Researchers assert the notion that physical activity is beneficial for the brain as well as the body, after finding that exercising 4 hours after learning could help boost long-term memory.

Share on Pinterest Researchers say exercising 4 hours after learning may improve memory recall.

Study co-author Guillén Fernández, of the Donders Institute at the Radboud University Medical Center in the Netherlands, and colleagues found that adults who exercised 4 hours after completing a learning task had better memory recall 2 days later.

However, exercising immediately after the learning task or not at all appeared to have no effect on memory retention.

The researchers recently published their findings in the journal Current Biology.

For the study, the team enrolled 72 individuals to complete a 40-minute task in which they were required to view 90 pictures and learn the associated locations.

The participants were then allocated to one of three groups: one group exercised immediately after the learning task, one group exercised 4 hours after the learning task, and one group did not exercise at all.

Both exercise groups completed 35 minutes of interval training using an ergometer.