esearchers for some time have suggested that physical exercise changes
the structure of the brain and affects our thinking. In one of the
most famous studies, scientists at the Salk Institute found that
exercise does indeed stimulate the creation of new brain cells.
But many basic questions remain unanswered. For example: How strenuous
does the exercise have to be? Does it have to be aerobic? And are
those changes in the brain permanent or fleeting?
Research published in the journal of the American College of Sports
Medicine may offer some early answers. In a study at the University
of Illinois, students were asked to memorize a string of letters
and were tested on their recall before and after doing one of three
things for 30 minutes: sitting quietly, running on a treadmill or
lifting weights. After a half-hour, they were tested once more.
The students who had run compared to the other two options performed
better on the retest and continued to perform better after the cool-down.
In a similar study, a group of older people did stretching exercises
or took brisk walks over a six-month period. The “stretchers”
increased their flexibility, but they did not show improvement on
tests of cognition. The brisk walkers did, however. 
—Adapted
from The New York Times Magazine
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