10 minutes of exercise a day can improve memory, this new study suggests

What is a slightly superfluous activity that you frequently spend 10 minutes on checking your emails? Scroll the newly added section of Netflix? Take the 9000th picture of your cat sleeping? Well, it turns out that replacing these less vital activities with 10 minutes of exercise a day can improve memory, found scientists at the University of California, Irvine. According to guardian, this short period of light exercise can "stimulate connectivity of the brain and help the brain to distinguish between similar memories." Tell me more!

The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, examined the impact of 10 minutes of light exercise, "tied with yoga and tai chi", out of 36 subjects in their early twenties. After the exercise, the volunteers had a memory test that consisted of recalling the images presented to everyday objects and then retaking the test without exercising beforehand. "We used very similar delicate items to see if they would remember if it was that exact picnic basket with respect to that picnic basket," said Michael Yassa, co-author and neuroscientist of the 'study. guardian. 16 of these volunteers – some of whom had exercised, some of whom had remained at rest – had the brain scanned when the test was resumed.

The results? As the guardian reports, "In the brains of those who had exercised, they discovered better communication between the hippocampus – an important area in the storage of memory – and the cortical brain regions involved in the memory living memories. " The subjects who had exercised were also "better at separating or distinguishing the different memories," the paper explains.

"An evening stroll is enough to get benefits," Yassa said daily. guardian, explaining that "age, mobility level, potential disability and other lifestyle factors" will have an impact on the level of physical exercise that everyone should do and to how often.

This is not the first time that exercise is associated with improved brain function. Earlier this year, the New York Times reported on a study on mice at Brigham Young University. The researchers concluded that "the exercise improved the animals' memory, even in the face of stress, by inflating their synapses and mitigating the negative effects that stress would have had on these neuronal connections".

the Harvard Health blog discusses a study at the University of British Columbia, where researchers found that regular aerobic exercise, the type that stimulates the heart and sweat glands, seems to increase the size of the ''. hippocampus, the brain area involved in verbal memory and learning. "It is interesting to note that other forms of exercise – including resistance, balance and strength exercises – did not have the same impact.

Harvard Health also explains why exercise can improve memory, explaining: "The benefits of exercise come directly from its ability to reduce insulin resistance, reduce inflammation and reduce stimulate the release of growth factors affecting the health of brain cells. the growth of new blood vessels in the brain, and even the abundance and survival of new brain cells. "

Pretty convincing things, is not it? It's time to fish yoga mats, friends. The cat photos will have to wait.