Portsmouth: A new study suggests that 20 minutes of exercise can boost mental energy despite a poor night’s sleep.
Researchers at the University of Portsmouth in the United Kingdom have found in a study that moderate, i.e. just twenty minutes of exercise throughout the day can improve mental performance. Experts were also surprised that exercising at night despite sleep also improved mental performance.
Scientists have revealed in several studies that 40 percent of people worldwide do not get the required amount of sleep, which is a fundamental component of a healthy lifestyle.
According to Dr Joe Costello from the university’s School of Sport, Health and Exercise, exercise compensates for the decline in brain performance caused by not getting enough sleep.
“We know from past research that exercise improves or maintains our mental performance despite low oxygen levels,” he said. But this is the first study to show that exercise improves brain performance in both total and partial sleep deprivation and hypoxia (lack of oxygen to the brain) conditions.
He said the research findings help reinforce the idea that exercise is medicine for the body and mind.
This research, published in the journal Physiology and Behavior, consists of two experiments and 12 people participated in each experiment.
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