Quick Tip: Give It a Rest to Boost Memory

Men’s Fitness:

Studying for exams or a big presentation? Don’t forget to give it a rest … your brain, that is. New research shows that even a quick 10-minute break after learning can boost your memory—up to a week later.

Researchers from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland asked healthy elderly men and women to listen to two stories, and remember the details later. After one story, participants rested with their eyes closed for 10 minutes in a dark room. After the other story, they looked for differences between two images, an activity meant to distract their minds.

In the study, published in Psychological Science, participants remembered details of the story just before the short rest, and the group that rested continued to remember these details a week later.

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