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Movement as Medicine

PART 1 Boost Your Mood with Movement

Research Report

No doubt you’re aware that exercise is good for your body. But did you know that exercise is also a very effective mood-booster?

Clinical studies have shown that regular exercise can improve mood in people with mild-to-moderate depression. It can also help in treating severe depression. Studies have demonstrated that exercise works as well as antidepressant medication in relieving major depression and works better for preventing relapse. READ MORE

To significantly reduce depression symptoms, researchers found that exercise needs to done a minimum of 30 minutes a day five times a week, or 60 minutes a day three times a week. But smaller amounts of activity, even 10-15 minutes at a time, can also help to improve mood. LESS

PART 2 What’s the Best Kind of Exercise for Depression?

Any kind of exercise is good for depression.

Aerobic exercise—exercise that involves using large muscle groups and raising your heart rate for more than just a few minutes—is the form of exercise that’s been studied the most for reducing symptoms of depression, and it has been proven effective. Aerobic exercise is also great for your cardiovascular system and has all sorts of other benefits, like increasing energy, reducing body fat, and lowering blood pressure. Jogging, walking briskly, swimming, working out on exercise machines such as treadmills and stationary bicycles—all these are excellent forms of aerobic exercise. READ MORE

But other kinds of physical activity qualify as aerobic as well. Dancing, raking leaves, and playing sports like tennis and Frisbee are all aerobic, and all can provide mood-boosting as well as physiological benefits.

In fact, just moving benefits both mind and body. So remember, even when you’re performing everyday activities like cleaning the floor (sweeping, mopping, or vacuuming), gardening, or walking up and down the stairs, you’re doing both your mind and your body a favor. LESS

PART 3 Does Exercise Make Your Brain Bigger?

You can make your brain bigger, repair the damage done to neurons by depression, and make your brain cells healthier—just by exercising!

Depression can make your hippocampus as much as 15% smaller than normal. When you exercise, you stimulate the creation of new nerve cells in the hippocampus, your brain’s center of learning and memory. Exercise stimulates nerve generation by raising levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). BDNF has multiple benefits for your brain. It promotes neurogenesis (nerve cell creation) and also protects existing neurons. Not only that, BDNF helps to repair nerve axons, which can be damaged by depression. READ MORE

Aerobic exercise has also been found to reinforce your brain’s neural connections by increasing the number of dendrite connections between neurons and promote signal transmission between neurons—the basis of learning and memory. LESS

PART 4

What’s in a Word?

Endorphin

How Exercise Works to Improve Symptoms

Exercise works in many important ways to improve mood and relieve depression.

Neurotransmitters. Depression is associated with low levels of certain neurotransmitters, including serotonin and norepinephrine. Evidence from studies suggests that exercise raises the levels of these neurotransmitters in the brain by stimulating your sympathetic nervous system.

Endorphins. Exercise also boosts your level of mood-enhancing endorphins. Your pituitary gland is stimulated to release endorphins into your bloodstream in response to stress, pain—or exercise. READ MORE

Endorphins are released about 30 minutes after physical exertion begins. They bind to the same neuron receptors as opiates, such as morphine and heroin, and prevent pain signals from being transmitted to your brain. Endorphin release is also frequently accompanied by a sense of euphoria, or well-being. It’s not clear if the endorphins are responsible for the euphoria or if they simply block pain and allow the pleasure associated with neurotransmitters such as serotonin and norepinephrine to be perceived more intensely.

Other actions. Exercise reduces levels of the stress hormone cortisol so that your blood pressure normalizes and your heart beat slows. It increases your body temperature, which may have calming effects, and releases muscle tension. LESS