We assume that exercising daily can help improve our memory, or ar least have a part in preventing memory loss.

REVISED HYPOTHESIS:

If a person exercises by doing just 25 push ups everyday for a period of time (30 days/one month in this case), then their memory can improve. Depending on their age, they might have different results in memory changes.

Experiment: Push ups daily to see if memory improves.

Subjects             Number of digits remembered                                
                      (Before)           (In between)        (After)

- Anchita            6                           6                     7        

- Shrihan            8                           8                     9 

- Sutapa             6                           6                     7

We researched about how exercising can improve your memory. Here's what we got:

Our memory part of our brain, and exercising can help to keep our brains healthy and properly functioning. When we exercise, our hearts naturally start pumping blood faster in order to transport the new supply of oxygen being received by the lungs when breathing heavily throughout the body. The red bloods are also circulating through the brain. Those red blood cells carry oxygen and other nutrients into the brain, and this starts the chemical process of metabolism. This is key to making sure the brain gets its energy to function properly and to basic things, such as moving and talking. The brain will then be able to improve our cognitive abilities by receiving these nutrients and oxygen. Exercising can also benefit us and our bodies in many other ways as well. One way is that exercise can actually help to prevent or even fight off diseases or other issues.

OTHER BENEFITS:

Exercising can have a variety of positive impacts on our bodies. Some of them include:

1) Higher blood flow/circulation:

Exercising causes the heart to pump blood faster, and therefore, blood flow is increased. Higher blood flow transports oxygen and nutrients to the body faster and more easily.

2) Sweating:

Sweating is when the body gets rid of excess moisture, and this also controls body temperature (keeps body cool).

4) Makes muscles stronger/Boosts your energy:

Exercising gets us to use our muscles and keep them strong, and flexible. The more often we use our muscles, the more in shape they’ll be in the future and the more your muscles will be able to endure.

5) Keeps body healthy (fights diseases):  

Exercising increases high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. This type of cholesterol gets rid of triglycerides (natural fats and oils in the blood, and high concentration of triglycerides can put you at risk of having a stroke), which then keeps blood flowing smoothly and decreases/prevents heart diseases/problems.

6) Controls weight:

Exercising burns a lot of fat and calories which controls your weight.

7) Improves your mood/emotions (happy, and more social):

Exercise causes the brain to release chemicals called endorphins (and many others) and these can often leave you feeling happy and more relaxed. Exercising can also make you more confident in yourself and boost your self-esteem.

8) Usually improves sleep:

Exercise uses a lot of energy, and sleeping is one way to get energy. So after a good exercise session, when you are tired, sleeping can often be deeper and sleep patterns may also improve due to the need for more energy.

Exercise can provide all of these positive impacts for you and your body.

Manipulative Variable - The different ages.

Controlled Variable - The amount of exercise (number of push-ups), the amount of days (30 day / one month)

Responding Variable - The memory test results.

REVISED VARIABLES (ADDED DETAILS):

In our experiment, we have the following variables:

CONTROLLED - The amount of exercise, and the amount of time. All subjects will be doing exactly 25 push ups daily for 30 days.

MANIPULATIVE - The different ages. We have one person who is 9, 13, and 39 years old. All the test subjects have a difference in their ages.

RESPONDING - The memory test results. How many digits can the test subjects remember before, after, and during their one month of push ups?

Participants will take a memory test consisting of numbers from digits 4-12 and need to memorize and say the numbers back. The test subjects will take the test once before their 30 days of exercising.They will start exercising ( 25 push-ups daily) from January 1st, then take the test again with the same numbers in the middle of the month to see if there are any improvements. Finally on January 31st they will take the test one final time, to see if their memory has improved.

We will also be researching our benefits to exercising and how exercising can cause your memory to improve.

Subjects have been doing their push ups for a month now and Shrihan (age 9) has improved more than Anchita (age 13) and Sutapa (age 39), and he has improved in less time as well.
 

Sutapa and Anchita have also been doing their push ups, and they have improved the same amount in the same amount of time.

OBSERVATIONS REVISED:

While the experiment occurred, we made some observations. 

1) Srihan improved in less time than Anchita and Sutapa.

 2) Anchita and Sutapa improved the same amount.

3) Anchita and Sutapa improved at the same time.

So, from these observations we can say that maybe kids who are younger than 10, exercising daily for some time can improve their memory faster than people older than them exercising daily for the same amount of time. And maybe, people of ages 12-40 years and people of older can typically improve their memory at around the same speed and same time as each other with the same amount of exercise and the same amount of time.

We can see that Srihan improved throughout the experiment, but Anchita and Sutapa improved only after the whole month of push ups.

If younger people exercise more (perhaps daily or more often throughout the week), then they can improve their memory, maybe significantly more depending on the amount of time and effort put into exercising. But older people or adults will have to exercise way more and maintain that in order to improve their memory.

REVISED CONCLUSION: So, from this project, our experiment, and all our research, we can conclude that exercising daily can help to improve your memory and can also have many other benefits. If our contestants had exercised for longer then they probably would have improved their memory more. Our memory is all brains, and exercising can provide the support for our brains to be healthy and strong to keep our precious memories. 

...

We should have started out experiment sooner and maintained that, so that our experiment could keep going longer to see more changes or improvements, but we started in January, so one month took a lot of our time.

SOURCES (Cited):

• Mcgregor Grace, “BYU-College of life sciences”, How exercise affects the brain, 8 February 2021. https://lifesciences.byu.edu/how-exercise-affects-your-brain#:~:text=Exercise%20improves%20memory%20by%20increasing,and%20form%20long%2Dterm%20memories

• BYU Life Sciences,  “How exercise benefits the brain”, 22 July 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=TLGGHYNe6dG-BlAyMzAyMjAyNQ&v=E0ARTVoI18U

• Estrin Lockwood Georgia and Bhavnani Supriya, ScienceDirect, “Synaptogenesis”, (no date found).

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/biochemistry-genetics-and-molecular-biology/synaptogenesis 

• Hirsch Larissa, Nemours-TeensHealth, “Metabolism” July 2019.

https://kidshealth.org/en/teens/metabolism.html

• Healthessentials,  “How Exercise Can Help Boost Your Memory”, 19 February 2024.

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/exercise-to-boost-memory 

• Mayo Clinic Staff, Mayo Clinic, “Healthy Lifestyle-Fitness”, 26 August 2023.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-depth/exercise/art-20048389 

We would like to thank and acknowledge our test subjects who participated in the one month round of push ups. We thank them for the time and effort they put into helping us by providing data for our experiment and their support in finishing this project. We would also like to acknowledge our parents parts in this. They helped us go through with the whole thing and supported us the whole way. Thank to all those who contributed to helping us finish this challenge!