Pick up mountain biking: It could improve your memory

There are many reasons to pick up mountain biking. Exercising and being outside reduces stress, being in a group of like-minded people can make you happy, and you’ll experience sheer bliss at moving faster than usual. But researchers have uncovered yet another reason to pick up or continue mountain biking: it may improve your working memory by around 50%.

The researchers found that dynamic activities like balancing on a beam, carrying awkward weights, and navigating around obstacles can dramatically improve working memory. Working memory is responsible for reasoning, comprehension, learning, and updating memories. According to the research, these activities are proprioceptive: they activate the areas of the brain which allow us to be aware of our body’s position in space without looking. It’s the same way that you know whether your arm is by your side or raised in front of you when your eyes are closed.

Dynamic activities force the memory to work harder and to update its model of the world as the terrain and environments change.

One of the researchers, Dr Ross Alloway, said: “This research suggests that by doing activities that make us think, we can exercise our brains as well as our bodies.”

Mountain biking easily falls into the category of dynamic exercise – moving yourself and your bike around obstacles activates those parts of your brain that stimulate improved memory. So, what more reason do you need?

More wonderful effects of exercise

Here are 12 reasons why exercise, including mountain biking, is good for you. Exercise:

1. Helps to fight stress.
2. Protects against anxiety.
3. Reduces the risk of dementia including Alzheimer’s disease.
4. Elevates your mood.
5. Helps to reduce cravings for harmful substances, including cigarettes.
6. Reduces the symptoms of depression and other mental disorders.
7. Benefits long-term memory and executive functioning.
8. Improves self-control and reduces the motivation to eat.
9. Helps children to do better at school.
10. Stimulates the growth of new brain cells.
11. Improves the quality of sleep.
12. Reduces the incidence of migraines.

Is more fun than we think it’s going to be, and a positive memory of our previous workout stimulates us to work out again.