Behavioral neuroscience of emotion and exercise

Abstract

The latest neuroscience studies have reported that physical activity and exercise can change the levels of brain monoamines and neurotrophic factors, increase synaptic plasticity and neurogenesis, and alter intracellular signaling proteins and neuronal activity. These studies have considered that physical exercise might be associated with psychological health such as stress reduction, antidepressant/anxiolytic properties, and improvement in mood through morphological and functional alterations of the central nervous system involved in emotion regulation. Although evidence of the neural and behavioral benefits of physical exercise is accumulating, the neural mechanisms behind these beneficial effects and emotion regulation from physical exercise are not clearly understood. This paper discusses how physical activity and exercise regulate emotional functions such as stress responses, mood, and depression or anxiety, focusing on specific areas of the brain involved in emotion regulation.

Keywords

• monoaminergic system
• hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis
• neuroplasticity
• depression, anxiety