Exercise and Mental Health: Many Reasons to Move

Abstract

The relationship between physical activity and mental health has been widely investigated, and several hypotheses have been formulated about it. Specifically, during the aging process, physical exercise might represent a potential adjunctive treatment for neuropsychiatric disorders and cognitive impairment, helping delay the onset of neurodegenerative processes. Even though exercise itself might act as a stressor, it has been demonstrated that it reduces the harmful effects of other stressors when performed at moderate intensities. Neurotransmitter release, neurotrophic factor and neurogenesis, and cerebral blood flow alteration are some of the concepts involved. In this review, the potential effects of exercise on the aging process and on mental health are discussed, concerning some of the recent findings on animal and human research. The overwhelming evidence present in the literature today suggests that exercise ensures successful brain functioning.

Mental health and physical inactivity during pregnancy: a cross-sectional study nested in the BRISA cohort study

“…Furthermore, no significant association was found between having symptoms of depression and perceived stress and physical inactivity after conducting adjusted analysis. The majority of similar studies involving samples of the general population and pregnant women found an association between symptoms of depression 34,35,36,37,45,46 , anxiety 37,48 and stress 41 and lower levels of specific types of leisure-time physical activity and/or exercise. Exercise is a type of leisure-time physical activity that aims to maintain or improve one or more aspects of physical fitness and is planned, structured, systematic, and generally more intense 59 .…”

“…The PSS-14 has been used with both clinical and non-clinical samples, including pregnant women 31,58 . Recommendations suggested by Deslandes et al 36 were followed in order to achieve a more accurate estimation of higher levels of perceived stress among the sample. Subjects with scores within the highest quartile were categorized as being subject to a severe level of perceived stress.…”

“…Poorer mental health status associated with pregnancy may be a contributing factor to reduced activity as physical effort becomes less attractive and more difficult 19 . On the other hand, studies of population samples of nonpregnant women show that regular exercise can alleviate psychological complaints and lead to improvements in quality of life 34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42 .…”

“…Studies suggest a complex interaction between psychological and neurobiological factors 34,35,36 and the intensity, frequency, duration and type of physical activity 35 .…”

Understanding the individual responsiveness to resistance training periodization

“…The neurophysiological hypothesis includes the release and synthesis of several neurotrophic factors that are associated with an improved cognitive function, neurogenesis, angiogenesis, and plasticity (Deslandes et al 2009). Among blood biomarkers of neuroprotection, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) has been widely investigated (Levinger et al 2008;Coelho et al 2012).…”