A new study shows that people who exercise have a better working memory than those who lead a sedentary lifestyle.
Researchers at the University of Jyväskylä reviewed data from 21 studies involving 1455 participants.
“The working memory advantage for athletes over non-athletes was found across different types of sports and performance levels,” the study report said.
“Interestingly, this advantage was more pronounced when athletes were contrasted with a sedentary population, compared to the analysis where the sedentary population was excluded from the non-athlete reference group.”
The report said increasing attention was being given in cognitive science to the relationship between sport and working memory.
This new study was among the first to compare the working memory performance of athletes and non-athletes.
Doctoral researcher Chenxiao Wu said the findings showed a consistent association between sports and better working memory performance.
Research lead Piia Astikainen said the study complemented previous studies of the effects of ageing on cognitive function and brain function.
Those studies found that a physically active lifestyle could partly mitigate the negative effects of ageing on these functions.
The full report is on the University of Jyväskylä website
