20 Minutes of Exercise Can Improve Your Memory

Saturday, October 04, 2014

Joanna Evoniuk, GoLocalPDX Contributor

Lifting weights

Photo credit: greg westfall. via Compfight cc

Want to sharpen your memory? Try lifting weights.

An intense workout for just 20 minutes can improve long-term memory by 10 percent in healthy young adults, according to a new study by Georgia Institute of Technology.

In the study, subjects were tested two days after lifting weights once. Half of the participants who exercised remembered 60 percent of photo showed to them, while the control group who did not take part in the exercise remembered about 50 percent.

"Our study indicates that people don't have to dedicate large amounts of time to give their brain a boost," said Lisa Weinberg, a Georgia Tech graduate student who led the project, in an interview.

Justin Olsen, program manager at the Lloyd Athletic Club in Portland, said the link between exercise and memory has to do with stimulating the brain and the rest of the body.

“Part of exercise is continuing to challenge yourself and your mind,” Olsen said. “The activity and blood flowing is going to stimulate something.”

While the study participants only used weight training, resistance training would result in similar improvements, said Weinberg.

Olsen suggested even simple activities such as walking or resistance training with elastic tubing would be helpful in stimulating memory.

Exercise has been linked to improved memory in the past, but the Georgia Tech study shows that people can see results without investing months of aerobic exercise.