Sustained aerobic exercise increases adult neurogenesis in brain

February 8, 2016
Suomen Akatemia (Academy of Finland)
It may be possible to increase the neuron reserve of the hippocampus – and thus improve preconditions for learning – by promoting neurogenesis via sustained aerobic exercise such as running, say researchers.

Aerobic exercise, such as running, has positive effects on brain structure and function, for example, the generation of neurons (neurogenesis) in the hippocampus, a brain structure important in learning. It has been unclear whether high-intensity interval training (HIT), referring to alternating short bouts of very intense anaerobic exercise with recovery periods, or anaerobic resistance training has similar effects on hippocampal neurogenesis in adulthood. In addition, individual genetic variation in the overall response to physical exercise likely plays a part in the effects of exercise on adult neurogenesis but is less studied.

Researchers from the Department of Psychology and from the Department of Biology of Physical Activity at the University of Jyväskylä studied the effects of sustained running exercise, HIT and resistance training on adult hippocampal neurogenesis in adult male rats. In addition to the commonly used Sprague-Dawley rats, rat lines developed by collaborators at the University of Michigan were also used: Rats with a genetically high response to aerobic training (HRT) and those with a low response to aerobic training (LRT). The exercise training period was 6 to 8 weeks (running, HIT or resistance training) during which control animals of the same rat line/strain remained in sedentary conditions in the home cage.

The results indicate that the highest number of new hippocampal neurons was observed in rats that ran long distances and that also had a genetic predisposition to benefit from aerobic exercise: Compared to sedentary animals, HRT rats that ran voluntarily on a running wheel had 2-3 times more new hippocampal neurons at the end of the experiment. Resistance training had no such effect. Also the effects of HIT were minor. To conclude, only sustained aerobic exercise improved hippocampal neurogenesis in adult animals.

The result is important because, according to previous research, the new hippocampal neurons produced as a result of neurogenesis are needed among other things for learning temporally and/or spatially complex tasks. It is possible that by promoting neurogenesis via sustained aerobic exercise, the neuron reserve of the hippocampus can be increased and thus also the preconditions for learning improved -- also in humans
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160208083606.htm

Aerobic fitness may protect liver against chronic alcohol use

Higher metabolism from aerobic activity could prevent liver inflammation

February 16, 2016
Science Daily/University of Missouri-Columbia
Excessive alcohol use is responsible for more than 80,000 deaths in the United States each year. Over time, excessive drinking can lead to several chronic conditions, such as fatty liver disease and cirrhosis. Now, a study shows that aerobic exercise may protect the liver against alcohol-related inflammation and injury.

"Excessive alcohol consumption is one of the most common causes of chronic liver failure," said Jamal Ibdah, M.D., Ph.D., professor of medicine, Raymond E. and Vaona H. Peck Chair in Cancer Research at the MU School of Medicine and lead author of the study. "We know from previous research that chronic and binge drinking causes modifications to protein structures within the liver, resulting in irreversible damage. In our current study we wanted to see whether increased levels of aerobic fitness could prevent alcohol-related liver damage."

Ibdah's research team used rats bred for high activity, or "runner rats," to test if increased metabolism protected the liver against fatty deposits and inflammation. One group of rats was exposed to chronic alcohol use for six weeks and compared to a second group that was not exposed to alcohol during the same time period.

"As expected, we found that fatty deposits were greater in the livers of the chronic alcohol group," said Ibdah, who also serves as director of the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the MU School of Medicine. "However, chronic alcohol ingestion did not cause significant inflammation in the liver. Higher physical activity levels seemed to protect against the metabolic dysfunction that eventually leads to irreversible liver damage."

Ibdah's team also found that chronic alcohol ingestion caused no discernable increase in free fatty acids, triglycerides, insulin or glucose in the blood of the group exposed to alcohol as compared to the control group.

"This is significant because chronic alcohol ingestion may reduce insulin effectiveness over time, leading to elevated blood insulin and sugar levels," Ibdah said. "With chronic use, we would expect to see these levels much higher than the control group, yet surprisingly, they were about the same."

Ibdah said more research is needed to better understand how increased aerobic fitness provides oxidative protection against chronic alcohol use. However, understanding this mechanism may lead to eventual treatments for chronic alcohol-related liver damage.
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160216123453.htm

How a waste product of exercise protects neurons from trauma damage

February 19, 2016
Science Daily/Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Researchers have found how lactate, a waste product of glucose metabolism can protect neurons from damage following acute trauma such as stroke or spinal cord injury.

https://images.sciencedaily.com/2016/02/160219092202_1_540x360.jpg
Step-by-step description of how lactate protects neurons against excitotoxicity: (1) Excessive glutamate activity triggers a strong influx of calcium (Ca2+) into the neuron through NMDA receptors, which leads to cell death. (2) Lactate is transported into the neuron and (3) converted to pyruvate by the enzyme lactate dehydrogenase (LDH). (4) Pyruvate is then transported into mitochondria by the mitochondrial pyruvate carrier (MPC) where it generates ATP. (5) ATP is then released through pannexins and activates the receptor P2Y, which (6) activates the PI3K pathway. (7) This triggers the opening of potassium channels (K+), which causes the neuron to hyperpolarize, decreasing the neuron's excitability, and thus protecting it from excitotoxic damage.
Credit: Pascal Jourdain (EPFL)

Stroke or spinal cord injury can cause nerve cells to receive excessive stimulation, which ultimately damages and even kills them. This process is known as excitotoxicity, and it is one of the reasons why time following such trauma is critical, while it also implicated in progressive neurodegenerative diseases, e.g. Alzheimer's disease. A team of scientists led by EPFL has now discovered that lactate, which is produced in the brain and even muscles after intense exercise, can be used to protect neurons against excitotoxicity. The study is published in the Nature journal Scientific Reports.

Following acute trauma such as a stroke or spinal cord injury, a certain type of receptors go into overdrive and overwhelm the target neuron with a barrage of electrical signals. This causes a build-up of calcium ions inside the neuron, which triggers toxic biochemical pathways that ultimately damage or kill it.

The receptors that cause this are called NMDA receptors, and interact with the neurotransmitter glutamate. NMDA receptors are a major target in research and medicine, as they are implicated in a number of disorders, including epilepsy, schizophrenia, Parkinson's and even Alzheimer's.

A team of researchers led by Pierre Magistretti from EPFL and the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, investigated the effects of glutamate on cultured neurons from the brains of mice. The scientists used a new, non-invasive imaging technique called Digital Holographic Microscopy that can visualize cells structure and dynamics with nanometer-level resolution.

Previous studies have suggested that, lactate could protect neurons against excitotoxicity. Lactate is produced in the brain and in muscles after intense exercise as a waste product of glucose metabolism. Nonetheless, how lactate protects neurons has eluded scientists until now.

The researchers tested the effects of glutamate on the mouse neurons with and without lactate. The results were revealing: glutamate killed 65% of the neurons, but when with lactate, that number dropped to 32%.

The researchers then aimed to determine how lactate protects neurons. By using different receptor blockers on the mouse neurons, they determined that lactate triggers the production of ATP, the cell's energy molecule. In turn, the produced ATP binds and activates another type of receptor in the neuron, which turns on a complex cascade of defense mechanisms. As a result, the neuron can withstand the onslaught of signals from the NMDA receptor.

The breakthrough can advance our understanding of neuroprotection, which could lead to improved pharmacological ways to ameliorate the irreparable damage caused by stroke, spinal cord injury, and other trauma.
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160219092202.htm

Exercise helps adults with high-anxiety sensitivity quit smoking

February 24, 2016
Science Daily/University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin)
Exercise helps smokers with a high risk for cessation failure due to emotional distress finally kick the habit, according to psychologists. The research suggests that exercise can reduce anxiety sensitivity and depressive symptoms, doubling the chances of cessation for these adults.

According to a study in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, between 20 and 33 percent of smokers are considered to have high-anxiety sensitivity -- or fear of anxiety and related sensations such as a racing heart, sweating or dizziness -- and smoke to cope with stress, making it harder to quit.

"Anxiety and depressive symptoms and syndromes are the most prevalent psychiatric conditions in the general population and are remarkably comorbid with smoking," said psychology professor Jasper Smits, lead author of the study. "Those with high-anxiety sensitivity experience greater problems with nicotine withdrawal, which is a strong predictor of lapse and subsequent relapse."

Smits' research, however, suggests that exercise can reduce anxiety sensitivity and depressive symptoms, doubling the chances of cessation for these adults.

Participants were daily smokers who were screened for anxiety sensitivity and randomly assigned to a 15-week intervention that included thrice weekly exercise (72 individuals) or wellness education (64 individuals) sessions in combination with cognitive behavioral therapy and optional nicotine replacement therapy patches.

Exercise sessions required 25-minutes of "vigorous" work (77 to 88 percent of maximum heart rate), and wellness education sessions included healthy life-style discussions and weekly wellness goals.

Abstinence was assessed through self-reporting and saliva samples. At the end of treatment, 26 percent of those who exercised successfully abstained from smoking, and 12 percent who attended wellness sessions abstained. After six months, 23 percent of the exercise group abstained, and 10 percent of the wellness education group continued to abstain

The National Health Interview Survey found that smoking among U.S. adults without psychiatric disorders decreased steadily between 1997 and 2011 (from 24.1 percent to 18.2 percent), while smoking among adults with some form of psychiatric disorders has remained relatively stable (43.6 percent to 42.1 percent).

"This group is particularly at risk for cessation failure, and our findings suggest that exercise can reduce that risk," Smits said.
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160224133636.htm

Vigorous exercise boosts critical neurotransmitters, may help restore mental health

February 25, 2016
Science Daily/University of California - Davis Health System
People who exercise have better mental fitness, and a new imaging study now shows why. The finding offers new insights into brain metabolism and why exercise could become an important part of treating depression and other neuropsychiatric disorders linked with deficiencies in neurotransmitters, which drive communications between the brain cells that regulate physical and emotional health.
https://images.sciencedaily.com/2016/02/160225101241_1_540x360.jpg
Richard Maddock and his team conducted MRI exams of people before and after vigorous exercise to determine the effect of exercise on neurotransmitters.
Credit: Image courtesy of University of California - Davis Health System

Published in this week's issue of The Journal of Neuroscience, the finding offers new insights into brain metabolism and why exercise could become an important part of treating depression and other neuropsychiatric disorders linked with deficiencies in neurotransmitters, which drive communications between the brain cells that regulate physical and emotional health.

"Major depressive disorder is often characterized by depleted glutamate and GABA, which return to normal when mental health is restored," said study lead author Richard Maddock, professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. "Our study shows that exercise activates the metabolic pathway that replenishes these neurotransmitters."

The research also helps solve a persistent question about the brain, an energy-intensive organ that consumes a lot of fuel in the form of glucose and other carbohydrates during exercise. What does it do with that extra fuel?

"From a metabolic standpoint, vigorous exercise is the most demanding activity the brain encounters, much more intense than calculus or chess, but nobody knows what happens with all that energy," Maddock said. "Apparently, one of the things it's doing is making more neurotransmitters."

The striking change in how the brain uses fuel during exercise has largely been overlooked in brain health research. While the new findings account for a small part of the brain's energy consumption during exercise, they are an important step toward understanding the complexity of brain metabolism. The research also hints at the negative impact sedentary lifestyles might have on brain function, along with the role the brain might play in athletic endurance.

"It is not clear what causes people to 'hit the wall' or get suddenly fatigued when exercising," Maddock said. "We often think of this point in terms of muscles being depleted of oxygen and energy molecules. But part of it may be that the brain has reached its limit."

To understand how exercise affects the brain, the team studied 38 healthy volunteers. Participants exercised on a stationary bicycle, reaching around 85 percent of their predicted maximum heart rate. To measure glutamate and GABA, the researchers conducted a series of imaging studies using a powerful 3-tesla MRI to detect nuclear magnetic resonance spectra, which can identify several compounds based on the magnetic behavior of hydrogen atoms in molecules.

The researchers measured GABA and glutamate levels in two different parts of the brain immediately before and after three vigorous exercise sessions lasting between eight and 20 minutes, and made similar measurements for a control group that did not exercise. Glutamate or GABA levels increased in the participants who exercised, but not among the non-exercisers. Significant increases were found in the visual cortex, which processes visual information, and the anterior cingulate cortex, which helps regulate heart rate, some cognitive functions and emotion. While these gains trailed off over time, there was some evidence of longer-lasting effects.

"There was a correlation between the resting levels of glutamate in the brain and how much people exercised during the preceding week," Maddock said. "It's preliminary information, but it's very encouraging."

These findings point to the possibility that exercise could be used as an alternative therapy for depression. This could be especially important for patients under age 25, who sometimes have more side effects from selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), anti-depressant medications that adjust neurotransmitter levels.

For follow-up studies, Maddock and the team hope to test whether a less-intense activity, such as walking, offers similar brain benefits. They would also like to use their exercise-plus-imaging method on a study of patients with depression to determine the types of exercise that offer the greatest benefit.

"We are offering another view on why regular physical activity may be important to prevent or treat depression," Maddock said. "Not every depressed person who exercises will improve, but many will. It's possible that we can help identify the patients who would most benefit from an exercise prescription."
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160225101241.htm

Want a younger brain? Stay in school -- and take the stairs

Education and physical activity can significantly slow down grey-matter aging

March 9, 2016
Science Daily/Concordia University
A new study shows that the more flights of stairs a person climbs, and the more years of school a person completes, the 'younger' their brain physically appears.

In a study recently published in the journal Neurobiology of Aging, researchers led by Jason Steffener, a scientist at Concordia University's Montreal-based PERFORM Centre, show that the more flights of stairs a person climbs, and the more years of school a person completes, the "younger" their brain physically appears.

The researchers found that brain age decreases by 0.95 years for each year of education, and by 0.58 years for every daily flight of stairs climbed -- i.e., the stairs between two consecutive floors in a building.

"There already exist many 'Take the stairs' campaigns in office environments and public transportation centres," says Steffener. "This study shows that these campaigns should also be expanded for older adults, so that they can work to keep their brains young."

For the study, Steffener and his co-authors used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to non-invasively examine the brains of 331 healthy adults who ranged in age from 19 to 79.

They measured the volume of grey matter found in participants' brains because its decline, caused by neural shrinkage and neuronal loss, is a very visible part of the chronological aging process. Then, they compared brain volume to the participants' reported number of flights of stairs climbed, and years of schooling completed.

Results were clear: the more flights of stairs climbed, and the more years of schooling completed, the younger the brain.

"This study shows that education and physical activity affect the difference between a physiological prediction of age and chronological age, and that people can actively do something to help their brains stay young," he says.

"In comparison to many other forms of physical activity, taking the stairs is something most older adults can and already do at least once a day, unlike vigorous forms of physical activity," says Steffener, who is also a researcher at the Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal.

"This is encouraging because it demonstrates that a simple thing like climbing stairs has great potential as an intervention tool to promote brain health."
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160309125520.htm

Blame your noisy brain for misses and fumbles

Study finds that practice doesn't always make perfect

March 10, 2016
Science Daily/Duke University
No matter how much we practice a given movement, it will still be imperfect. The reason for this frustration, according to a new study by neuroscientists, is in how we sense the world. A given individual neuron varies in its activity even when we see exactly the same scene, producing a certain kind of brain noise that affects our responding movements.
https://images.sciencedaily.com/2016/03/160310124904_1_540x360.jpg
It's not new that our brains, and the neurons within, are noisy. The exact timing of a neuron as it produces spikes of electrical activity transmits crucial information. But a single neuron fires irregularly -- and inconsistently, even when a person is performing the same motion repeatedly. (Stock image)
Credit: © adimas / Fotolia

The reason for this frustration, according to a new study by neuroscientists at Duke University, is in how we sense the world. The response of a given neuron varies in its activity even when we see exactly the same scene -- essentially producing a certain kind of brain noise that affects our responding movements. These new findings are published April 6 in the journal Neuron.

"Understanding the noise in the nervous system and how it can work to cause inaccuracies in movement is a critical step in understanding how we move," said the study's senior investigator Stephen Lisberger, chair of neurobiology at Duke University School of Medicine.

These findings may help explain why our signatures don't look the same every time, why our tennis stroke doesn't always hit the ball where we want it, or why we mistype a key on the keyboard, he added.

It's not new that our brains, and the neurons within, are noisy. The exact timing of a neuron as it produces spikes of electrical activity transmits crucial information. But a single neuron fires irregularly -- and inconsistently, even when a person is performing the same motion repeatedly.

In the new study, Lisberger's team analyzed electrical activity of single neurons firing in the brains of monkeys that were tracking a dot moving across a computer screen. A region called "MT" within the visual region of the brain is responsible for guiding these particular eye movements, and for perceiving motion in general. Each neuron responds to the moving dot with a particular delay.

Unexpectedly, the delay of one neuron in response to a particular motion linked up with the delay of another neuron in the MT, the group found. When one neuron fired a little early, so did its neighbor.

"I was extremely surprised by this finding," Lisberger said. "My intuition would have been that it would have been entirely random."

A group of neurons is a bit like a raucous crowd packed into a basketball stadium. When they are uncoordinated, individual cheers are hard to hear. But when everyone's chanting in synchrony, you can pick out the words from the other noise, Lisberger said.

The latter phenomenon, what the research team calls "correlated noise," becomes a meaningful signal. Remarkably, the delay in a single MT neuron predicts the size of the delay in the monkeys' responding eye movements.

"We get that finding because the whole population of neurons is correlated and they are fluctuating together. That's the key internal driver," Lisberger said, adding that this is likely happening all over the brain. Their future work will focus on variations of individual neurons in motor areas of the brain.

Lisberger's team acquired data from the brain during movement and developed new computational tools and simulations. Their efforts have resulted in a freely available computational tool for more precisely predicting when a neuron is responding to a single event. (The code may be downloaded here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/jfznf356sbl3gl0/LeeLatencyAnalysis.zip?dl=0)

Historically, it has been a challenge to separate noise from signal while recording from individual neurons. Other studies have recorded from single neurons multiple times and lined up electrical spikes from each trial to determine when the neuron might be responding to a given stimulus, as opposed to firing randomly. But in real life, our perceptions and actions arise from the single responses of many neurons rather than many responses of a single neuron.

"We think further analysis of variation in neural responses is going to allow us to understand how the sensory and motor parts of the brain work together to generate reliable and accurate movements," Lisberger said.
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160310124904.htm

Exercise may slow brain aging by 10 years for older people

March 23, 2016
Science Daily/American Academy of Neurology
Exercise in older people is associated with a slower rate of decline in thinking skills that occurs with aging. People who reported light to no exercise experienced a decline equal to 10 more years of aging as compared to people who reported moderate to intense exercise, according to a population-based observational study.

"The number of people over the age of 65 in the United States is on the rise, meaning the public health burden of thinking and memory problems will likely grow," said study author Clinton B. Wright, MD, MS, of the University of Miami in Miami, Fla., and member of the American Academy of Neurology. "Our study showed that for older people, getting regular exercise may be protective, helping them keep their cognitive abilities longer."

For the study, researchers looked at data on 876 people enrolled in the Northern Manhattan Study who were asked how long and how often they exercised during the two weeks prior to that date. An average of seven years later, each person was given tests of memory and thinking skills and a brain MRI, and five years after that they took the memory and thinking tests again.

Of the group, 90 percent reported light exercise or no exercise. Light exercise could include activities such as walking and yoga. They were placed in the low activity group. The remaining 10 percent reported moderate to high intensity exercise, which could include activities such as running, aerobics, or calisthenics. They were placed in the high activity group.

When looking at people who had no signs of memory and thinking problems at the start of the study, researchers found that those reporting low activity levels showed a greater decline over five years compared to those with high activity levels on tests of how fast they could perform simple tasks and how many words they could remember from a list. The difference was equal to that of 10 years of aging. The difference also remained after researchers adjusted for other factors that could affect brain health, such as smoking, alcohol use, high blood pressure and body mass index.

"Physical activity is an attractive option to reduce the burden of cognitive impairment in public health because it is low cost and doesn't interfere with medications," said Wright. "Our results suggest that moderate to intense exercise may help older people delay aging of the brain, but more research from randomized clinical trials comparing exercise programs to more sedentary activity is needed to confirm these results."
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160323185527.htm

Exercise Reduces Cardiovascular Risk Factors From Constant Stress

April 5, 2016
Science Daily/American Physiological Society (APS)
Constant stress is associated with signs of poor blood vessel health and increased risk of cardiovascular disease. New research presented today at the Experimental Biology 2016 meeting in San Diego finds that aerobic exercise kept the blood vessels of stressed rats working normally. Blood vessels of exercising stressed rats enlarged more when stimulated than the blood vessels of stressed rats who did not exercise -- a sign of better vascular health. Exercise may be an important therapy for promoting cardiovascular health in chronically stressed individuals, the study concludes.

Kent Lemaster, graduate student at West Virginia University, will present "Reversing the Effects of Chronic Stress on the Aorta with Exercise Training" on April 5.

Further information

Individuals with increased levels of chronic stress have an increased aortic stiffness, which is a strong, independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Additionally, chronic stress is associated with a decreased capacity for endothelium­dependent, nitric oxide (NO)­induced vasorelaxation, which may contribute to the aortic stiffness and increased afterload on the heart. Using the unpredictable chronic mild stress protocol (UCMS), lean zucker rats (LZR; healthy rats) develop impaired vascular reactivity in aortic rings concomitant to the onset of chronic stress pathologies.

Therapeutic interventions aimed at improving endothelial functioning are therefore considered important avenues for improving CV outcomes in stressed patients. We hypothesized that a chronic aerobic exercise intervention would improve endothelium­ dependent relaxation to methacholine in isolated aortic rings of stressed LZRs. A total of 22 LZRs underwent eight weeks of a treadmill exercise protocol beginning at nine weeks of age. The animals were separated into four groups: sedentary LZR (LZR; n=7); UCMS LZR (UCMS­LZR; n=8); exercise and UCMS (ExUCMS­LZR n=7).

Following the intervention, the thoracic aorta was dissected out from each animal and sectioned into rings, some of which were then mounted into an ex vivo wire tension myograph system. The remaining rings were evaluated for NO production in a DAF­FM diacetate assay. Force transduction was used to measure the changes in aortic tension in response to pharmacological agonists. The aortic rings were mechanically set to 1 gram of tension, then pre­constricted using phenylephrine (1x10­6µM), followed by a gradual dilation induced by increasing concentrations of methacholine (1x10­9, 1x10­8, 1x10­7, 1x10-6, 1x10­5 µM respectively).

The LZR group demonstrated greater methacholine­induced maximal vasorelaxation compared to the UCMS­LZR group (83% vs. 78%). The ExUCMS­LZR group experienced the greatest maximal dilation (90%) as well as increased values of NO production measured in the DAF assay compared to LZR group and UCMS­LZR group. These results demonstrate that eight weeks of aerobic exercise enhances endothelial bioavailability and/or production of NO, which improves endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation in the aortas of stressed LZRs even more so than the sedentary control.

Exercise training may therefore be an important therapy for promoting greater arterial compliance of chronically stressed individuals.
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160405175645.htm

Perk yourself up with some exercise

April 8, 2016
Science Daily/Taylor & Francis
We’re all aware of the physical advantages of exercising and the emotional advantages have also been well-documented. But how much do we know about the psychological impact of engaging in physical activity? This study demonstrates the positive impact of acute aerobic exercise on individuals experiencing emotion regulation difficulties.

Emily E. Bernstein & Richard J. McNally tested how a short period of moderate exercise changed the emotional effects of subsequent exposure to an upsetting film clip. They hypothesised that although the stressor would evoke negative feelings in all participants, some would recover quicker than others, despite partaking in any form of exercise. They also suggested that if an individual who struggled to emotionally regulate engaged in physical activity, they should recover faster than their counterpart who had not exercised.

The study was conducted on 80 participants (40 men and 40 women) and each was assigned to either an aerobic exercise or no exercise (stretching). They were asked to complete an online survey to establish their emotional mood and then immediately instructed to either jog for 30 minutes, or stretch for 30 minutes. They were subsequently asked to watch a sad scene from the film The Champ. The participants then completed a range of questionnaires and measures to determine their emotion regulation. Finally, all participants were instructed to watch a brief clip from When Harry Met Sally, which is known to be amusing.

As expected, participants who stated that there was nothing they could do to make themselves feel better reported that they felt greater feelings of sadness during the study. One significant revelation was that participants who had completed 30 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise reported feeling less sadness by the end of the study, in comparison to individuals who had not exercised.

Bernstein and McNally concluded that, "Participants who exercised were better able to overcome or compensate for initial difficulties drawing on regulatory strategies and with goal-directed cognition and behavior" in comparison to non-exercisers.
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160408112334.htm