Literally. Running—or biking or swimming or doing any other type of cardiovascular activity—for 20 to 30 minutes three times a week has been proven to help you remember things better. Raising your heart rate gets blood flowing to your brain, enlarges the hippocampus (the most vital part of the brain for memory), and increases the secretion of brain-derived neurotrophic factor, a protein necessary for long-term memory. Also, “cardiovascular exercise can actually cause new connections to sprout between neurons in the hippocampus,” says Peter J. Snyder, a professor of neurology at Brown University’s Alpert Medical School.