Studies play sports after learning supports the memory

With a simple trick, you could learn much more effectively in the future
The more we understand how our bodies and brains work, the more we realize that a healthy body also often brings benefits to our brains. Researchers now discovered a powerful way to improve processes in our brain. This causes us to remember things better. Highly intensive physical training a few hours after the learning process allows us to remember information more easily.

Are you having trouble remembering information that you have just learned or read? Then there could be a trick that allows them to learn new facts and information faster and more effectively. Researchers from the Donders Institute at the Radboud University Medical Center in the Netherlands have now discovered in an investigation that there is a method that helps us to learn new information more easily. Through a physical intensive training after receiving new knowledge, we will be able to store information better. The experts published the results of their study in the journal "Current Biology".

Sport is good and keeps our body fit. However, not only does our body benefit from sport. The memory of our brain can also be improved through intensive physical exercises. (Image: nd3000 / fotolia.com)

Subjects need to perform memory test on computer
The new study examined 72 participants. These subjects underwent a memory test. Participants were asked to remember the locations of objects on a computer screen. Thereafter, the physicians divided the participants into a total of three different groups. A subgroup performed a 30 minute interval training immediately after the task. The second subgroup did so four hours after the memory test. The third group did not do any sports exercises at all, explain the researchers.

Exercises with delay showed the best results
After three days the participants took part again in the test. The researchers measured their brain activity with the help of an MRI machine. Subjects who performed the exercises after a delay could store maximum information compared to the other two groups, say the scientists. When the participants answered the questions correctly, the researchers noticed a greater activity in the hippocampus. This part of the brain is connected to learning and memory.

Neurotransmitters are strengthened by the exercises
According to the researchers, there are many possible reasons for the positive effect of the exercises on the overall health of the brain. The presence of neurotransmitters is strengthened by the exercises and these are involved in memory consolidation, say the authors. The researchers are not yet sure why delaying the exercises will affect our brains more. Further research will need to clarify in the future whether other forms of exercise or shorter breaks between learning and sport may be more beneficial, the experts explain.

Exercise four hours after learning improves memory by ten percent
To increase your chances of learning and remembering new information, you can work out four hours after learning, the authors advise. For example, when people train on a high-intensity bicycle after learning four hours earlier, they could better recall what they have learned. People who exercised intensively after learning new information four hours earlier showed, on average, an improvement in their memory performance of about ten percent, compared to people who did their sports exercises immediately after learning, the researchers explain.

Sport directly after learning does not improve memory
One reason for improving memory performance might be that the exercises can release neurotransmitters such as dopamine and norepinephrine, and these chemicals help the brain improve its memory, the authors suggest. Strangely enough, people who did their exercises right after learning were not really better than the group without exercise. The psychological effects of training immediately after learning could cause some disruption between the information studied and the formation of new memories, the medical profession speculates.

Physical exercise is clearly able to improve the learning process
Previous research has already shown that short exercise exercises can improve our short-term memory. Regular exercise can even increase the size of the hippocampus over time, researchers say. Newly learned information turns into long-term knowledge through a process of stabilization and the integration of memories, the authors explain. This requires certain substances in our brain that are also released during exercise, including dopamine, noradrenaline (norepinephrine) and a growth factor called BDNF. The brain processes new memories for a while after learning. Physical exercise allows these learning processes to be improved, the experts add. (As)