How does an effective sleeping pattern and regular exercise affect the memory of a human?

Majority of the time in our life we do not tend to focus on how even the smallest of things can influence our behaviour. Some solid examples are a good sleep routine and regular exercise.Thus, the question that arises in our mind is how? We do not realise that our body if not being explicitly affected is however being implicitly affected through numerous ways. Therefore, this article sheds light on the effects of an effective sleeping pattern and regular exercise on thememory of a human being.

Effective Sleeping Pattern:

To start with, the claim of an “effective sleeping pattern affecting the memory of a person” was tested by Jenkins and Dallenbach which showed that the memory recall of nonsense syllables was much better during the retention period (the interval between learning and recall), independant of its duration, that was spent in sleep rather than the wakefulness. In conclusion, this phenomenon was named ‘the sleep effect’.

Moreover, there are two types of sleep that have a say in this issue and they include: REM sleep, in which your eyes move rapidly and your brain stays active; whereas NREM sleep is deep sleep where the body’s heart rate and body temperature decreases. Ambrosini and Giuditta’s group experimented on a group of rats which made them come up with a hypothesis that adaptive memories (memory that helps to retain survival and fitness-related information in animals) are strengthened during REM sleep. From the research above, it can be inferred that sleeping does help enhance memories in a human because it strengthens the neural connections in the brain.

Regular Exercise:

On the other hand, the research on regular exercise affecting the memory of a human has been very recent and quite positive too. It has been said that exercise improves neurogenesis - the formation of new neurons in the brain. Hence, they facilitate by sorting out information, remembering specific moments in time and avoiding confusion. Additionally, some sources even imply that a good sleep could help us control our emotions better and even help us forget our harmful memories.

The Harvard Medical School has stated that, “Moderate-intensity exercise can help improve your thinking and memory in just six months”. Some moderate-intensity exercises that we could do to improve our brain’s memory, could be brisk walking for 150 minutes a week; biking; swimming; or mowing your lawn.

The research above does go in the favour of our article question which requires our physical input. In the end, it is all about self-discipline and how committed we are to be our best by completing our sleep pattern and exercising daily to help our body and brain grow healthier, just like the study suggests!

Written By: Emaan Shoaib