According to the Psychology Today website, dopamine is a neurotransmitter within the brain that governs the pleasure and reward centers. Some studies have determined that a lack of dopamine production may be a contributing factor in drug addiction and obesity when those with insufficient dopamine try to increase pleasurable feelings with drugs and food. Cardiovascular exercise has proven to be successful in increasing dopamine levels, and studies have shown a direct relationship between exercise and mood-lifting dopamine.
Exercise and Mood
In a study published in the December 2008 issue of the Scandinavian medical journal "Acta Physiologica Scandinavica," researchers reviewed existing scientific studies on the relationship between mental health and exercise, which has been shown to reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression. Researchers determined that physical activity has a measurable effect on the body's levels of dopamine, noradrenaline and serotonin. Part of this reaction, noted a study published in a 2008 issue of "Neuromolecular Biology," is that regular exercise seems to increase the plasticity of the neurotransmitters that carry dopamine, which the brain produces to combat "exercise-related fatigue."
Exercise and Parkinsons
A study published in the May 2007 issue of "The Journal of Neuroscience" presented the results of research into why exercise appears to be beneficial to people suffering from Parkinson's disease. The research measured dopamine levels on mice after they had run on a treadmill. Researchers' findings indicated that the benefits brought on by exercise may have been accompanied by "changes in dopaminergic neurotransmission" that differed before and after the mice had been exposed to a neurotoxicant that was meant to simulate the effects of Parkinson's on the brain.
Increasing Receptors
A 2007 study by Sweden's Karolinska Institutet examined the role of dopamine in the way cardio exercise seems to combat depression in much the same way as antidepressant medication. According to this study, both antidepressants and exercise led to a greater number of new cells forming in an area of the brain responsible for memory and learning. According to researcher Astrid Bjørnebekk, "Different individuals may have differing sensitivity to how stress lowers dopamine D2 receptor levels, for example. This might be significant in explaining why certain individuals develop depression more readily than others."
Exercise Raises Dopamine
According to a study on the relationship between dopamine and obesity published in the February 2001 edition of "The Lancet," researcher Nora Volkow noted that previous studies conducted on animals have found that cardiovascular exercise can "increase dopamine release and to raise the number of dopamine receptors." According to this study, people with fewer-than-average dopamine receptors have an increased inclination toward drug addiction and obesity as they try to increase dopamine production through drugs or eating. Volkow suggests that exercise will increase your dopamine response and lessen your tendency to overeat as a response to low dopamine levels.
References
- "Acta Physiologica Scandinavica"; Physical Exercise and Brain Monoamines: A Review; F. Chaouloff; December 2008
- Brookhaven National Laboratory; Scientists Find Link Between Dopamine and Obesity; February 2001
- "The Journal of Neuroscience"; Effects of Treadmill Exercise on Dopaminergic Transmission in the 1-Methyl-4-Phenyl-1,2,3,6-Tetrahydropyridine-Lesioned Mouse Model of Basal Ganglia Injury; Giselle M. Petzinger, et al.; May 2007
- Science Daily; Exercise Stimulates The Formation Of New Brain Cells; June 2007
- Psychology Today: Dopamine
- "Neuromolecular Medicine"; Neuroplasticity of Dopamine Circuits After Exercise - Implications for Central Fatigue; T.E. Foley, et al.; 2008
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