01:17
Faizan
Exercise makes you healthier, but it can also make you happier. That is the growing consensus of researchers in a variety of disciplines who are piecing together the ways in which exercise affects brain chemistry as well as the self-reported mental outlook of all kinds of people.
Mood
What’s good for the body is also good for the mind. That is the conclusion of a 2010 multistudy analysis performed by researchers at the University of Essex in the U.K. Their goal was to assess the effect of “green exercise” -- meaning exercise in the presence of nature -- on mood and self-esteem as measured through a standardized means of self-reporting. They found that intense short-duration exercise in the outdoors improves both self-esteem and mood, regardless of location, gender, age, health or even intensity and duration of the exercise. Mood improvements were greatest in response to light vigorous activity, while the mentally ill reported the greatest change in self-esteem.
Depression
Run two miles and call me in the morning. It’s not stretching it too much to say that could well be a prescription appropriate for some people who suffer from depression. As reported in 2007 in "Psychosomatic Medicine," researchers conducted a randomized controlled study of 202 adults diagnosed with major depression to test the effects of exercise. Patients were assigned to four different treatments, including home and group exercise regimens, antidepressant medication and a placebo. They found that all treatments had higher rates of remission (from 40 to 47 percent) than those receiving a placebo (31 percent), with response to aerobic exercise comparable to that of medication.
Pleasure
According to David Linden, Ph.D., professor of neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University and author of “The Compass of Pleasure,” there are short-term as well as long-term benefits of exercise, which last just an hour or two. These include reduced anxiety, less sensitivity to pain and the well-known “runner’s high.”
Runner's High
Runner’s high is real. That is the conclusion of a 2008 study reported in the journal "Cerebral Cortex" in which 10 trained male athletes were evaluated before and after running using positron emission tomography, or PET, scans of the brain. They found that in widespread areas of the brain, the binding of a chemical that acts in the same manner as naturally occurring opioids decreased significantly, meaning that more of the brain opioids were available and active. The runners' self-reported euphoria ratings were inversely correlated with the amount of opioid binding in their brains. The authors claim theirs is the “first study to provide evidence that release of endogenous opioids in the brain after sustained physical exercise is closely correlated to runner’s euphoria.”
Mood
What’s good for the body is also good for the mind. That is the conclusion of a 2010 multistudy analysis performed by researchers at the University of Essex in the U.K. Their goal was to assess the effect of “green exercise” -- meaning exercise in the presence of nature -- on mood and self-esteem as measured through a standardized means of self-reporting. They found that intense short-duration exercise in the outdoors improves both self-esteem and mood, regardless of location, gender, age, health or even intensity and duration of the exercise. Mood improvements were greatest in response to light vigorous activity, while the mentally ill reported the greatest change in self-esteem.
Depression
Run two miles and call me in the morning. It’s not stretching it too much to say that could well be a prescription appropriate for some people who suffer from depression. As reported in 2007 in "Psychosomatic Medicine," researchers conducted a randomized controlled study of 202 adults diagnosed with major depression to test the effects of exercise. Patients were assigned to four different treatments, including home and group exercise regimens, antidepressant medication and a placebo. They found that all treatments had higher rates of remission (from 40 to 47 percent) than those receiving a placebo (31 percent), with response to aerobic exercise comparable to that of medication.
Pleasure
According to David Linden, Ph.D., professor of neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University and author of “The Compass of Pleasure,” there are short-term as well as long-term benefits of exercise, which last just an hour or two. These include reduced anxiety, less sensitivity to pain and the well-known “runner’s high.”
Runner's High
Runner’s high is real. That is the conclusion of a 2008 study reported in the journal "Cerebral Cortex" in which 10 trained male athletes were evaluated before and after running using positron emission tomography, or PET, scans of the brain. They found that in widespread areas of the brain, the binding of a chemical that acts in the same manner as naturally occurring opioids decreased significantly, meaning that more of the brain opioids were available and active. The runners' self-reported euphoria ratings were inversely correlated with the amount of opioid binding in their brains. The authors claim theirs is the “first study to provide evidence that release of endogenous opioids in the brain after sustained physical exercise is closely correlated to runner’s euphoria.”
