Intense workout enhances long-term memory

A new study has revealed that intense workout of as little as 20 minutes can enhance episodic memory, also known as long-term memory for previous events, by about 10 percent in healthy young adults.

The study by Georgia Institute of Technology had participants lift weights just once two days before testing them and also had participants study events just before the exercise rather than after workout, because of extensive animal research suggesting that the period after learning (or consolidation) is when the arousal or stress caused by exercise is most likely to benefit memory.

The participants looked at a series of 90 photos on a computer screen. The images were evenly split between positive (i.e. kids on a waterslide), negative (mutilated bodies) and neutral (clocks) pictures. Participants weren't asked to try and remember the photos. Everyone then sat at a leg extension resistance exercise machine. Half of them extended and contracted each leg at their personal maximum effort 50 times. They returned to the lab 48 hours later and saw a series of 180 pictures - the 90 originals were mixed in with 90 new photos.

Lisa Weinberg, the Georgia Tech graduate student who led the project, said that their study indicates that people don't have to dedicate large amounts of time to give their brain a boost and that resistance activity, such as squats or knee bends would likely produce the same results. In other words, exercises that don't require the person to be in good enough to shape to bike, run or participate in prolonged aerobic exercises.

The study was published in the journal Acta Psychologica.