For decades, research has shown that regular exercise improves not only physical health but also brain function. But what about short, intense bursts of exercise?
A team of scientists at UC Santa Barbara decided to explore this question and discovered that even a single, vigorous workout can have positive effects on the brain.
Their findings, recently published in Communications Psychology, offer new insights into how short periods of intense exercise impact cognitive abilities.
The study, titled “A systematic review and Bayesian meta-analysis provide evidence for an effect of acute physical activity on cognition in young adults,” examined how activities like cycling and high-intensity interval training (HIIT) influence brain function in young adults aged 18 to 45.
Senior author Barry Giesbrecht, a professor of Psychological & Brain Sciences, explained that while longer-term exercise programs, like working out three times a week for several months, are well-known for enhancing brain function and even promoting the growth of new brain cells, there has been less certainty around the benefits of a single, short workout session.
“The findings in the literature for brief exercise sessions are much more mixed,” he noted.
To find clearer answers, lead author Jordan Garrett, who recently earned his Ph.D. from UC Santa Barbara, and the research team sifted through thousands of exercise studies published between 1995 and 2023.
They aimed to identify consistent trends and focused on a range of cognitive functions such as memory, attention, and information processing.
Their analysis revealed that intense exercise sessions of under 30 minutes had the most significant effects on cognitive improvements.
Cycling and HIIT workouts consistently showed benefits across different studies. In particular, these activities seemed to enhance executive functions, which include skills like planning, decision-making, and problem-solving.
“We found that the most vigorous activities had the largest effects,” Giesbrecht explained. He also pointed out that these improvements were most noticeable after the exercise session ended rather than during it.
This finding suggests that post-exercise recovery might be when the brain reaps the most benefits from the activity.
Interestingly, the researchers discovered that workouts lasting less than 30 minutes were more beneficial for cognitive functions than longer sessions.
This suggests that short, intense bursts of activity might be just as, or even more effective than, longer workouts for boosting brain function.
Despite the positive results, Giesbrecht emphasized that the overall impact of a single exercise session was generally modest. He noted that these small gains might be due to the way the cognitive tests were conducted, which often did not directly connect to the physical activities performed.
This led the researchers to propose a new idea: What if exercises were designed to involve both physical and mental tasks? Giesbrecht believes that combining body movement with cognitive challenges could produce even stronger effects.
The team is now planning further experiments to test this theory. They intend to use a mix of laboratory tasks and real-world activities to see if integrating physical and mental tasks will lead to greater improvements in brain function.
This study highlights that while a single, short workout may not be a magic fix for boosting brainpower, it can still provide noticeable benefits. It reinforces the idea that intense bursts of activity can help sharpen the mind, even if they don’t last long.
As research continues, it may open up new possibilities for combining physical and mental exercises to maximize cognitive benefits.
If you care about brain health, please read studies about inflammation that may actually slow down cognitive decline in older people, and low vitamin D may speed up cognitive decline.
For more information about brain health, please see recent studies about common exercises that could protect against cognitive decline, and results showing that this MIND diet may protect your cognitive function, prevent dementia.
The research findings can be found in Communications Psychology.
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