Working out boosts brain health · FUSE Fitness Foundations

Working out boosts brain health

APA’s March 4, 2020 article “Working out boosts brain health,” with contributions from Rod K. Dishman, Mark Sothmann, Henriette van Praag, Nancy Molitor, Charles Hillman and others, summarizes evidence that regular exercise strengthens both body and brain. The piece notes routine physical activity improves cardiovascular health, bone and muscle strength, and reduces some cancer risks, while also enhancing stress resilience, mood, memory and cognition.

Although exercise acutely raises stress responses, repeated activity lowers resting levels of stress hormones like cortisol and epinephrine and may boost norepinephrine from the locus coeruleus—a neuromodulator that helps the brain manage stress more efficiently. Exercise provides a controlled “stress rehearsal,” forcing coordinated communication across cardiovascular, renal, muscular and nervous systems, improving overall physiological stress responses.

Research links exercise to lower rates of anxiety and depression and suggests effects comparable to antidepressants for some people, through pathways involving dopamine, serotonin, mastery experiences and healthier routines. Animal studies show increased brain blood flow and hippocampal neurogenesis; human studies report benefits to gray/white matter, episodic memory and hippocampal volume with sustained activity.

Article

https://www.apa.org/topics/exercise-fitness/stress

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Working out boosts brain health