HypothesisTransient hypofrontality as a mechanism for the psychological effects of exercise
Introduction
Exercise is beneficial to mood and cognition (e.g., Colcombe and Kramer, 2003, Scully et al., 1998, Tomporowski, 2003). Extensive evidence shows that in the moderate, aerobic range, exercise reduces stress, decreases anxiety, and alleviates depression (Salmon, 2001). Despite decades of research attempting to explicate a neurochemical basis for these phenomena, a sound mechanistic explanation is still lacking. Previous research has concentrated heavily on alterations in neurotransmitter mechanisms such as norepinephrine (Dishman, 1997), endorphins (Hoffman, 1997), serotonin (Chaouloff, 1997), and most recently endocannabinoids (Sparling et al., 2003, Dietrich and McDaniel, 2004). Bearing on this long-standing gap in the medical knowledge base, it will be shown that established concepts in cognitive psychology and the neurosciences, coupled with recent findings intimating prefrontal cortex pathology in anxiety disorders and depression, can be synthesized to formulate a new hypothesis. This surprisingly simple hypothesis, “transient hypofrontality”, is based on functional neuroanatomy and should be regarded as complementary to explanations focusing on neurotransmitter changes. Importantly, this new theoretical framework yields a number of eminently testable hypotheses.
Section snippets
Exercise-induced transient hypofrontality
Converging evidence from a number of techniques (133Xe washout, radioactive microsphere, and autoradiography as well as EEG, SPECT, and PET) has shown that exercise is associated with profound regional changes in motor, sensory, and autonomic regions of the brain. Marked increases in activation occur in neural structures responsible for generating the motor patterns that sustain the physical activity. In particular, the primary motor cortex, secondary motor cortices, basal ganglia, cerebellum,
Implications for mental health
Because neuroimaging studies of individuals with anxiety disorders and depression show evidence of frontal lobe dysfunction, the concept of exercise-induced transient hypofrontality suggests a new neural mechanism by which exercise might be beneficial to mental health. Briefly, in obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), for instance, the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC), which has been implicated in complex emotions, exhibits widespread hypermetabolism (Baxter, 1990), while individuals with
Conclusions
Supportive evidence from exercise science, psychology, and neuroscience was synthesized to develop a new mechanistic explanation for the anxiolytic, antidepressant, and cognitive effects accompanying acute exercise. The transient hypofrontality hypothesis is based on neuroanatomical, physiological, and theoretical considerations and has several advantages over other approaches. First, a state of diminished activity in prefrontal regions can account for a wide variety of well-documented
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2023, Science and SportsCitation Excerpt :Since the brain is behaving as the main commander during exercise, PFC has taken the attention of researchers and this area has been reported as a key region in ensuring motor control and performance [1,4]. Moreover, the brain (especially PFC) has the responsibility for the coordination of processes that are necessary for starting, performing, and finishing the exercise despite the external (such as ambient temperature, humidity, etc.) and internal (such as fatigue, motivation, etc.) factors [1,4,5]. Characterized by these abilities, neuronal and hemodynamic efficiency may play a critical role in maintaining performance.