The Time of Day You Exercise Can Affect Your Memory

A new study has just confirmed yet another benefit of exercise: working out after completing a task helps immensely to improve memory. But there’s a catch—the time you work out affects your memory as well.

Researchers at Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour at Radboud University Medical Center published an article in Current Biology discussing the benefits of working out after an experiment that tested seventy-two participants ability to recall information from a 40-minute picture-location memory exercise. Some of the study participants were asked to exercise immediately after, some were asked to exercise four hours after the task, and others were told not to exercise at all. 

After reviewing the participants brain scans two days later, researchers found that those who’d exercised four hours after completing the task retained information better than any other group.

Just why? Scientists are still not sure, but they think it has something to do with your “hippocampus,” the part of your brain that deals with memory and learning. Duh.

“Our results suggest that appropriately timed physical exercise can improve long-term memory and highlight the potential of exercise as an intervention in educational and clinical settings,” Dr. Fernández, one of the authors of the study explained to Sci-News.

In other words, learn some shit, think about it for a while, and then head to the gym. Your brain will thank you for it later.

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