Brain Gains: Exercise If You Want To Remember

Brain Gains: Exercise If You Want To Remember
Study finds correlation between lack of exercise and deficient long-term memory
Oustideonline.com
Elise Craig
2014-05-09
Link: http://www.outsideonline.com/fitness/bodywork/the-fit-list/Brain-Gains-Exercise-If-You-Want-To-Remember-Your-Life.html?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=facebookpost

"No matter how smart you think you are, getting some exercise might just make you a bit sharper. Researchers at Michigan State University have found that being out of shape could mess with your long-term memory.

Most research into aerobic exercise and memory has focused on children and the elderly, but Kimberly Fenn, assistant professor of psychology, and Matthew Pontifex, assistant professor of kinesiology, wanted to investigate how it affects healthy young adults. To test college-age long-term memory retention—long term is defined as anything longer than 30 seconds—they rounded up 75 students and had them memorize sets of two-word pairs, like “pants-zipper,” and “oxygen-air.”

They also evaluated each student’s fitness level based on factors including oxygen consumption during a treadmill test, participants' weight, percent body fat, age and sex. “About half of the students fell below what would be considered average for their age and sex,” Pontifax says."

Click to continue reading...