Fitness and Memory

6th September

Did you know that regular exercise can make your brain work better and improve memory? Well, now you do. And if you stay on your training schedule, you won't forget.

Tone that brain muscle

Apart from toning the body and reducing the odds of developing heart disease and diabetes, the brain needs a work-out, too. Regular exercise helps reduce the brain fog we all suffer from, which unavoidably comes with ageing. Studies have shown that keeping and staying fit gets the brain into shape, which protects memory and thinking skills. Through research at the University of British Columbia, it has been proposed that regular heart-elevating aerobics exercise which gets the sweat glands pumping boosts the size of the hippocampus in the brain. Interestingly, resistance training and balance work didn't have the same results. So, ensure you schedule in aerobic work to get your mind flexing.

It's a chemical reaction

Improve your stress levels and sleep. Exercise helps memory through its ability to reduce insulin resistance and inflammation, and by stimulating the release of growth factors. When you hit the gym you will also be getting smarter, as well as supporting those much-needed eight hours kip a night that your body and brain needs for optimum health and happiness.

It's dope(amine)

Evidence produced through animal data reveals that release of certain neurotransmitters –dopamine and norepinephrine – leads to a biochemical cascade which leads to the production of plasticity related proteins. In normal language this basically means that aerobic exercise releases chemicals that helps the brain stabilise new memory traces, which would otherwise be lost. Some research has also shown that if you exercise for four hours after learning something new, it will help you retain the information. So, bad luck – if you work out 4-5 times a week, no more excuses about forgetting names, faces, phone numbers, dates...

Future proofing

As well as looking younger and healthier, if you exercise regularly you can slow brain ageing by up to ten years. Do your best to stave off a future with dementia at a time when the disease is on the rise. According to research, one new case of dementia is detected every four seconds, globally. Look out for the future you by working out – now.

Need some inspiration? Check out our classes to get that badass brain into gear.