
How Exercise Affects Our Memory - erickhill
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/01/well/move/how-exercise-affects-our-memory.html
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opportune
Sample size: 26. Confounding variable: all older people. Also the exercisers
_did not_ perform significantly better in the memory test! They only had
higher activation in the regions of the brain associated with memory! Really a
garbage conclusion from the actual article

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yjftsjthsd-h
... Isn't increased brain activity a sign of _worse_ performance? Because when
your brain is actually operating efficiently, it doesn't need to light up very
many neurons to do what it needs to do.

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antris
This is literally what is said in TFA:

 _> Less activity suggests that the brain had become more efficient at
semantic-memory processing as a result of the exercise, requiring fewer
resources to access the memories._

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maxerickson
It's clear in the paper that their result is the other way around, exercise
was correlated with higher activation intensity.

[https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-
core/c...](https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-
core/content/view/07DE0F919CEFBCE268A95474DFA1BC47/S1355617719000171a.pdf/semantic_memory_activation_after_acute_exercise_in_healthy_older_adults.pdf)

The activation intensity isn't necessarily a measure of efficiency anyway.
There wasn't a difference in blood flow, so energy use would have been
similar.

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interfixus
Hardly even anecdotal, just my personal experience: I always disliked sports,
and I would't _dream_ of entering a 'fitness center' or whatever they're
called. I do a minute or two with hand-weights every morning, I walk my dog,
and I bike [pedals, not motor] a bit - the oldfashioned way, nothing fancy or
spandexed about it. But am often puzzled by everyone's physical passivity: I
don't really get the point of escalators, for example. I tend to trot up the
stairs if they are available, in the process generally overtaking the stand-
still folks on the conveyor. It seems to work: I'm sixty and in very decent
shape and excellent health.

As for kickstarting my brain when it goes mushy, honestly I find driving at
least as efficient as walking or biking. Change of scenery, not _having_ to
think, seems to do the trick for me.

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hawaiian
Anecdotally, long periods of exercise (cycling 50+ miles in a single session,
once a week) seem to nuke my short-term memory for a few hours, but over time
this habit seems to have improved my short-term memory for things such as
phone number extensions.

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brian_cunnie
I have the same experience after rugby matches and open water swimming — my
short-term memory is shot for the next few hours, but then it recovers. I have
no evidence for the long-term effects.

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x11
It might sound dumb, but whenever I'm stuck and I need to solve a hard coding
problem, a long walk does the trick.

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agumonkey
Do trips also work (car, train, or else) ?

Also being in a different location unleashes a lot of inspiration very often.

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bumby
I think there's decent evidence that low intensity exercise can increase BDNF
which helps increase neural connections. Not really the same as this study,
but a different effect of exercise on the brain

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pishpash
Methinks sleep increases memory performance more.

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hinkley
If exercise helps you sleep better, A -> B -> C

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LeonB
Sleep helps you exercise better moreso than the inverse.

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sriram_malhar
IIRC, I exercised yesterday.

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jdhn
I wonder if those who primarily benefit from exercise based are primarily
older people. If it's not, then either I need to see a neurologist, start
exercising harder/more frequently, or both.

