Regular exercise does more than build muscle and improve cardiovascular health. It also transforms your brain chemistry in ways that can rival psychiatric medications\u2014without the side effects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Harvard psychiatrist John Ratey makes a compelling case for exercise as a treatment for mental health conditions. Drawing on neuroscience research, he shows how physical activity balances the brain chemicals that regulate mood, attention, and motivation. Keep reading to learn how this simple intervention can help manage stress, anxiety, depression, addiction, and ADHD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
John Ratey (Spark<\/em><\/a>) contends that, for mental health, physical activity can be prescribed as a form of treatment. This diverges with another approach that has been dominant in the field of psychiatry since the 1980s\u2014prescribing medications. This practice emerged with the idea that common mental disorders were due to chemical imbalances in the brain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Reliance on medications was merely the latest in a series of ideas that prompted treatment strategies: In the era of eugenics (the belief that humans could be improved by selective breeding), poor mental health was seen as a product of genetically inferior brain anatomy. Lobotomies (removing parts of the brain) and forced sterilization (to weed out \u201cbad genes\u201d from the human gene pool) were preferred treatments. Later, in the Freudian era, psychologists believed that thoughts and behaviors came from the subconscious mind, and psychoanalysis became the preferred treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The more recent pharmaceutical approach to treatment seeks to restore chemical balance in the brain, but even that approach has proven to be an incomplete treatment for most mental health issues<\/a>. Some experts are even convinced that the rise of psychiatric medications has contributed to the prevalence of mental health illness today<\/a>. They cite evidence indicating that the use of psychiatric drugs leads to chronic psychiatric disorders with more severe symptoms for many patients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Using exercise as a treatment in the way Ratey describes seems to have none of these adverse effects, and, increasingly other clinicians also advocate using it this way<\/a>. But what makes exercise so effective where other treatments have fallen short? Brad Stulberg (The Practice of Groundedness<\/em><\/a>) writes that exercise affects mental health because your mind and body are connected. By staying physically active, you can boost your mood, increase your energy levels, and think more clearly and creatively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ratey, an Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, explains how this mind-body connection works. Neurotransmitters are chemicals that regulate the signals passing along the brain\u2019s neural network. When there’s an imbalance of neurotransmitters we can experience difficulties such as anxiety, depression, scattered focus, memory loss, and more<\/strong>. Too much glutamate<\/em>, for instance, leads to a signal overload that can cause excitotoxic stress. Too little gamma-aminobutyric acid<\/em> (GABA) undercuts your brain\u2019s ability to stop the signals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The functioning of these two neurotransmitters is further regulated by three other neurotransmitters you may have heard of: serotonin<\/em>, norepinephrine<\/em>, and dopamine<\/em>. The messages that end up getting transmitted throughout the brain are largely regulated by these three chemicals. There\u2019s overlap between their functions, but: <\/p>\n\n\n\n These are the three chemicals targeted by most psychiatric medications. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) such as Lexapro, for example, are used to regulate the disruptive mood states associated with depression by increasing serotonin levels in the brain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Ratey supports the use of such medications and is careful not to suggest that exercise should be relied on to the exclusion of drugs in particular cases. Such decisions are best made under the guidance of physicians familiar with the case. Nevertheless, Ratey argues that exercise helps to bring all these chemicals into balance by stimulating the release of each of these neurotransmitters in optimal amounts for mental health.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n (Shortform note: Neuroscience research shows that regular exercise improves your mental health by releasing a host of brain chemicals<\/a> including endorphins, endocannabinoids, and dopamine\u2014all of which boost your mood.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n The neurotransmitter balance that exercise promotes isn’t just theoretical; it has practical implications for treating specific mental health conditions. Ratey demonstrates how the same mechanisms that regulate serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine can address a range of psychiatric challenges. Let’s examine how exercise works as a treatment for five common conditions: stress, anxiety, depression, addiction, and ADHD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To understand the benefits of exercise for stress relief, it’s important to understand what stress is in the first place. Ratey defines stress as anything that initiates activity at the level of our cells<\/strong>. By this definition, our environments present countless stressors. For example, when we move, we stress both our muscles and the brain cells involved in controlling that movement. When we eat vegetables such as eggplant, our cells activate as they work to process toxins the plant has created to protect itself. When we hear an unexpected noise, our brains initiate a stress response as they work to assess the source of the noise and whatever threat it might pose. <\/p>\n\n\n\n (Shortform note: Another biological understanding of stress is that it\u2019s anything that threatens homeostasis<\/em>. Homeostasis is a state in which the body\u2019s physical systems are in balance<\/a>. So anything that disrupts that maintenance is a stressor.)\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Under this narrow, biological definition, stress is neither inherently good or bad; it\u2019s a fundamental biological process. If the body can handle the effects of the stress\u2014for example, if cells can clean up the waste produced by oxidative stress\u2014then the stress won\u2019t have negative effects at the cellular level. It\u2019s when the body can\u2019t keep up with the cellular effects of stress that it starts to feel negative effects. When that happens, we end up feeling<\/em> stressed, which Ratey explains is a psychological and emotional reaction to cellular stress events. <\/p>\n\n\n\n (Shortform note: Some experts take a different view of just how stress is neither good nor bad. Defining it as a psychological challenge<\/em>, they observe that people who seem to handle stress well are motivated by it<\/a>\u2014seeing it as an opportunity to rise to a challenge. By contrast, those who don\u2019t handle stress well are demotivated by such a challenge. These experts suggest that cognitive reframing <\/em>(thinking of the stressor differently) can help to make stress work for you.)\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Given the risks associated with chronic stress, it\u2019s important to understand how exercise can be used to limit our exposure to its negative effects. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Exercise stimulates the release of proteins that grow and strengthen the neural network: BDNF, VEGF, and FGF-2. This reduces the likelihood that our brains will misperceive threats or lose control of the body\u2019s stress-response system. Beyond this, Ratey argues, exercise counteracts the disempowering effect stress and fear has on your mind. As an activity you voluntarily pursue, it\u2019s empowering, which reinforces a positive feedback loop that bolsters your resistance to the stressors of life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Ratey contends that exercise, as a form of mild acute stress, is like an inoculant that builds resilience<\/strong>, toning all the machinery of the brain and body and tamping down our trigger-happy stress response system. <\/strong>He points out that this effect is largely a consequence of the way our cells recover after exercise-induced stress\u2014this is part of the activity and recovery process of the body\u2019s stress response. In addition to this recovery mechanism, the broader effects of exercise on the brain condition us to handle stress better. <\/p>\n\n\n\nHow It Works: Exercise Balances Neurotransmitters\u00a0<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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How Physical Activity Impacts 5 Mental Health Conditions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
#1: Stress<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Exercise Calms Our Mind & Body<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Exercise Is a Mild Stress<\/h5>\n\n\n\n