this really boosted my focusing and study skills , and I was able to understand and remember my work a lot easier.
Exercising can also help with depression and this can be linked with being able to study and boosting your memory. Aerobic fitness is especially important as it allows your heart to pump a good supply of blood to the brain.
Exercising can only be beneficial to you .I feel that everyone should atleast try some form of exercise, even if it’s just walking around the block.
I believe that this theory requires more specific testing.
Possible methods to increase legitimateness of this statement include:
1) Wider population spectrum
2) These tests were conducted in the US, why not make it international and involve other backgrounds?
In addition, this statement, as i believe , raises certain questions like: What specific wieght does a person must achieve, in realtion to his age group, for his memory to suffer?
Is it the same for both sexes? (i believe, even though this is stated in the description above, it is not properly explained.)
Is it the same for all ethnic backgounds?
This study that was made is very important especially for students , we did the same study when I was in high school about the age of 14 , I’m addicted to sport and training if you can call it that and during my primary school days and high school days I never had trouble with concentration , because I was in the pool training for about 4 hours a day . At the age of 14 I had a terrible accident and couldn’t train for 3 months , my concentration levels dropped rapidly in that time.
If you don’t do sport and also don’t train you think you have all the time to study , but having all that time is bad , because then you never really make time to study where as when you do sport you plan your time and you know you only have a certain amount of time to study and in that time your brain concentrates more , because it knows it only has a certain amount of time to study and then your brain is also full of oxygen making you concentration levels higher.
From a young age it’s very important to do as much sport as possible , then rather just sitting around at home after school and thinking that you’re going to study.
I can relate to this. I’m a college student and I started exercising at the beginning of the second quarter of this semester and my current marks are better than my first quarter marks. Exercising does really help guys. You should really try it. You get in shape and help your memory. Killing two birds with one stone.
Every time I read about how exercise can boost your memory capabilities, I am always amazed!
According to a study done by the Department of Exercise Science at the University of Georgia, exercising briefly, for approximately 20 minutes gives rise to information processing and memory functions. Moreover, another study conducted from UCLA shows that aerobic exercise increase growth factors in the brain making it possible for it to grow new neuronal connections.
Therefore, here is a great reason why young adults should stay in shape and keep the blood flowing all the way to the brain; an increase in grades is guaranteed if diligent enough to put the necessary effort in!
It makes sense that individuals who are fitter and have lower body fat percentages will have better long term memory on average, when we take into consideration that fitter individuals have stronger hearts and are thus able to circulate more blood around their bodies with less beats. Fitter individuals are also better at using the oxygen that they breath, taking fewer breaths per minute on average than less fit and overweight individuals. Taking all this into account, the heart of fit individuals will be able to get more oxygen to the brain per beat and thus, this will allow the brain to function better. Another thing to remember is that people who are fit are generally exercising daily or at least 3 to 4 times a week, and studies have shown that people who exercise regularly have less stress. This in turn can account for better long term memory as stress leads to memory loss. (http://www.webmd.com/brain/memory-loss) Is a good article to read regarding this topic. Thus I would say stay fit and eat healthy for better memory retention.