Exercise improves your mood, and a molecule helps explain why

One in five Canadians lives with mental health challenges such as anxiety and depression at some point.

This number has risen steadily in recent years, and while we have improved how we talk about mental health, significant stigma remains. In fact, people are almost three times less likely to report a mental illness than a physical illness.

There are many effective mental health medications available. However, diagnosis and access to treatment can take years.

Sometimes prescriptions used to treat mood disorders have side effects that can cause people to stop or stop taking their medication. Conventional treatment can be expensive and not always covered by insurance or benefits.

At the same time, there is another tool—regularly recommended for improving cardiovascular health and metabolic health—that can be a very useful addition to mental health care and management. Which device may treat most conditions? Practice!

yes! Lifting weights boosts your mood

Many people have experienced a feeling of euphoria after a workout, but
Can hitting the gym really help with depression and anxiety? Science says – absolutely!

Exercise has been proven to actually improve anxiety and depression symptoms in the short and long term. It can help with mood regulation, and in particular, emotional resistance to severe stress.

While reports of improved mood after exercise may seem subjective, the benefits of exercise on mental health can actually be seen on a biochemical level.

You may have heard the term “runner’s high” which stems from the euphoria or euphoria many people experience after exercise. This is largely caused by an increase in what we call endocannabinoids and endorphins – hormones and molecules that make you feel happy or content.

‘Good’ and ‘bad’ tryptophan metabolites

There may be another important molecule to thank, though – tryptophan.

Tryptophan is an essential amino acid that we absorb through our food, and it plays many important roles in the human body. Tryptophan creates serotonin—often called the feel-good hormone—but it can also be broken down to produce molecules that have various effects on the brain and body.

The main pathway responsible for breaking down tryptophan is called the kynurenine pathway. Some of the products of this pathway, such as kynurenic acid, may protect against inflammation, and may be good for brain health. Others, such as quinolinic acid, are associated with toxicity and inflammation.

In fact, many chronic conditions such as depression, Alzheimer’s disease, and cancer are associated with an increase in “bad” kynurenine metabolites.

Given tryptophan’s connection to mental health and neurodegenerative conditions, researchers have begun to investigate how we can produce more of the good molecules, and less of the bad. By affecting any pathway in the kynurine pathway, we can move into a healthy, neuroprotective state.

Exercise appears to be a strong regulator of this switch.

Immediate return on investment

Studies have shown that exercise can lead to immediate and direct increases in brain protective molecules such as kynurenic acid, which are measured in the blood and muscles after exercise. These beneficial changes have been found after endurance cycling, weight lifting, and HIIT training.

Populations with additional metabolic conditions, such as type 2 diabetes, have also seen beneficial changes in tryptophan metabolites after a session of exercise.

Better yet, these improvements have been reported in various age groups, suggesting benefits for both young and old people.

To date, laboratory-based studies have largely used conventional exercise protocols such as cycling and resistance training. However, being more physically active in general seems to improve your profile of these metabolites, meaning you don’t necessarily need to exercise in the lab to see improvement.

While exercise shows great promise as a source of mood enhancement and brain protection, research in this area is still developing. More work is needed to understand the precise mechanisms at the molecular level that explain how and why exercise plays such an important role in regulating these metabolites.

Don’t sweat the small stuff; Sweating!

Finally, exercise is a powerful tool to help improve mental health. There is strong evidence supporting the use of exercise for stress management and the production of additional feel-good hormones and metabolites, which can help manage mood disorders.

RELATED: Exercise Protects Against Alzheimer’s, and Scientists May Finally Know Why

Exercise can provide an important change of scenery, a social outing, or simply a momentary distraction. These factors can be important for mental health. Group activities, such as running clubs and pickleball leagues, can serve as multifaceted mood boosters.

So, while working out might feel like the last thing you want to do, especially in the middle of a Canadian winter, the benefits are worth braving the cold.

Meghan McCue, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Health Sciences, McMaster University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.