Running regularly can help to increase memory capacity, according to a recent study at Cambridge University. Along with the U.S. National Institute on Aging, neuroscientists at Cambridge conducted an experiment using two groups of mice. The control group had no access to exercise, whereas the second group was given habitual access to a running wheel.
The two groups were shown two boxes on opposite sides of a computer screen. Touching the box on the left resulted in a sugar pellet for the mouse, with the researchers recording which group remembered more frequently that this box produced the pellet.
The test then was repeated with the boxes closer together and switched around. Both sets of results indicate that the group with steady access to the running wheel remembered the correct box more often than the control group.
Timothy Bussey, author of the study, concluded that the mice that exercised had developed more than twice as many brain cells as the control group during the experiment. The gray matter developed in the hippocampus is directly related to cognitive memory function, suggesting that exercise is not only ideal for physical health but also has a positive effect on mental capacity.
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