The Relationship between Coordinative Physical Activity and Memory

Background: Studies have revealed that maintaining brain health is an important public health goal, which physical activity can help us to achieve. Exercise also has beneficial effects on brain functions including plasticity promotion as well as learning and memory enhancement.

Methods: In this study we investigated whether a single bout of coordinative physical exercise, during the school day, can improve short- or long-term memory recall. The study involved 83 students in 4^th grade and 6^th grade, who were divided into four groups: Group 1 – control group (4^th grade; N = 25); Group 2 – experimental group which carried out coordinative physical exercise before learning (4^th grade; N = 22); Group 3 – control group (6^th grade; N = 18); Group 4 – experimental group which carried out coordinative physical exercise during the consolidation phase of memory (6^th grade; N =18). The pupils were briefly taught about 20 different sports and then they had to recall the names of the sports. All groups performed two memory tests, short-term memory immediately after learning and long-term memory 48 hours after learning.

Results: The results indicate that the group which carried out coordinative exercise before learning (Group 2) managed to preserve the long-term memory similarly to the short-term memory, while in the other groups the level of long-term memory decreased compared to short-term memory.