How does intense exercise affect memory?

More intense exercise is not always better for a person's memory than moderate exercise, according to a new study.

Researchers at Dartmouth University in Hanover, New Hampshire, found that people who regularly do moderate physical activity often have better episodic memory than their peers who engage in more strenuous exercise. This means that they are better at remembering specific events. 

However, more intense physical activity improves a person's spatial memory, which allows them to remember locations better. 

The findings surprised experts, who noted that it is generally thought that more intense physical activity correlates with stronger memory and overall brain function. This study emphasizes that different levels of activity can affect different parts of the brain and have different effects as a result.

The researchers, who published their findings in the journal Scientific Reports, collected data from 113 people for the study.

Judging from previous studies, the Dartmouth University team expected the group who engaged in more intense physical activity to show better results in all types of memory than their peers, but that was not the case.

People whose primary physical activity over the past year was described as "moderate" performed better on tests of episodic memory than their peers who participated in more intense exercise.

Researchers describe episodic memory as the ability to remember autobiographical events, such as explaining what a person did the day before.

Those who participated in the more intense workouts did better on the spatial memory test -- the ability to remember the location of objects.

But any physical activity is better than no exercise: Participants with an active lifestyle scored better on overall memory than their more sedentary counterparts. 

The researchers also found that people suffering from anxiety or depression performed better than others on spatial and associative memory tasks.

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