How to Improve Your Memory, Problem-Solving, and Mental Processing Speeds in Just 6 Minutes, Backed by New Research

 

can't control luck. But you can control, at least to a degree, your level of intelligence. Your ability to make smart decisions. Your ability to learn, retain... and most importantly, use what you learn.

Want to increase your learning speed, make smarter decisions, and increase your overall intelligence? A new study just published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health found that six to nine minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise can improve your working memory and significantly improve higher-level cognitive skills like organization, prioritization, and planning. 

("Moderate" exertion involves things like fast walking, slow jogging, or any activity that, while it's not easy, you can still can carry on a conversation. "Vigorous" exertion is just what it sounds like; cycling, swimming, HIIT workouts, fast jogging, etc.)

On the flip side, not getting a little exercise can have a negative impact on your mental abilities. The study found that cognition declined by 1 to 2 percent – not a lot, granted, but still – when eight minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity was replaced by sitting.

As the researchers write: 

Relative to time spent in other behaviors, greater MVPA (moderate to vigorous physical activity) was associated with higher cognitive scores. Loss of MVPA time, given its smaller relative amount, appears most deleterious.

Efforts should be made to preserve MVPA time, or reinforce it in place of other behaviors.

Or in non researcher-speak, if you want to get smarter, get off your butt and get moving for at least six minutes a day.

Why "at least"?

The study found that the more time you spend exercising – up to a point, obviously – the greater the mental benefits. (And, of course, the physical benefits. Who doesn't love a double-dip?)

Other research agrees. For one thing, exercise can slow or even reverse the physical decay of your brain. (Contrary to conventional wisdom, new brain cells can be created.) Research shows exercise can increase the size of your hippocampus, even in your 60s and 70s, mitigating the impact of age-related memory loss. 

And if six to ten minutes sounds like too much, a meta-review of a number of studies published in Transitional Sports Medicine found that even "aerobic exercise for two minutes to one hour at moderate-to-high intensity improved attention, concentration, and learning and memory functions for up to two hours."

If you want a longer-term boost – who doesn't? – a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that participants who walked briskly – shooting for a target heart rate of 60 to 75 percent of max – for forty minutes three times a week increased hippocampal volume by slightly over 2 percent. 

Walking briskly is, of course, just one way to exercise. Any form of moderate to vigorous intensity exercise will do the trick. The key is to exercise at a level that keeps your pulse between 60 and 75 percent of your maximum heart rate.

In general terms, your individual parameters may vary – your max heart rate is 220 beats per minute minus your age; if you're 40 years old, your target heart rate should be between 108 and 135 beats per minute. (Again, working sufficiently hard enough that it's difficult to carry on a conversation without having to pause to take deep breaths.)

Jogging. Cycling. Weight training (as long as you don't pause too long between sets.) Calisthenics. Burpees, my "favorite" vigorous exercise. (Doing burpees for six to eight minute straight will redefine "vigorous.") Yoga, Pilates, HIIT training.... basically anything you will be willing to do for at least six to eight minutes a day, consistently. 

Because, as with nearly everything in life, doing the right things over and over is the surest path to success.

Especially if the success you hope to achieve involves getting – and staying – a little smarter