A great tool for strengthen memory It’s the exercise, but it’s not about mental exercises, it’s about the type of exercise you do with your sneakers on and in the gym.
Science says that for keep the brain in good shape, powerful and to improve its abilitiesit is not only important to sleep well, learn new things or play Sudoku, you also have to move your body and have daily physical activity, as this helps with things like blood flow to the brain, to develop certain skills and even to reduce the stress (and helps you sleep longer and better), which really isn’t good for anything when it gets out of hand.
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Even Bill Gates He says that, between his daily routine, he leaves time to exercise, focusing on sports that lead him to develop his strategic thinking and memory, that’s why he plays Pickleball since I was a child.
And it’s not just Bill Gates who says that physical activity can do great things for memory, both Science Daily as Harvard Health Publishing They have written about it and confirm that when you lead a less sedentary life, your brain gets stronger and your memory improves.
To strengthen memory: how much exercise you should do and what kind
Exercise is essential for the brain
Harvard Health Publishing He says that exercise not only helps you develop your thinking skills, but also helps your memory become stronger and doesn’t start to falter with age.
On its site, Harvard Health explains that exercise helps the brain because: “It acts directly in the body by stimulating physiological changes such as reduced insulin resistance and inflammation, as well as promoting the production of growth factors, chemicals that affect the growth of new blood vessels in the brain and even the abundance, survival, and overall health of new brain cells.
In addition, it also explains that science discovered that the part of the brain that is responsible for memory and thinking is larger in people who exercise and smaller in those who are more sedentary.
But does any amount and type of exercise work?
All exercise is good for health and it can benefit the brain, but it is important to be constant and take into account that, when the intensity is high, everything is better and the benefits increase.
The intensity of the exercise is important
Science Daily says that neuroscientists at the University of Geneva discovered that exercising intensively for a period of at least 15 minutes helps improve memory and develop motor skillsThis is because it activates the molecules that are responsible for the plasticity of the brain. The study says that intensity is more important than time, since a 15-minute intense session on the bike proved to be more effective than a 30-minute session but with a lower intensity.
What happens is that the most intense exercise activates the area of the brain known as the Hippocampus, which is the one that takes care of memory, and the caudate nucleus, which is the part that is in charge of motor processes (so that you move well and don’t bump into everything). Levels of a substance called endocannabinoid are also increased, which helps the brain perform better overall.
So the answer is simple, what you need to do is short sessions of exercise (between 15 and 30 minutes), but where the intensity is high, be it running, cycling or doing activities and sports such as boxing or swimming. This is not to say that moderate-intensity exercise doesn’t work, it simply means that more intense exercise is more effective.
And we must remember that, to have physical benefits and general health, science recommends doing at least 150 minutes of exercise a week.