20 Minutes Of Cycling A Day May Boost Your Memory

We already know that exercise seems to reduce dementia risk (a 2022 paper found that walking 3,800 steps a day may lower your likelihood of developing dementia by 25%, with increasing benefits up to 9,800 steps).

Even when it’s not directly dementia-related, movement appears to improve memory and thinking skills.

A recent paper, published in Brain Communications, has found that 20 minutes of cycling a day can create “ripples” in the brain that might help us to process and store information more efficiently.

The research involved 14 participants aged from 17-50. They tracked their brain activity before and after 20-minute stationary cycling sessions through an intracranial electroencephalography (iEEG).

The iEEG measures electrical activity in the brain, which provides an added layer of detail.

Previously, scientists had noticed “ripples” in the minds of rats, which were believed to improve their memories after exercise, though these had not been seen in humans before.

But the iEEGs in this research saw similar results after the participants completed their exercise.

Speaking to Medical News Today, study author Dr Juan Ramirez-Villegas said, “Ripples are very brief bursts of highly synchronised electrical activity in the brain’s memory centre, the hippocampus.

“In animals, they are known to play a key role in stabilising memories after an experience. You can think of them as moments when the brain rapidly ‘reviews’ information, helping convert recent experiences into lasting memories.”

They might also help to regulate blood sugar in animals, the study added.

The study found that the higher someone’s heart rate got during the cycling session, the stronger those “ripples” seemed to be.

“This suggests that the intensity of physical activity may influence how strongly the brain’s memory circuits respond,” stated Dr Ramirez-Villegas.

Aside from the “ripple” effect, this research also seemed to help different parts of the brain communicate better, potentially leading to improved memory.

“It is surprising how after a session of acute exercise, hippocampal-cortical communication seems to be enhanced, a phenomenon thought to be strongly linked to memory processing,” Dr Ramirez-Villegas said.

“This suggests that even a brief bout of physical activity can influence the neural dynamics involved in learning and memory.”