Feel great, look great, age slowly, reduce your risk of disease—we thought we heard every benefit of exercise under the sun but here’s another. Studies are revealing that exercise right after learning can boost your memory. So ladies, if you’re looking to improve your GPA or become the master of your new craft, a few burpies and sprints after a cram session may help.
The study, conducted by the School of Psychology at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, found that female participants who exercised after learning performed significantly better on memory tests than participants who performed non-exercise activities after learning.
Boost Your Memory Wherever You Learn
– Build in intervals of exercise whenever you are learning something new. Whether you’re learning to sew, play a new instrument, or simply studying for an exam, try to work even just 5 minutes of cardio after your session. This alone may boost your memory and improve your retention of what you just learned.
– Unfortunately, kids can’t control how much physical activity they get at school, so make sure you encourage ‘exercise after learning’ at home. Have your kids perform jumping jacks after studying a few spelling words. Although the study did not produce the same results in males, it can’t hurt to get your boys in the groove of exercising anyway. They can always take advantage of all the other benefits of exercising like stress reduction and improved circulation—especially after long stretches of sitting and studying.
– Share these findings with your children’s school. With your kids spending over seven hours in classrooms learning away, imagine the benefits they could gain from incorporating exercise breaks into their lesson plans, even if just for 5 minutes. Aside from all the benefits of improved focus, attention, and memory, they will also learn the importance of building regular exercise into their daily lives.
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