One short bout of moderate exercise made people quicker at some thinking tests

The review

1. 01

   Who took part

   The paper pooled 40 studies of healthy people, mostly of young adults (23), and does not give the total number of people. Others were children (9), older adults (7) and teenagers (3).

2. 02

   What they did

   In 30 studies the same people did one session of moderate exercise and one control session; 10 used separate groups. Exercise was mostly cycling (24 studies) or treadmill running (12). The other group mostly sat still (19 studies), read (11) or watched a video (5).

3. 03

   What happened

   Compared with the other group, one session gave a small gain in speed (how fast people responded) and in accuracy. Children and older adults gained most in speed, young adults gained a little, and teenagers showed no clear change. Fitness and the type of task made no clear difference, and the main results showed no sign of publication bias.

What the review found

1. Helped

   Across 40 studies, moderate exercise sped people up on some thinking tests.

   Pooled analysis of 50 studies · vs people who sat still, read or watched a video

2. Helped

   In 40 studies, moderate exercise also made people get more right.

   Pooled analysis of 43 studies · vs people who sat still, read or watched a video

3. Helped

   In 7 studies of older adults, a bout of moderate exercise sped up reaction times.

   Pooled analysis of 7 studies · vs older adults who sat still, read or watched a video

4. Helped

   Across 9 studies of children, one bout of moderate exercise sped up reaction times.

   Pooled analysis of 9 studies · vs children who sat still, read or watched a video

Source