As we age, having a robust memory is crucial to our health, well-being, and independence. And while memory loss not considered a normal part of aging, it is extremely common in middle age and beyond. In fact, according to statistics released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one in nine middle-aged people report experiencing cognitive impairment or memory loss. More than half of the people who reported it said they had difficulty completing everyday tasks, such as cooking, cleaning or taking medicine. Fortunately, there’s a simple way to improve your memory to offset the likelihood of a problem, and it only takes 10 minutes a day to do it. Read on to find out how to improve your memory starting today.
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A large body of research has linked physical exercise with enhanced memory. Now, a 2018 study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences says that getting as little as 10 minutes of exercise per day can give you a cognitive boost.
Researchers from the University of California, Irvine (UCI) and Japan’s University of Tsukuba collaborated on the study to assess the effects of exercise in the brain and memory. They used fMRI to measure these benefits in 36 healthy people and found that exercising for as little as 10 minutes can have a positive effect on the brain.
“We found that this brief intervention rapidly improved highly detailed memory processing and resulted in heightened activity in the hippocampus and surrounding regions,” the study authors wrote. After 10 minutes of exercise, they also noted increased communication “between the hippocampus and cortical regions previously known to support detailed memory processing.”
This idea could have important implications for the aging of the population. The hippocampus is essential for creating new memories; it is one of the first regions of the brain to deteriorate as we age, and much more severely in Alzheimer’s disease,” miguel yassastudy co-author and professor at UCI, said via daily science. “Improving hippocampal function holds great promise for improving memory in everyday settings.”
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The research team added that even in short sessions, “gentle, stress-free exercise” such as walking, yoga or tai chi could have significant effects on memory. This finding suggests that for most people, improvements are within reach with only minor changes in their daily habits.
“It’s encouraging to see more people tracking their exercise habits, by tracking the number of steps they take, for example,” Yassa said. “Even short walking breaks throughout the day can have significant effects on improving memory and cognition,” she added.
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Many people may assume that if light exercise is good, intense exercise is great. However, the study found that high-intensity exercise seemed to undermine some of the cognitive benefits they observed. “Interestingly, these effects were suppressed with intense exercise,” the study states.
Other research supports the idea that light exercise may be better for the brain than high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and other forms of high-intensity exercise. In 2016, researchers conducted a study in rodents. comparing the cognitive effects of various exercise intensities. They assigned different exercise routines to different groups of animals, then microscopically examined the brain tissue of each at the end of the exercise period.
The rodents that performed a moderate regimen of jogging on wheels had the highest levels of neurogenesis, the team found. This means that they formed the most new neurons in the brain compared to sedentary animals and those that had completed higher intensity regimens. While sedentary animals had developed the fewest new neurons in the hippocampus region, those that had completed HIIT training were not far behind.
The researchers behind the original 2018 study noted a larger reason for to get up from the sofa more often: The cognitive benefits of just 10 minutes of exercise are instant. Yassa notes that the researchers saw an immediate positive impact among their subjects. The various “memory-focused” brain regions increased their real-time communication.
“We don’t rule out the possibility of new cells being born, but that’s a process that takes a little longer to develop,” Yassa said. “What we observed is that these 10-minute exercise periods showed results immediately afterward,” she added.
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