Why You Should Exercise Before Studying, According to Science

Before you sit down to study or get started on a big project for work, you might want to consider hitting the gym or taking a brisk walk. Besides just generally being good for your health, research also shows it can actually help with cognition. And with, say, finals week bearing down upon you or a work deadline looming, anything that can give you a brain boost is likely welcome.

What the research says

There's no shortage of solid, peer-reviewed research on the effect of exercise on cognition, going back decades. The exact reasons that exercise helps thinking aren't fully understood, but one 2018 review in Frontiers in Psychology discusses evidence that it may increase blood flow to the brain, boost levels of certain neurotransmitters, and increase your feelings of control and self-esteem.

Another review, from 2013, notes that "more active" individuals are better able to pay attention to their surroundings and to process information more quickly. Exercise may even change our brains for the long term; the 2018 review concluded that "chronic aerobic exercise is associated with potent structural and functional neuroplastic changes, with an improvement in cognitive functions."

What exercises work best?

The research is pro-exercise in all forms, but really hones in on acute aerobic exercise--or the kind of exercise where you're moving around a lot and your heart rate is up. A "single bout" of this kind of movement is related to improved cognitive functions, according to the researchers in Frontiers.

So, before you sit down to study, plan your week, or have an important conversation with your boss, consider swimming, biking, jogging, running, hopping on the elliptical, or taking a brisk walk around the block: You want to get in some solid cardio here, even if it is as simple as biking to work or taking your lunch break at the gym. (Here's our guide to how much exercise you need each week, in general.)

Research aside, it works for me, too. I went back to school this year and have found it much harder in my 30s to focus in class or study than I did when I was 19. I've noticed that I focus and retain more in the evening class I have on Thursdays, after I teach a spin class in the rec center. I don't work out before my other classes--I go straight from work--and I definitely feel less sharp than I do in the session after my brisk 45 minutes on the bike. Whether this is because of "epigenetic mechanisms" or the plain old fact that I spend some time focusing on my health, sweating it out to tunes, and cranking out an endorphin boost is immaterial to me; I just know it works and, so, have started heading to the gym before I sit down to do homework on non-class days, too.