Shaking up the body may improve attention

Guest post by Chris Riotta

If you’ve been having some problems with your memory, perhaps it’s time to shake things up a bit.

Sitting for just two minutes in a vibrating chair improved young adults’ attention to detail, researchers report June 20 in PLOS ONE.

The team used a chair placed on a vibrating platform to study the effects of whole-body vibrations in a group of 133 healthy young adults. Participants scored higher on four simple tests of attention and reaction time after they sat on the vibrating platform than they did when taking the tests with the platform turned off.

Whole-body vibration may be a way for people who have physical limitations to get the cognitive benefits of exercise, the authors suggest.