Effects Of High Intensity Physical Exercise On Short-term Memory In University Students

Abstract

Studies have determined that physical training provides benefits in people's physical health. Physical exercise is one of the most powerful lifestyle to positively affect the adult brain and emerging evidence points to high intensity interval training (HIIT) as an effective way to improve various aspects of brain function among them the improvement of cognition and short-term memory. PURPOSE: To analyze the effects of (HIIT) in university students on short-term memory. METHODS: 22 university athletes (Mage=21.6, SD= 1.5), (n=11 experimental group), (n=11 control group). A HIIT program of 12 sessions of short-term (3 weeks) and 6 sessions of short-term memorization was applied. Maximum oxygen consumption (VO2max) was estimated through the Course Navette Test and memory evaluation through a Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT). The instruments used for the investigation was a Polar H10® band. A t student test for paired samples was applied by IBM SPSS v.22 (p. <0.001). RESULTS: The maximum heart rate (HRmax) of the control group obtained a value of M=199.9, SD= 15ppm and the experimental group M=195, SD=6.7ppm. In the third week of intervention results were found statistically significant. CONCLUSION: After twelve training sessions of high intensity physical exercise (HIIT), statistically significant results were obtained, in relation to high intensity physical effort with short-term memory. For future research it is recommended to implement a greater number of training and memory sessions. Limitations of this study include indirect VO2max estimation and a small sample size. Keywords: short-term memory, university students, high intensity interval training.