Get Moving for Your Mental Health

Josh Archote

Several roadblocks prevent people from sticking to an exercise routine. For many, the benefits of exercise on the body aren’t immediate enough to illicit the self-discipline required to stick to a weekly exercise regimen. The benefits not immediately apparent and the reward for your behavior delayed, makes staying faithful to a plan to get in shape difficult. 

However, thinking of exercise as something strictly beneficial for your physical health is a mistake. The wonder exercise does for your brain and mental health may far outweigh what it does for your body.  

What Science Tells Us 

Neuroplasticity, the theory that our brain structure is not fixed but is continually rewired, was not widely accepted by scientists until the 1970s. Before then, the prevailing theory was that the brain was fixed throughout adulthood--its structure could not change after reaching a certain age. It was believed that the number of cells in our brain only decreased as we aged, and there was nothing we could do to protect or grow new ones. That was until scientists discovered the brain is not fixed but rather is plastic-like, able to be significantly molded and adapted in response to our environment. 

Thus, it was discovered that we could influence the growth and survival of brain cells, a paramount discovery with vast implications. Understanding neuroplasticity is crucial to understanding how exercise improves our brain function and mental health. The ways in which aerobic exercise benefits our mental state are manifold. 

Learning

Getting your heart rate up for an extended period--even as little as ten minutes of intense exercise--prevents natural cell death in your brain, known as neurodegeneration, and promotes neurogenesis, the growth of new cells and the survival of existing ones. More cells mean more potential to process and memorize complex information; exercise encourages these cells to bind to one another and strengthens existing connections, which is a key factor in learning. 

Exercise also increases brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or “BDNF,” a protein referred to as Miracle-Gro for the brain due to its effect on neurons. BDNF encourages the survival and strengthening of neurons and plays a crucial role in memory and learning. 

This means that if you exercise regularly, you could have the ability to learn, process, and memorize information more efficiently than your non-active counterparts. 

Stress

Chronic stress is detrimental to our brains and mental health. Prolonged stress has coercive effects on our brains by limiting neurogenesis and killing neurons and leading to an array of other health problems. 

Paradoxically, exercise is a form of mild stress for the brain, but not high enough to cause damage. Instead, the mild stress your brain experiences during an intense cardio session increases your neurons’ threshold for stress, inoculating the brain against future, more intense stress. The process of aging naturally lowers our ability to handle stress, but regular exercise acts as a countermeasure to increase our stress threshold. 

This means that regular exercise could make you more resilient to stressful situations. 

Anxiety and Depression

It’s important to note that while several academic studies support the claim that exercise is an effective treatment for both anxiety and depression, the evidence is not conclusive (which is why you will rarely hear doctors prescribe exercise as a proven treatment for these problems). However, several studies suggest exercise is an effective remedy to treat depression and anxiety. 

 One of the most frequently cited studies is an experiment conducted by Duke University in 1999, which concluded that exercise was as effective in treating depression as Zoloft, a popularly prescribed antidepressant. Aside from providing a feeling of accomplishment and improvements in self-esteem, exercise regulates the very neurotransmitters targeted by antidepressants, such as norepinephrine, dopamine and serotonin. 

 For these same reasons, anecdotal evidence has suggested that anxiety, both chronic anxiety and regular feelings of anxiousness, can be significantly curbed by routine exercise. 

A New Way to Think About Exercise

Looking at exercise as a chore only useful for losing weight is increasingly appearing to be an incomplete picture of what exercise can do for us. 

Scientists are still uncovering the mechanisms that underlie the benefits exercise has on our brains. However, the emerging research all points in the same direction: breaking a sweat does wonders for your brain by growing new brain cells and regulating critical neurotransmitters and proteins responsible for your mood and brain function. 

 If the idea of losing weight does not motivate you to start exercising, imagine what it can do for your brain.