Aerobic exercise in major psychiatric disorders: promises and challenges

Excerpt

Cognitive deficits, specifically in episodic and working memory, and structural deficits like hippocampal volume reduction are hallmarks of an unfavorable outcome in schizophrenia and affective disorders. These features develop early in the course of the illness and cognitive deficits are difficult to treat with current pharmaceutical options. Recent evidence suggests that volume reduction in the hippocampus correlates with episodic memory deficits in schizophrenia [1]. Aerobic exercise comprising endurance training alone or in combination with cognitive training was demonstrated to increase hippocampal volume, N-acetyl-aspartate/creatinine ratio, to improve episodic memory in schizophrenia patients and working memory in major depression [2‐4] and thus is promising to contribute to recovery. However, our subsequent study in a larger cohort of chronic schizophrenia patients that combined endurance training with cognitive remediation for a period of 3 months did not replicate hippocampal findings, but found the volume of the left temporal cortex to be increased [5]. …