High intensity exercise before sleep boosts memory encoding the next morning
Abstract The importance of sleep for memory consolidation has been extensively studied, but its role for memory encoding remains less well characterized. At the molecular and cellular level, the renormalization of synaptic weights during sleep has received substantial support, which is thought to fr...
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Nature Portfolio
2025-07-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-07880-z |
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| author | Daniela Ramirez Butavand Juliane Nagel Gordon B. Feld Simon Steib |
| author_facet | Daniela Ramirez Butavand Juliane Nagel Gordon B. Feld Simon Steib |
| author_sort | Daniela Ramirez Butavand |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract The importance of sleep for memory consolidation has been extensively studied, but its role for memory encoding remains less well characterized. At the molecular and cellular level, the renormalization of synaptic weights during sleep has received substantial support, which is thought to free capacity to encode new information at the behavioral level. However, at the systems level and behaviorally, support for this process playing a major role for memory function remains scarce. In the current study, we investigated the utility of moderate- and high-intensity evening exercise as a low-cost low-tech intervention to modulate sleep and its influence on subsequent encoding in the morning. Our findings indicate that high-intensity interval training (HIIT) improved post-sleep memory performance with effects lasting up to 24 h after initial encoding. In addition, we show that especially the early parts of the encoding task were affected by the HIIT intervention. Intriguingly, participants with lower encoding abilities seemed to benefit more from the HIIT intervention suggesting it not only as a tool for basic research but also as a candidate for applications to boost memory performance in mental disorders or in the elderly. These results provide first evidence that acute exercise can affect learning processes even hours after it occurs. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-ffa9f7bb19874e7e8edf35d3f16812b6 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj-art-ffa9f7bb19874e7e8edf35d3f16812b62025-08-20T03:03:42ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-07-0115111210.1038/s41598-025-07880-zHigh intensity exercise before sleep boosts memory encoding the next morningDaniela Ramirez Butavand0Juliane Nagel1Gordon B. Feld2Simon Steib3Human Movement, Training and Active Aging Department, Institute of Sports and Sports Science, Heidelberg UniversityClinical Psychology, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg UniversityClinical Psychology, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg UniversityHuman Movement, Training and Active Aging Department, Institute of Sports and Sports Science, Heidelberg UniversityAbstract The importance of sleep for memory consolidation has been extensively studied, but its role for memory encoding remains less well characterized. At the molecular and cellular level, the renormalization of synaptic weights during sleep has received substantial support, which is thought to free capacity to encode new information at the behavioral level. However, at the systems level and behaviorally, support for this process playing a major role for memory function remains scarce. In the current study, we investigated the utility of moderate- and high-intensity evening exercise as a low-cost low-tech intervention to modulate sleep and its influence on subsequent encoding in the morning. Our findings indicate that high-intensity interval training (HIIT) improved post-sleep memory performance with effects lasting up to 24 h after initial encoding. In addition, we show that especially the early parts of the encoding task were affected by the HIIT intervention. Intriguingly, participants with lower encoding abilities seemed to benefit more from the HIIT intervention suggesting it not only as a tool for basic research but also as a candidate for applications to boost memory performance in mental disorders or in the elderly. These results provide first evidence that acute exercise can affect learning processes even hours after it occurs.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-07880-zHigh-intensity interval trainingMemory encodingSleep |
| spellingShingle | Daniela Ramirez Butavand Juliane Nagel Gordon B. Feld Simon Steib High intensity exercise before sleep boosts memory encoding the next morning Scientific Reports High-intensity interval training Memory encoding Sleep |
| title | High intensity exercise before sleep boosts memory encoding the next morning |
| title_full | High intensity exercise before sleep boosts memory encoding the next morning |
| title_fullStr | High intensity exercise before sleep boosts memory encoding the next morning |
| title_full_unstemmed | High intensity exercise before sleep boosts memory encoding the next morning |
| title_short | High intensity exercise before sleep boosts memory encoding the next morning |
| title_sort | high intensity exercise before sleep boosts memory encoding the next morning |
| topic | High-intensity interval training Memory encoding Sleep |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-07880-z |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT danielaramirezbutavand highintensityexercisebeforesleepboostsmemoryencodingthenextmorning AT julianenagel highintensityexercisebeforesleepboostsmemoryencodingthenextmorning AT gordonbfeld highintensityexercisebeforesleepboostsmemoryencodingthenextmorning AT simonsteib highintensityexercisebeforesleepboostsmemoryencodingthenextmorning |