Read this informative article published in 2017 to learn more about how exercise effects brain plasticity
An Overview of Positive Interaction between Exercise and Mental Health
Authors: Fa Etindele Sosso and Sana Raouafi
August 2017
Brain plasticity is a complex mechanism which depends on a variety of environmental and external parameters, including physical activity. Thus, cerebral plasticity may be improved with increased physical activity as a complement to therapy or cognitive training in the case of mental health problems. Many correlations were already reported in the current literature between practice of exercise, and improvement of cognitive function, mental health and state of participants with neurodegenerative diseases. The current communication illustrates and simplifies some existing interaction between the cerebral plasticity in cortex and hippocampus; and the practice of physical activity with animal model or human participants
Read this informative article published in 2017 to learn more about how exercise effects depression and anxiety.
Exercise and Mental Health
There is a growing body of literature that recognizes the positive effects of exercise on mood states such as anxiety, stress and depression, through physiological and biochemical mechanisms, including endorphins, mitochondria, mammalian target of rapamycin, neurotransmitters and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, and via the thermogenic hypothesis. In addition, psychological mechanisms influence the effects of exercise on mood states, as suggested by both the distraction hypothesis and the self-efficacy hypothesis. Exercise has also been shown to reduce inflammation via several different processes (inflammation, cytokines, toll-like receptors, adipose tissue and via the vagal tone), which can contribute to better health outcomes in people suffering from mood disorders.
This article reveals the effects that different levels of exercise have on the symptoms of PTSD, as well as the role of gender among results.
Exercise behavior and gender-related differences in posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms
July 2017 Psychology of Sport and Exercise 33
Exercise has been proposed as a potential treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, the relationship between exercise, gender, and PTSD symptoms is unknown. Design: This study examined the cross-sectional relationship among these variables in a national sample of 165 men and women who screened positive for PTSD. Method: Participants completed an online survey consisting of the Godin Leisure-Time Exercise Questionnaire and the PTSD Checklist-Civilian. Results: Active participants had significantly lower PTSD symptoms than insufficiently active participants. Significant interactions between gender and exercise for PTSD symptoms were found, such that active men had significantly lower PTSD symptoms than active women, and insufficiently active men and women. Additionally, strenuously active men reported significantly lower hyperarousal symptoms than strenuously active women, and insufficiently active men and women. Conclusion: Findings suggest that the relationship between PTSD and exercise may differ for specific sub-populations of individuals with PTSD, such as men and women