Just because we can’t buy it doesn’t mean that we can’t achieve it. After these studies we see that it is possible for us to solidify individual memories through scheduled repetition and that physical exercise does in fact improve overall mental function. In his book Brain Rules, director of the Brain Center for Applied Learning at Seattle Pacific University, John Medina divides his chapters by a list of rules which he has developed based on psychology’s recent discoveries in the human mind. In his first chapter Dr. Medina’s first rule states that physical exercise is beneficial for mental capabilities in all persons, from young to old. Tests showed that when young students jogged a couple of times a week for 3 months their overall cognitive abilities scored higher and that when the exercise program stopped the scores returned to their previous levels (Medina, 14-15). “Even couch potatoes who fidget show increased [mental] benefit over those who do not fidget” (Medina, 15). Medina’s fifth rule is “repeat to remember.” Timed cycles of repetition are all that’s needed in order to take newly acquired information from short-term memory to long-term memory. This rule also states that trying to memorize mass amounts of information at a time is worthless and ineffective.
So how’s this: Imagine that your brain is an organ in your body, (with me so far?) and imagine that keeping your body healthy and active encourages healthy and active brain function! So rather than “memory is like a muscle and can be made stronger through exercise,” instead we might say: “our memories can be strengthened through repetition; and if we are physically active then we will have a healthier brain more capable of storing and, almost more importantly, retrieving information.”
Medina, John. (2008). Brain rules. Seattle, WA: Pear Press.
