EFFECTS OF EXERCISE ON LEARNING AND MEMORY

Being a physical education student and a trainer, I know how important physical activity and exercise are for a person, for some exercise and physical activity are a source of income, for some, it is a recreational activity and for some it is medicine. Exercise not help us to build not only a healthy body but also a healthy mind.

                                     

Exercise is medicine, not only for athletes or people in rehabilitation but for everyone. In this article, we will come to know about some of the aspects of How exercise helps in cognitive development and learning?

The idea of, “how exercise helps the brain?” is a new research concept being investigated by the neuroscientists. This is a controversial topic in fitness and public health as many studies support both the fact that there are significant changes and no changes in cognitive performance after physical activity.  

The term BDNF occurs again and again when talking about brain plasticity. Brain plasticity or neuroplasticity refers to the life long ability of brain to rewire itself or modify the neural connections. BDNF means Brain-derived neurotrophic factor so, what is it?

BDNF is a protein (like a fertilizer) in the brain which helps in neurogenesis which means the growth of new brain cells, this helps in brain injury recovery, helps in neural survival growth, and also acts as a neurotransmitter modulator. A decrease in BDNF is associated with the neuronal loss which can lead to diseases like Parkinson's disease, etc.

Both studies on rats and humans show an increase in the level of BDNF which further improves learning. A study published in the Journal of the neurobiology of learning and memory by Benward Winter and colleagues titled “High impact running improves learning”, 28 subjects were tested in three conditions high impact anaerobic sprints, low impacts aerobic running and a period of rest. There was a 20 percent faster increase in learning after high impact anaerobic sprints when compared with the other two conditions. There was a maximum increase in BDNF and catecholamines in this condition (anaerobic sprints).

In another study published in the Journal of Neurophysiology by Fernando Gómez-Pinilla titled “Voluntary Exercise induces a BDNF- mediated mechanism that promotes Neuroplasticity” performed on rats shows an increase in the level of BDNF and it's signal transduction receptor when exposed to voluntary wheel running. In a separate experiment when the soleus muscle was paralyzed, there was a sharp decline in BDNF and its signal transductor receptor even reduced below to the sedentary rats. So, it concluded that basic neuromuscular activity is needed to maintain the normal BDNF levels.

                                                               

     

A very promising and convincing study came out from kirk. I Erickson and colleagues from 4 different universities titled "Exercise training increases the size of the hippocampus and improves memory". In this study, a randomized control trial was done on 120 older adults, the aerobic exercise training leads to an increase in anterior hippocampus, leading to improvement in spatial memory. There was an increase of about 2% of the volume of the anterior hippocampus, effectively reversing the age-related loss of 1-2 years. With that an increase in the level of BDNF. Whereas the hippocampus volume was declined in the sedentary or the controlled group.

A study from the University of Mississippi was published in the Journal of Health Promotion Perspective. The study aimed to find the effect of acute exercise on memory with close and open skilled exercises. The main difference in open and closed skill exercises is that in open skilled exercises the individual is required to react dynamically. Racquetball was used as a dynamic skilled exercise whereas running on a treadmill was closed skill exercise, both were performed at a 60% heart rate. Participants were tested based on retrospective and prospective memories. 

{What is Prospective memory?

  Prospective memory involves remembering something or remembering to do something after a delay, such as forgetting to turn off the lights after arriving at the office.}

The study resulted that retrospective memory (can be understood by the term memory of the past, remembering names, people words, etc.) was greater after closed skill exercise(treadmill) in comparison to open skilled exercise.

One more aspect of researches is seen, the timing of the exercise, before or after learning.

 One research published in the PloS One (Marc Roig et.al, 2012) 48 young subjects were divided into three groups, to find out if one bout of single exercise can improve motor learning and motor skill, with that the acquisition and retention of a motor skill. One group performed exercise before practicing and other groups performed exercise after the practice. As a result, both the group gradually increased motor learning, motor skill, also the retention of motor skills was increased.

Another convincing study published in the Current Biology report (Eelco V. Van Dongen, et.al, 2016) in which three groups of randomly designed participants were allocated. One group performed exercise immediately, one group performed exercise after 4 hours and the third group did not perform any type of exercise. After 48 hours later the group was recalled for a cued recall test in a Magnetic Resonance Chamber. The participants who performed exercise 4 hours later shows better encoding from the rest.

Now, the question which arises in everyone's mind is “How exercise is related to the memory?”

EFFECTS OF EXERCISE ON MEMORY

The memory retention depends upon the successful stabilization and integration of new memories after initial encoding. This process requires neuromodulator factors such as dopamine and brain-derived neurotrophic factors, without the release of these factors the memory retention of the encoding will decay rapidly.

Neuroplasticity in neuron

In simpler terms, these neuromodulator factors are required to store the memory for a longer time. As we all know that learning new things helps in developing new neural connections and neurons, these factors help them to keep them alive and remain for a longer period.

We have seen the potential of exercise and physical activity, how it significantly

• reduces the chances of having CVD diseases and helps CVD patients,
•  helps in reducing obesity among the people,
• slow down the aging process,
•  increases various physical capabilities,
• helps patients with neural disorders and having numerous other benefits.

Some researchers hypothesized that our current human condition is due to the mixed action of our ancestors of learning and physical activity, that provided an optimal base or ecosystem to develop as who we are today. This idea seems logical as other creatures on this planet surely perform some kind of physical activity but are not eager to learn as human beings and also they are not blessed to think like us.

Therefore, exercise has the potential to boost up our cognitive and memory process and also helps in preventing and reducing the chances of having neural disorders. A good session of exercise after or before studying will surely help in the retention of the memory or that knowledge and will also reduce your chance of having neural disorders.

For my blogs related to Physical education, you can visit the Physical education world

REFERENCES

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12424260/?dopt=Abstract

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1074742706001596

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ejn.13719

http://hpp.tbzmed.ac.ir/Article/hpp-32058

https://www.pnas.org/content/108/7/3017

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22973462/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27321998/