The selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI ) antidepressant drugs (e.g. Paxil, Zoloft, Prozac) are known to stimulate replication of brain stem cells to produce new neurons. The delay in the antidepressant action of SSRIs might be due to the delay before they start causing substantial neuron creation. Well, exercise has an antidepressant effect and perhaps not coincidentally exercise also causes new neuron generation in the brain.
Exercise has a similar effect to antidepressants on depression. This has been shown by previous research. Now Astrid Bjørnebekk at Karolinska Institutet has explained how this can happen: exercise stimulates the production of new brain cells.
In a series of scientific reports, she has searched for the underlying biological mechanisms that explain why exercise can be a form of therapy for depression and has also compared it with pharmacological treatment with an SSRI drug.
The experiment studies were conducted on rats. The results show that both exercise and antidepressants increase the formation of new cells in an area of the brain that is important to memory and learning. Astrid Bjørnebekk’s studies confirm previous research results, and she proposes a model to explain how exercise can have an antidepressant effect in mild to moderately severe depression. Her study also shows that exercise is a very good complement to medicines.
“What is interesting is that the effect of antidepressant therapy can be greatly strengthened by external environmental factors,” she says.
There's a practical question here for people suffering from depression: Do exercise and SSRI add up together to an antidepressant effect that is greater than either of them alone?
What I want to know: How does exercise stimulate brain cell growth? Blood pressure changes? Increased oxygen into the brain? Other?
Also, does exercise increase memory formation even in the non-depressed?
By Randall Parker at 2007 June 28 10:00 PM Brain Depression | TrackBackI'd also be curious what kind of exercise they are referring to, aerobic, strength, or will any sort of physical activity work.
from other research articles:
long term endurance training delays the decrease of D2 receptors that comes with age in rats. D2 receptors "decrease is also related with depression , since D2 is the reward molecule of the brain.:
Thus, endurance training appears to exert a protective effect on D2 dopamine receptors during the lifespan. Taken together, the present results suggest that there may be a possible reciprocal relationship between changes in DA metabolites and DA binding as a function of exercise in presenescent older rats, and that endurance training may decelerate the effects of age both on nigrostriatal dopamine neurons and on striatal D2 dopamine receptors during a portion of the lifespan."
http://www.springerlink.com/content/u438g76412ln7x78/
They state generally "physical activity", but if you read the article they say the tests were wheel and swim - so it looks like it could be either activity in general or endurance depending on how long they had them in the water or in the wheel.
I would expect any engaging activity, such as flirting or playing video games, to "increase the formation of new cells in an area of the brain that is important to memory and learning."
The key is BDNF [brain-derived neurotrophic factor]
>long term endurance training delays the decrease of D2 receptors that comes with age in rats
Interesting.. I wonder if it also helps social phobia which seems related to low D2 receptor binding.
Africans have good short term memory,but are bad at abstract reasoning. African women do not suffer from depression. Endorphins are released during exercise,which would effect mood.