Neurogenesis: Why You Should Exercise Before (Not After) You Learn

Various activities spur neurogenesis, or the creation of new brain cells, from aerobic exercise to nootropics to silence . In turn, neurogenesis can lead to memory enhancement or memory loss, depending on when it occurs. Researchers have found that they can control whether rats remember or forget new information by spurring neurogenesis at different times. If neurogenesis occurs before learning, the rats retain the new information . If neurogenesis occurs after learning, it can cause the rats to forget that information. These findings could have practical implications for everyday, brain-boosting activities like exercise and deciding when to take cognition-enhancing supplements. Although there’s been a debate over the past year over whether or not adult brains form new neurons , the most recent research confirms that we do grow new brain cells throughout our lives—especially in the hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for memory. However, neurogenesis should not be conflated with memory formation. In fact, neurogenesis can cause us to forget just as often as it can lead us to remember. In a study published in Science , a research team from Toronto reported that newly formed cells in the hippocampus could “dislodge previously learned information.” This could help explain “infantile amnesia,” or why it’s so hard to recall memories from childhood. “Most people think new neurons mean better memory,” Sheena Josselyn, a neuroscientist who led the study, told Scientific American . “More neurons increase the capacity to learn new memories in the future. But memory is based on a circuit, so if you add to this circuit, it makes sense that it would disrupt it.” When we’re young, our brains are generating new neurons all the time. When we’re older, neurogenesis slows down. This is why the researchers chose to test young rats and old rats in […]

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