Brief exercise before learning a task improves both short- and long-term memory

( Natural News ) It’s not news that exercise benefits a person, both physically and mentally — but how much and when should one do it? A study published in the journal Psychological Reports reported that a short period of exercise before learning enhances both short and long-term memory . Researchers at the University of Mississippi sought to determine when exercise, in relation to the learning task, can best boost memory. For the study, they recruited university students aged between 18 and 35 who didn’t smoke, were not pregnant, and had no recent injuries or learning disabilities. The participants also did not exercise recently, drink coffee, or take controlled substances. The team asked the participants to complete four one-hour visits to the laboratory. One of the four visits was a control session in which the participants did not exercise, but took a five-minute rest before completing the short and long-term memory task. The other visits involved three sessions of exercise. The participants would do the learning task before, during, or after the exercise, in which they walked on a treadmill at an average of 3.4 miles per hour (mph) for 15 minutes. After all the visits, the participants spent 20 minutes watching an episode of The Office, which served as a distraction. Afterward, they attempted to recall the words from the memory test. The results revealed that the participants’ learning improved across trials. However, walking on the treadmill before the learning task resulted in the most significant improvements both in short and long-term memory performance. Get CLEAN FOOD and help support our mission to keep you informed : The Health Ranger Store lab verifies everything we sell with accredited testing for heavy metals, microbiology and food safety. Certified organic facility, ISO-accredited on-site laboratory, no GMOs or synthetic ingredients. The […]

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