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It’s common knowledge that exercise is good for your mental health and your heart health—and now a new study suggests that all three work together.
In addition to the physical benefits of exercise, it is also associated with a reduction in stress signals in the brain, leading to a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, according to the study.
Researchers analyzed data on more than 50,000 adults around age 60 from the Mass General Brigham Biobank, according to the study, published Monday in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
The study looked at a survey given to participants about their physical activity, images of their brains to track stress-related activity, and digital recordings of cardiovascular events.
“Individuals who exercised more had a gradual reduction in stress-related signals in the brain,” said lead study author Dr. Ahmed Tawakol, a cardiologist at Mass General Hospital and an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston.
“We found good associations that exercise seems to reduce heart disease risks in part by reducing stress-related signals,” he added.
Everyone should pay attention when studies come out that show this kind of improvement from a lifestyle change, said Dr. Andrew Freeman, director of cardiovascular prevention and health at National Jewish Health in Denver. Freeman was not involved in this study.
“They are incredibly cost-effective, the size of the improvements are incredible – often better than many drugs – and we need to put these tools in our ready-to-use arsenal,” he said.
Tavakol and his team also wanted to know whether people with more stress-related signals in the brain would get more benefit from exercise, he said.
“Surprisingly, we also found a more than two-fold increase in the benefits of exercise among individuals who were depressed compared to individuals who did not have depression or no history of depression,” Tavakol said.
The relationship between the amount of exercise and the reduction in the level of cardiovascular risk also varied depending on whether a person had a history of depression, he added.
For people without a history of depression, the benefit of exercise in reducing cardiovascular disease plateaus after about 300 minutes of moderate physical activity per week. But for people with depression, the benefits last longer, Tavakol said.
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Find exercise you enjoy and do regularly, said Andrew Freeman, MD, director of cardiovascular prevention and wellness at National Jewish Health in Denver. He did not participate in the research.
These benefits are in addition to the psychological benefits researchers already know exercise provides, he added.
“We know that depression is an important risk factor for heart disease and is also one of the most common stress-related conditions,” said study co-author Dr. Carmel Choi, a clinical psychologist and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General hospital.
“Although some people may be more susceptible to stress and its health effects, here we see that they too can benefit More ▼ of exercise and its stress-modulating effects. Which is encouraging,” she added in an email.
Exercise reduces stress signals and increases prefrontal cortical signals, Tavakol said.
“Both are attractive changes in the brain,” he said.
The prefrontal cortex is the part of the brain responsible for executive function, which is the cognitive process that controls behavior, Tavakol said.
And stress signals in the brain are linked to things like inflammation, higher sympathetic nervous system activity, higher blood pressure and diseases that thicken or harden the arteries, he added.
In part, exercise appears to reduce heart disease risks by reducing stress signals, Tavakol said.
However, these findings are only associations. Because the researchers observed the participants rather than conducting a randomized control trial, they can’t say for sure whether the exercise caused the reductions or what the underlying mechanisms were, he said.
You don’t have to be a professional athlete to have a good workout routine, and it can help you work your way up, Freeman said.
“It turns out that human beings are designed to move, and to move a lot, and when we do—especially when we’re outside and among trees—there’s evidence to suggest that all of these have very significant stress-relieving effects.”
Freeman recommends checking with your doctor first and trying to get to 30 minutes a day of non-breathing physical activity — and it doesn’t matter what that activity is.
“If you don’t like to walk or bike or swim or whatever, don’t do it. But figure out a way to get physical activity that you really enjoy,” he said.
Just make sure it’s hard for you, whatever your fitness level, Freeman added. If you can speak in full sentences while exercising, it might be time to make it harder, he said.
