Science explains why exercise is the best medicine for anxiety

He Physical exercise It is the lubricant between body and mind. Be it going for a walk to refresh the mind or running in the park to recover from a stressful event, we are all familiar with its beneficial effects. game In our daily life. In fact, the idea that exercise can prevent anxiety and depression has been supported by an accumulation of prospective group studies in recent years. However, apart from some general interactions between our body’s periphery and our central nervous system, it is not clear what mechanisms within our brain underlie this process of motor-dependent anxiolysis.

Specifically, studies have found a trend for negative correlation between cerebellar-amygdalar functional connectivity and Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAMA) scores in patients with bipolar disorder, suggesting an interaction between the two brain regions that are related to anxiety. Can happen.

Using retrograde transmonosynaptic rabies tracing and fluorescence micro-optical slice tomography (FMOST), researchers have for the first time shown directed long-range afferent projections from cerebellar nuclear neurons to amygdala neurons on a mesoscopic scale. Studies in rodents suggest that the cerebellar-amygdalar circuit appears to be well conserved between species.

Furthermore, using miniature fluorescence microscopy, they found that amygdala neurons activated when rats ran on a rotating rotarod, and most of them also responded to optogenetic stimulation of cerebellar nuclei, indicating that the cerebellar -Amygdalar cells transport exercise-dependent information. ,

Electrophysiological results suggest that cerebellar-amygdalar projections are monosynaptic glutamatergic and can not only excite but also evoke long-term potentials in amygdala neurons, which may explain the persistent effects of exercise on mood. Opto/chemogenetic activation of cerebellar-amygdalar projections significantly improves anxiety, whereas chemogenetic suppression of the projections abolishes the anxiolytic effects of rotarod running.

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“The results improve our understanding of the non-motor functions of the cerebellum and the neural mechanisms underlying motor-emotional interaction and somatic-nosomatic integration,” Jing-Ning Zhu said in a statement. Highlight the development of more effective movement prescriptions for anxiety and mood disorders in general High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) Wave Vigorous Intermittent Lifestyle Physical Activity (VILPA)“, and provides a novel strategy for both invasive treatments and non-invasive forms of intervention targeting the cerebellum to reduce anxiety.”