14 DAY TRIAL // People who regularly exercise are likely to have an easier time coping with stress and situations that cause others to grow anxious, a team of Princeton University scientists argues.
By the looks of it, this is because regular physical activity has a direct effect on the brain, compelling it to reorganize itself in a manner that makes it more resilient to stressful circumstances.
Experiments on mice have shown that, when rodents that exercised quite often were exposed to stress, their ventral hippocampus (i.e. an area in the brain said to exercise control over feelings of anxiety) went into overdrive.
Otherwise put, whatever neurons made up said brain region became more active, thus lowering the excitement levels that the animals experienced.
“Understanding how the brain regulates anxious behavior gives us potential clues about helping people with anxiety disorders.”
“It also tells us something about how the brain modifies itself to respond optimally to its own environment,” researcher Elizabeth Gould explained.
A detailed account of this investigation and its findings is made available to the public in the Journal of Neuroscience.