Not Only Budget, HIIT Sports Also Makes The Brain Smarter

HIIT Sports. (Pexels/Ivan Samkov)

JAKARTA - Sports are known to increase physical and body resistance that is fitter. In addition, there are also sports that can increase brain function and memory.

Quoted from Science Alert, on Wednesday, September 3, 2025, the sport is a high intensity interval training (HIIT). HIIT is well known for brain health.

Research found that HIIT, which was carried out in six months, could improve brain repair and maintain cognitive sharpness in the future.

"The six-month HIIT exercise is enough to turn things around (brain health)," said Queensland University neurologist Perry Bartlett.

In the study involving 151 participants aged 65-85 years, participants were divided into three sports groups for six months. The exercise includes low-intensity training (strengthening), moderate-intensity exercise (fast walk on treadmill), and high intensity (maximum training such as cycling).

Through the results of the study, researchers observed how brain scans and blood samples from all participants were. It was found that the high intensity sports group (HIIT) showed cognitive signs including increased memory skills.

"We monitored them five years after the program and what's amazing is that their cognitive abilities are still increasing, although they don't continue to do training," he explained.

Not only that, doing HIIT for six minutes can also increase the level of protein in the blood which plays a role in learning and memory formation. This can also help fight the increase in dementia rates that are often found in the elderly.

Meanwhile, HIIT is a sport that combines higher intensity aerobics repeatedly and briefly in one exercise. The focus is to vary training from low to moderate, or moderate to high.

An example of HIIT exercise is a run whose speed is increased for 20 seconds to only a few minutes, then back to lighter intensity. Another exercise is cycling, up stairs, squat, to mountain climates.