Physical Education and Sports Service advises on the importance of maintaining physical activity

Current situation has made us stay at home, but this does not mean that we should not move. Which place does physical activity occupy in our daily routine these days? Given that the courses continue online and the exam session is approaching, it there a place for sports in our daily schedule?

Here are the cognitive benefits of maintaining an active lifestyle and the tips of Cristina Blasco, the professor of the Universitat de València and the coordinator of Sport Performance and Physical Fitness Research Group (UIRFIDE). She outlines some lines of the existing research that draw attention to the cognitive benefits of the physical exercise:

• Better processing of the study blocks: Twenty-minute physical exercise of certain intensity is a great benefit between study blocks.
• Improved attention and memory activation: Physical exercises before mental work enhance the skill of attention and memory activation. “Physical exercise realized before the mental one will activate your brain and increase the blood flow,” notes Blasco.
• Major capacity of information retention in the long run:In the long run, people who do physical exercises improve their capacity of information retention. As such, Blasco indicates that “physical exercise during the exam session would help to retain information longer.”
• Positive effect on sleep, a mediating effect.A good quality of sleep helps during the learning process. “It is not that the physical exercise makes you more prepared, but it is proven that you will sleep better if you do exercise. Sleep is very important for learning. Therefore, people who sleep and have proper rest better arrange everything they have done so far,” explains Blasco.

Compensate for the sitting hours

Undoubtedly, studying requires many sitting hours, so the body is eventually affected by it. “The time which you spend sitting hurt us a lot. There are many studies about the harmful effects of sedentary lifestyle; and, unfortunately, studying is a sedentary activity,” says Blasco. She adds “if you get up at a certain time and do physical exercise, you can in a way compensate for the sitting hours.”

Tips to take the most out of exercise while studying

Setting a timetable with the study hours and the time to stand up and do exercise, even in the current times of confinement, leads to the following question: what is the best time to do exercise during the day?José Francisco Guzmán Lujan, a graduate in Physical Education and a doctor in Psychology, has recently noted in his interview for SEF that one’s individual rhythm of life determines the best time to do exercise during the day - be it during the morning or during the afternoon. “Physical exercise depends on one’s personal biorhythm,” specifies Guzmán. He explains that “some people who are early birds, and they enjoy doing exercise first thing in the morning: they get charged up and remain active for the rest of the day. Others are more "afternoon" persons and prefer working in the morning and training in the afternoon... this way, they stay away from pressure.”

Remember: a healthy mind and healthy body go hand in hand.