Even Low-Impact Workouts Can Be a Boost to Long-Term Memory

Here's another good reason to head to the gym even just for some low-impact resistance training: A brief workout can improve your long-term memory, according to a September 2014 study led by Georgia Tech School of Psychology Associate Professor Audrey Duarte. Participants were shown a group of pictures and then directed to do 20 minutes of resistance or strength-training exercises, taking a break every few minutes. They were then asked to recall details of the images. "We found that exercising immediately after studying pictures increased memory of those pictures 48 hours later by 10 percent," Duarte says.