How does the brain engrave a gesture until it becomes automatic? Why can sleep make the difference between a mistake and a medal? And how can you chase away stray thoughts at the decisive moment? Neuroscience offers valuable answers, at the intersection of sport and the intimate.
Move to remember: when effort sculpts the brain
We often forget: physical activity does not only affect the heart or the muscles. It transforms the brain. Research relayed by the B2V Observatory of Memories shows that exercise stimulates the hippocampus, this region essential to the memory of facts, personal memories and orientation in space.
Concretely, sport increases brain plasticity. In other words, the brain’s ability to remodel itself. Two phenomena are particularly documented: the production of new neurons – neurogenesis – and the increase in the density of connections between neurons. The prefrontal cortex, conductor of the organization and retrieval of memories, also sees its functioning optimized.
On a biological scale, one molecule plays a key role: cathepsin B. Produced during muscular effort, this enzyme acts as a chemical signal stimulating brain plasticity. It creates a bridge between muscle and brain, reminding us that body and mind never work separately.
In high-level athletes, these mechanisms are exacerbated by the repetition, intensity and regularity of training. But they concern each of us: moving also means protecting and strengthening our memory.
Repeat, visualize, observe: the making of a perfect gesture
On ice or snow, nothing is left to chance. A jump, a turn, a shot only becomes reliable after hundreds, sometimes thousands of repetitions. This process mobilizes a specific form of memory: procedural memorythat of automation.
Learning a sporting gesture goes through three stages. First the cognitive stage : intellectually understand the movement, its supports, its trajectory. Then the associative stage : repeat, correct, adjust, accept the error to refine it. Finally the autonomous stadium : the gesture becomes fluid, almost reflex.
With each repetition, neural connections strengthen. Certain areas of the brain develop. Real “maps” are drawn in the athlete’s brain. This mesh explains that at the crucial moment, the body “knows” what to do even before conscious thought intervenes.
But repetition is not limited to the field. The mind is a training tool in its own right. Motor imagery – the act of visualizing a movement with all its sensations – produces performance gains comparable to those obtained through actual physical exercise. Both activate the same brain regions and reinforce each other.
Another often overlooked lever: mirror neurons. Observing another athlete perform a gesture activates the same neural networks in the spectator as if he were performing it himself. Looking, analyzing, feeling thus becomes a way of learning.
And then there is sleep. Too often sacrificed, it nevertheless consolidates both mental and physical learning. During the night, the brain replays, sorts and stabilizes the information acquired. A figure repeated the day before gains precision the next day. Rest then becomes a discreet partner of performance.
Concentrate to win: taming the brain in competition
There remains the test of reality. The big day. The silence of a stadium, the waiting, the pressure. At this point, another actor enters the scene: the “default mode network” (RMD). Active at rest, it generates a mental wandering made up of memories, anticipations, parasitic thoughts. In competition, this flow can become a formidable opponent.
To perform, the athlete must “switch” to the executive system of the prefrontal cortex, the one which allows total refocusing on immediate action. It’s about leaving rumination behind and entering the moment. A subtle, fragile shift, which is also worked on in training using concentration, breathing and mental preparation techniques.
As the 2026 Winter Olympics approach, this knowledge serves as a reminder that performance is about more than strength and talent. It is the result of a constant dialogue between the body and the brain, between visible effort and invisible work.
Behind each medal, there is a story of neurons that adapt, of nights that consolidate, of thoughts that discipline themselves. Understanding these mechanisms also means remembering that memory is a precious asset, for champions as for each of us.