A study conducted by researchers from the University of California, Irvine and University of Tsukuba in Japan suggest that even light physical activity done for just 10 minutes may enhance your memory. Such small chunks of mild movement have been found to increase connections between the regions of the brain responsible for making and storing memories. The findings were published on Tuesday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal. The study

Researchers assessed the brain activity of 36 healthy young adult volunteers after 10 minutes of mild exercise using high-resolution functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans. The scans showed that after physical activity, there was better connectivity between the hippocampal dentate gyrus and cortical areas of the brain that are linked to memory processing.

The co-leader of the study, Michael Yassa, a University of California, Irvine professor and Chancellor’’s Fellow of neurobiology & behavior says that the hippocampus plays an essential role when it comes to the formation of new memories and that it’s one of the first parts of the brain to decline with age. He says that this deterioration is especially heightened for people with Alzheimer’s disease.

The findings of this research also suggest that higher connectivity between those regions is associated with higher memory recollection.

According to Yassa, the approach of this study differs from many previous ones exploring the relationship between exercise and memory. He says that those studies tended to focus on the formation of new cells in the memory-processing regions of the brain, whereas this study focuses on and also shows enhanced communication between those regions – a more immediate effect of exercise.

Yassa emphasises that even small nuggets of exercise during the day — such as short walking breaks — can have a significant impact on our brain function.

He, along with the team of researchers, involved in this study are now aiming to expand the realm of this research and study whether mild, short bouts of daily exercise over an extended period of time can help prevent age-related mental decline in older adults.

What this can mean for you

If you’ve been more forgetful than you like recently, adding bits of movement to your day might just be the right antidote. Parking your car a bit further than usual, stretching at your desk or having a brief lunchtime stroll are all examples of light exercise that can work to keep your mind sharper for longer.

By Tesneem Ayoub

Sources:

1. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/09/180924153424.htm

2.https://news.uci.edu/2018/09/24/now-you-just-need-to-remember-to-exercise/