How does regular exercise affect memory?

Regular exercise helps prevent episodic memory - remembering specific events in the past, including their time, location and other contextual information from deteriorating, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh (USA) reported.

Their new study is reported in an article published in the journal Communications Medicine.

Episodic memory is the first to deteriorate with age. However, they found that exercises 3 times a week for at least 4 months allow to compensate for age-related deterioration of episodic memory.

Experiments on mice showed that exercise increases blood flow to the brain and improves memory. A similar effect of exercise on the human body was confirmed when 1,279 studies were analysed. Researchers selected 36 scientific papers that met certain criteria and conducted a statistical analysis of the findings, which included three thousand participants.

According to the scientists, people aged 55-68 showed greater improvements in episodic memory thanks to exercise than those aged 69-85. This indicates that one should start regular physical activity as early as possible.

Researchers also found the greatest effect of exercise in those who had not yet experienced cognitive decline, as well as in studies in which participants exercised several times a week.

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