Exercise & better: Learning, memory, executive function, and academic achievement

FitnessLifestyleHealthMovementExercise

Sep 11

Written By Pete Ostergren

Moving your body will do more for your brain than any riddle, math equation, mystery book, or even thinking itself

- David Perlmutter MD

Cognitive Cardio

Although my health struggles have been a lifelong journey, the most severe parts of the story were split into two separate periods, about two years each in duration.

After mostly recovering from the first of these two episodes, I set off to finally start my life. Work a job, make friends, get back into trail running and climbing—live a little, after being out of commission for so long.

I moved states, and had a buddy who was kind enough to take me in temporarily until I got on my feet.

Given that we were in the middle of COVID, jumping back into my career as a personal trainer wasn’t an option. Gyms weren’t hiring, and clients weren’t showing up.

The last thing I wanted to do was pivot and find a new career, but I needed a job, and I was presented with an option through a new friend I had made. He was working as an insurance producer, and he connected me with two separate companies that both told me the same thing: get your insurance license, and we’ll take you on.

Right alongside being an accountant, working in insurance was about the farthest thing from my ideal career. But I decided to swallow the pill. Do what I have to do for now, and find a way to do something I’m passionate about later.

I knew nothing about insurance, and everyone in the industry that I talked to seemed to rave about how hard the test was. I wasn’t a stranger to difficult tests, and I had worked hard over my lifetime to develop the skill of learning how to learn.

However, my brain wasn’t fully recovered from the damage and sickness I had experienced. Focusing was still difficult, certainly for long periods of time. Memorization was a nightmare, and my overall confidence in being able to function at a high level cognitively was depleted. Regardless, I dove in. Bought the online courses, got the workbooks, and cut out the flashcards.

I was committed to downloading the information as fast as possible, passing the test the first time, and hitting the ground running with a new job. I’d spent too much time sick in bed, floating somewhere between a human and a corpse. I was ready to go.

But I knew I needed to be tactical about it. I couldn’t just sit down and grind out hours upon hours of studying. I would need breaks—lots of them. I would need to be strategic about when and how I studied, and I would have to be conservative with how I spent my daily allowance of energy, as I was still healing.

During the height of my sickness and brain issues, I dove into the neuroscience world, looking for any answers that could help me. I remembered that I had come across a few interesting studies on how exercise—especially paired with bouts of learning—can increase memory recall, executive function, and academic achievement. I was desperate for any edge I could find, so I figured I’d give it a try.

So, I started a grueling routine that consisted of nothing more than eating, studying, and moderately exercising throughout the day.

I wasn’t healthy enough to trail run yet, so I had to settle for walking. I was living in a little river town in the hills of Western Pennsylvania, and the options were endless. Multiple trail networks close to the house, run-down mining and steel-town neighborhoods, wooded roads, and multi-million-dollar castle-like mansions that housed the Penguins and Steelers players. A different view to pick from, depending on my mood, always with trees and hills. So many hills.

I spent the next several weeks devoting each day to executing at least three blocks of studying during the day, alongside at least two long walks amounting to about six or seven miles a day. I would sometimes study flashcards while walking, but at other times, I would walk to clear my mind.

I didn’t even bother to count the hours studying. All I cared about was that it worked. Whether it was all science, or simply a mix of science, placebo, and drive, it worked. I’m not saying I couldn’t have gotten success without the planned exercise, but it did give me a noticeable edge. I went from being unable to focus for extended periods to studying several hours a day and passing my test with flying colors.

Joke’s on me, I got my license, and suddenly neither of those companies was hiring anymore. Dagger. But getting that license led me to another job, and it all ended up working out.

Let’s jump into some of the science on why pairing exercise with learning likely helped me succeed when I was at a disadvantage, and how it may help you, whether you're a student or in the workforce.

I want to break this down into three parts:

How exercise, regardless of timing or environment, may benefit your cognition
The effects of exercise paired with learning, as well as with a timed delay
Exercising in nature and its benefits for cognition

Build The Brain

Exercise doesn’t just build your muscles. It builds your brain, too.

A neurologist and instructor by the name of Dr. Scott McGinnis mentions that many studies suggest that the parts of the brain that control thinking and memory (the prefrontal cortex and medial temporal cortex) have greater volume in people who exercise, versus people who don't [1,3]. Even as little as six months of consistent, moderate-intensity exercise is associated with an increase in the volume of selected brain regions [1].

Another region of the brain that’s directly impacted by exercise is the hippocampus. The hippocampus has many functions, including memory consolidation, emotional regulation, and decision-making.

The University of British Columbia performed a study that regular aerobic exercise (cardio) actually boosts the size of the hippocampus [1]. A separate study shows this growth to be about 2%, reversing age-related loss [3]. To all my buddies who I joke with about having little walnut-sized brains, get movin’.

I mentioned that one of the functions of the hippocampus concerns your emotions. This region of the brain plays a crucial role in processing emotional experiences. It helps regulate responses to stress and fearful experiences, which is why it's essential to move your body after a traumatic or stressful situation. Animals and humans typically unconsciously shake to release stress after intense experiences. If you don’t shake, at least move. Your brain will process the experience more optimally.

Since executive and cognitive functions underlie academic performance, and because specific subjects, such as mathematics and reading, are most influenced by physical activity [2], it is essential for children to engage in a healthy amount of exercise. A 45-minute Recess or PE class isn’t enough. There is sufficient evidence to show that frequent bouts of vigorous or moderate-intensity activity yield substantial benefits in terms of learning and cognitive development [2].

Regardless of your age, physical activity directly impacts your brain health and growth. The fitter you are, the more capable you are of allocating greater attentional resources toward the environment and are able to process information more quickly [5].

Learning During & After Physical Activity

I was recently talking to a friend who helps run summer camps. He told me that previously, they would instruct camp leaders to study the map and layout of the facility with little success in them learning the grounds. However, after having the leaders perform a scavenger hunt around the facility instead of studying a map, they seemed to learn quickly.

“It worked because they were playing”, I said. Magic happens with movement, but its effects are increased when that movement is fun.

Dr. Karyn Purvis, from the Institute of Child Development, teaches us that it takes approximately 400 repetitions to create a new synapse in the brain—unless it’s done with play, in which case it takes between 10 and 20 repetitions.

Movement isn’t always play, but playing usually involves movement. Physically active lessons in a classroom improved academic achievement in students by 6 percent [4]. I’ve always been a firm believer that the academic world should adopt more of a Montessori model when it comes to childhood education.

If you’re trying to learn something or be productive, try incorporating movement with it. If possible, make it into a game. You may just surprise yourself.

If you don’t move during, try moving after—specifically 4 hours afterward. Studies show that this specifically timed delay greatly enhanced memory retention [10]. Many of us do not have time in our busy lives to plan our work and exercise to such a specific degree as this, but the point is this: moving more is only going to help you with your cognitive-specific tasks, such as work and education.

School of the Great Outdoors

We’ve firmly established that exercise increases cognitive function. However, the environment in which the exercise is performed may be just as important.

Research indicates that spending time in nature yields cognitive benefits comparable to those of exercise [7]. Now imagine how much those perks are increased when we combine the two.

A study by the University of Michigan found that people who walked around trees did 20% better on a memory recall test than those who wandered around urban pathways. So if you're studying something all day, a walk in the park not only helps you recover, but it also helps you recall [8]. This bit of information resonated with me deeply, since I was performing my study-break walks on trails and wooded roads.

Lastly, children with ADHD concentrated better in class and on tasks after a walk in the park versus a walk in a downtown setting [9]. If you’ve read my post on the impacts of exercise on mental health, you are aware of my thoughts on the importance of movement for children. This additional piece of information only strengthens my belief.

Being in nature is a game-changer for your mind and body, regardless of whether you’re looking to boost your brain game, but if you’re someone who has trouble focusing, this one’s especially for you.

What to do with this information

I understand that we all have chaotic, busy lives, where we’re moving from one appointment to the next. Therefore, it’s unreasonable for me to suggest that you organize your work, education, and exercise in the specific manner that these studies were performed. If you can implement some of these strategies, then that’s fantastic. But they don’t make or break your success in the educational realm or workforce. I only give you this information to reinforce a point I consistently make—move, and move often. If you have access to nature, do your movement there as often as possible. If you live in a city, exercise while looking at pictures of nature. Sounds crazy, but it works, seriously [11].

Although there are distinct benefits between aerobic (cardio) and anaerobic (strength, speed) exercise, and I think everyone should do both, I stand firm on the belief that as long as you’re moving consistently, you’re in a great place.

That being said, when it comes to the direct cognitive benefits we talked about above, it appears that they are only achieved through aerobic activity.

So, allow me to sound like a broken record and let me say it one last time—move. It doesn’t have to be some crazy form of exercise you see on social media, and you don’t need to push yourself within an inch of death. Simply move your body, and do it outdoors as often as possible.

Know anyone currently in school or looking to upgrade their brain? Pass this along to them!