Exercise Gives Your Brain a 24-Hour Cognitive Boost: Study Finds - Video

The short-term boost our brains get after we do exercise persists throughout the following day, suggests a new study led by UCL researchers. The new study, published in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, found that, on average, people aged 50 to 83 who did more moderate to vigorous physical activity than usual on a given day did better in memory tests the day after.

Less time spent sitting and six hours or more of sleep were also linked to better scores in memory tests the next day. More deep sleep also contributed to memory function, and the research team found this accounted for a small portion of the link between exercise and better next-day memory.

The research team looked at data from 76 men and women who wore activity trackers for eight days and took cognitive tests each day. In the short term, exercise increases

blood flow to the brain and stimulates the release of neurotransmitters such as norepinephrine and dopamine which help a range of cognitive functions. These neurochemical changes are understood to last up to a few hours after exercise. However, the researchers noted that other brain states linked to exercise were more long-lasting. For instance, evidence suggests exercise can enhance mood for up to 24 hours.

For the new study, the researchers looked at data from wrist-worn activity trackers to determine how much time participants spent being sedentary, doing light physical activity, and doing moderate or vigorous physical activity. They also quantified sleep duration and time spent in lighter sleep and deeper, slow-wave sleep.

They also accounted for participants’ average levels of activity and sleep quality across the eight days they were tracked, as participants who are habitually more active and typically have higher-quality sleep perform better in cognitive tests.

The team found that more moderate or vigorous physical activity compared to a person’s average was linked to better working memory and episodic memory the next day. More sleep overall was linked to improved episodic and working memory and psychomotor speed. More slow-wave sleep was linked to better episodic memory. Conversely, more time spent being sedentary than usual was linked to worse working memory the next day.