Health and Fitness

Effectiveness of exercise for improving cognition, memory and executive function: a systematic umbrella review and meta-meta-analysis

B. Singh, H. Bennett, et al.

Across 133 systematic reviews covering 2,724 RCTs and 258,279 participants, exercise—even light intensity—significantly improved general cognition (SMD=0.42), memory (SMD=0.26) and executive function (SMD=0.24). Benefits were larger for children/adolescents, low–moderate intensity, short interventions and exergames. Research conducted by Ben Singh, Hunter Bennett, Aaron Miatke, Dorothea Dumuid, Rachel Curtis, Ty Ferguson, Jacinta Brinsley, Kimberley Szeto, Jasmine M Petersen, Claire Gough, Emily Eglitis, Catherine EM Simpson, Christina L Ekegren, Ashleigh E Smith, Kirk I Erickson and Carol Maher.