According to a new study by Western and British Columbia Universities, when it comes to your working memory, a quick 20-minute walk is just as effective and a healthier alternative to a cup of coffee.
The new study was published in December 2019 in the Nature Scientific Reports, it says that brisk walking on a treadmill for about 20 minutes improves the focus of your brain and the alertness just as much as a cup of coffee would.
The study was done on 59 participants from ages 18-40. Thirty of these participants drank coffee regularly and 29 didn’t drink coffee at all. They were tested under three conditions; after a 20-minute brisk walk on a treadmill or a slow jog and after drinking coffee (an average cup in powdered form) and again with neither of these interventions – to be used as a baseline. These participants were then tested to see how quickly they could process and recall information.
The results showed that both brisk walking/jogging and caffeine increases the accuracy of the participants’ tests and that they improved by 20% after exercising or drinking a cup of coffee. However, exercise ensured that the regular coffee drinker didn’t experience a caffeine crash after a few hours of drinking coffee.
Exercise decreases symptoms like fatigue, sluggishness, and lack of concentration. The withdrawal symptoms of coffee becomes worse the more regularly you drink it.
To read more on the study visit: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-56251-y#Sec10
