When we exercise our brain also benefits because blood flow to this organ improves. Now, a new study led by experts from University College London (UCL) has revealed that practicing physical activity provides our brain with a cognitive boost that favors reasoning and is maintained for the following 24 hours. One more reason to include this habit in our lifestyle.
Previous laboratory research has shown that people’s cognitive performance improves in the hours after exercising, but it is unknown how long this benefit lasts. The results of the current work have been published in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity and show that, on average, people aged 50 to 83 who did more moderate to vigorous physical activity than usual on a given day performed better. results on memory tests the next day.
Other habits that were also associated with better scores on memory tests the next day were spending less time sitting and sleeping six hours or more. Additionally, deeper (slow-wave) sleep contributed to memory functioning, and the researchers found that this explained a small part of the link between exercise and better memory the next day.
Benefits of physical activity for memory
The research team analyzed data from 76 men and women who wore activity trackers for eight days and took cognitive tests each day. “Our findings suggest that the benefits of physical activity for short-term memory may last longer than previously thought, possibly into the next day rather than just a few hours after exercise. Sleeping more, especially deeply, seems contribute to this improvement in memory,” said lead author Dr Mikaela Bloomberg, from the UCL Institute of Epidemiology and Healthcare, in a note published by UCL.
“Moderate or vigorous activity is any activity that raises your heart rate, such as brisk walking, dancing, or climbing a few flights of stairs. It doesn’t have to be structured exercise,” he adds. “This was a small study and therefore needs to be replicated with a larger sample of participants before we can be sure of the results.”
In the short term, exercise increases blood flow to the brain and stimulates the release of neurotransmitters such as norepinephrine and dopamine, which support a variety of cognitive functions. These neurochemical changes are known to last up to a few hours after exercise. However, the researchers observed that other exercise-related brain states were longer lasting. For example, evidence suggests that exercise can improve mood for up to 24 hours.
A previous study, published by an independent research team in 2016, also found more synchronized activity in the hippocampus (a marker of greater hippocampal function, which facilitates memory function) for 48 hours after cycling with training in high intensity intervals (HIIT).
“Moderate or vigorous activity is any activity that raises your heart rate, such as brisk walking, dancing, or climbing a few flights of stairs. It doesn’t have to be structured exercise.”
“Among older adults, maintaining cognitive function is important for good quality of life, well-being and independence. Therefore, it is useful to identify factors that can affect day-to-day cognitive health,” explained Professor Andrew Steptoe (Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care at UCL) and co-author of the study. “This study provides evidence that the immediate cognitive benefits of exercise may last longer than we thought. It also suggests that good quality sleep contributes separately to cognitive performance.” .
“However, we cannot establish from this study whether these short-term increases in cognitive performance contribute to long-term cognitive health, and although there is much evidence to suggest that physical activity could slow cognitive decline and reduce the risk of dementia, is still a topic of debate.
For the new study, researchers analyzed data from wrist-worn activity trackers to determine how much time participants spent in a sedentary state, doing light physical activity, and doing moderate or vigorous physical activity. They also quantified sleep duration and time spent in lighter sleep (REM sleep) and deeper, slow-wave sleep.
When analyzing the links between different types of activity and cognitive performance the next day, the research team adjusted for a wide variety of factors that could have skewed the results, including the amount of moderate or vigorous physical activity the participants did on the day. of the tests.
They also took into account the participants’ average activity levels and sleep quality during the eight days they were followed, since participants who are typically more active and tend to have higher quality sleep perform better on cognitive tests.
The team found that more moderate or vigorous physical activity compared to the average person was linked to better working memory and episodic memory (memory for events) the next day.
Getting more sleep overall was associated with better episodic and working memory, as well as greater psychomotor speed (a measure of how quickly a person detects and responds to the environment). Sleeping more hours slowly was associated with better episodic memory. In contrast, spending more sedentary time than usual was associated with worse working memory the next day.
The study is one of the first to evaluate next-day cognitive performance using a “microlongitudinal” study design in which participants were followed as they went about their normal lives rather than having to stay in a laboratory. Among the limitations of the study, the researchers noted that the participants were a cognitively healthy group, which means that the results may not be transferable to people who suffer from neurocognitive disorders.
