Neuroscience of Exercise: From Neurobiology Mechanisms to Mental Health

Matta Mello Portugal, Eduardo; Cevada, Thais; Sobral Monteiro-Junior, Renato; Teixeira Guimarães, Thiago; da Cruz Rubini, Ercole; Lattari, Eduardo; Blois, Charlene; Camaz Deslandes, Andrea

doi:10.1159/000350946

Cited by 302

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 17 of the 17 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Neuroscience of Exercise: From Neurobiology Mechanisms to Mental Health

Open access

Matta Mello Portugal, Eduardo, Cevada, Thais, Sobral Monteiro-Junior, Renato, Teixeira Guimarães, Thiago, da Cruz Rubini, Ercole, Lattari, Eduardo, Blois, Charlene, Camaz Deslandes, Andrea·2013·Neuropsychobiology

DOI 10.1159/000350946

Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

The neuroscience of exercise is a growing research area that is dedicated to furthering our understanding of the effects that exercise has on mental health and athletic performance. The present study examined three specific topics: (1) the relationship between exercise and mental disorders (e.g. major depressive disorder, dementia and Parkinson's disease), (2) the effects of exercise on the mood and mental health of athletes, and (3) the possible neurobiological mechanisms that mediate the effects of exercise. Positive responses to regular physical exercise, such as enhanced functional capacity, increased autonomy and improved self-esteem, are frequently described in the recent literature, and these responses are all good reasons for recommending regular exercise. In addition, physical exercise may improve both mood and adherence to an exercise program in healthy individuals and might modulate both the performance and mental health of athletes. Exercise is associated with the increased synthesis and release of both neurotransmitters and neurotrophic factors, and these increases may be associated with neurogenesis, angiogenesis and neuroplasticity. This review is a call-to-action that urges researchers to consider the importance of understanding the neuroscience of physical exercise and its contributions to sports science.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1159/000350946

Cites

17 of 17 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Quantity and Quality of Exercise for Developing and Maintaining Cardiorespiratory, Musculoskeletal, and Neuromotor Fitness in Apparently Healthy Adults
Garber, C. E., Blissmer, B., Deschenes, M. R., Franklin, B. A., Lamonte, M. J., Lee, I.-M., Nieman, D. C., & Swain, D. P. (2011) · Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise · doi:10.1249/mss.0b013e318213fefb · Cited by 9,319
Running increases cell proliferation and neurogenesis in the adult mouse dentate gyrus
van Praag, H., Kempermann, G., & Gage, F. H. (1999) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/6368 · Cited by 3,880
An in vivo correlate of exercise-induced neurogenesis in the adult dentate gyrus
Pereira, A. C., Huddleston, D. E., Brickman, A. M., Sosunov, A. A., Hen, R., McKhann, G. M., Sloan, R., Gage, F. H., Brown, T. R., & Small, S. A. (2007) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.0611721104 · Cited by 1,353
Exercise treatment for depression
Dunn, A. L., Trivedi, M. H., Kampert, J. B., Clark, C. G., & Chambliss, H. O. (2005) · American Journal of Preventive Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2004.09.003 · Cited by 1,208
Exercise and Pharmacotherapy in the Treatment of Major Depressive Disorder
Blumenthal, J. A., Babyak, M. A., Doraiswamy, P. M., Watkins, L., Hoffman, B. M., Barbour, K. A., Herman, S., Craighead, W. E., Brosse, A. L., Waugh, R., et al. (2007) · Psychosomatic Medicine · doi:10.1097/psy.0b013e318148c19a · Cited by 1,019
Physical activity and risk of neurodegenerative disease: a systematic review of prospective evidence
Hamer, M., & Chida, Y. (2009) · Psychological Medicine · doi:10.1017/s0033291708003681 · Cited by 988
Cognitive stimulation to improve cognitive functioning in people with dementia
Woods, B., Aguirre, E., Spector, A. E., & Orrell, M. (2012) · Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews · doi:10.1002/14651858.cd005562.pub2 · Cited by 855
The effect of acute aerobic exercise on positive activated affect: A meta-analysis
Reed, J., & Ones, D. S. (2006) · Psychology of Sport and Exercise · doi:10.1016/j.psychsport.2005.11.003 · Cited by 622
Pleasure and displeasure from the body: perspectives from exercise
Ekkekakis, P. (2003) · Cognition and Emotion · doi:10.1080/02699930302292 · Cited by 619
High-intensity interval running is perceived to be more enjoyable than moderate-intensity continuous exercise: Implications for exercise adherence
Bartlett, J. D., Close, G. L., MacLaren, D. P. M., Gregson, W., Drust, B., & Morton, J. P. (2011) · Journal of Sports Sciences · doi:10.1080/02640414.2010.545427 · Cited by 593

Show all 17 references

Research works printed but not linked: 77

10.1038/1761258a0 · DOI
10.1136/bjsports-2012-091333 · DOI
10.2165/11583950-000000000-00000 · DOI
10.1159/000223730 · DOI · Paper page
10.1097/JGP.0b013e3180654179 · DOI
10.1016/j.jalz.2007.04.381 · DOI · Paper page
10.1038/oby.2006.46 · DOI · Paper page
10.1016/j.amepre.2008.02.013 · DOI · Paper page
10.1016/j.psychsport.2007.04.002 · DOI · Paper page
10.1371/journal.pone.0019007 · DOI · Paper page
10.2165/11536580-000000000-00000 · DOI · Paper page
10.1136/bjsm.2006.031054 · DOI
10.2174/138161209788168001 · DOI · Paper page
10.1016/S0896-6273(02)00653-0 · DOI · Paper page
10.1093/gerona/60.6.768 · DOI · Paper page
10.1159/000345160 · DOI · Paper page
10.1016/S0140-6736(05)67889-0 · DOI · Paper page
10.1371/journal.pmed.0020007 · DOI
10.1097/JGP.0b013e3181953b57 · DOI · Paper page
10.1016/j.apmr.2004.03.019 · DOI · Paper page
10.1016/j.jagp.2012.10.018 · DOI
10.1002/14651858.CD006489.pub2 · DOI · Paper page
10.1111/j.1532-5415.2011.03778.x · DOI
10.2174/156720512799015019 · DOI
10.1159/000113680 · DOI
10.1212/WNL.0b013e3181f735a7 · DOI
10.1136/jnnp.2006.099333 · DOI · Paper page
10.1249/MSS.0b013e31822432d4 · DOI
10.1016/j.archger.2007.03.007 · DOI
10.1249/MSS.0b013e31816f1550 · DOI
10.1016/S0003-9993(03)00046-7 · DOI · Paper page
10.1016/j.neuroscience.2005.03.026 · DOI · Paper page
10.1016/S0969-9961(03)00030-5 · DOI · Paper page
10.2165/11315210-000000000-00000 · DOI · Paper page
10.1080/104132001753226265 · DOI
10.1519/JSC.0b013e3181ae794b · DOI
10.1519/JSC.0b013e3181889156 · DOI
10.1016/j.csm.2005.04.005 · DOI
10.1016/j.neubiorev.2012.06.005 · DOI
10.1113/jphysiol.2002.030023 · DOI · Paper page
10.1113/expphysiol.2011.062273 · DOI
10.1016/j.jtherbio.2004.08.047 · DOI
10.2165/11533670-000000000-00000 · DOI
10.2165/00007256-200333010-00001 · DOI
10.1007/s00421-012-2444-3 · DOI
10.2165/00007256-199520030-00004 · DOI · Paper page
10.1111/j.1469-8986.2011.01187.x · DOI
10.2165/00007256-200333030-00001 · DOI · Paper page
10.2165/00007256-200131130-00004 · DOI · Paper page
10.1016/S0301-0082(02)00019-9 · DOI · Paper page
10.1113/eph8802469 · DOI
10.1177/1941738111434406 · DOI · Paper page
10.1111/j.1600-0838.2010.01192.x · DOI · Paper page
10.1080/02640410802027352 · DOI
10.1016/S1469-0292(03)00034-7 · DOI
10.1080/026404198366731 · DOI
10.1034/j.1600-0838.2000.010003123.x · DOI · Paper page
10.1136/bjsm.2005.023028 · DOI
10.1007/s00421-008-0818-3 · DOI · Paper page
10.2165/11315130-000000000-00000 · DOI
10.1186/1742-4682-3-33 · DOI
10.1136/bjsm.2004.011718 · DOI · Paper page
10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2005.08.018 · DOI
10.1016/j.brainres.2010.11.081 · DOI
10.1016/j.psyneuen.2006.08.003 · DOI
10.1016/j.tins.2008.12.007 · DOI · Paper page
10.1007/s12017-008-8027-0 · DOI · Paper page
10.1016/j.jsams.2011.03.004 · DOI · Paper page
10.1111/j.1365-2826.2008.01711.x · DOI · Paper page
10.1046/j.1365-2826.2001.00706.x · DOI
10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2007.01.029 · DOI · Paper page
10.1113/jphysiol.2010.201327 · DOI · Paper page
10.1159/000270905 · DOI
10.1016/S0893-133X(99)00059-7 · DOI · Paper page
10.1016/j.tins.2007.06.011 · DOI · Paper page
10.1016/j.arr.2007.04.004 · DOI · Paper page
10.1016/j.pneurobio.2012.08.002 · DOI

A meta-meta-analysis of the effect of physical activity on depression and anxiety in non-clinical adult populations
Rebar, A. L., Stanton, R., Geard, D., Short, C., Duncan, M. J., & Vandelanotte, C. (2015) · Health Psychology Review · doi:10.1080/17437199.2015.1022901 · Cited by 1,323
Neurobiological effects of exercise on major depressive disorder: A systematic review
Schuch, F. B., Deslandes, A. C., Stubbs, B., Gosmann, N. P., Silva, C. T. B. D., & Fleck, M. P. D. A. (2016) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2015.11.012 · Cited by 279
The effects of physical activity interventions on psychosocial outcomes in adolescents: a meta-analytic review
Spruit, A., Assink, M., van Vugt, E., van der Put, C., & Stams, G. J. (2016) · Clinical Psychology Review · doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2016.03.006 · Cited by 250
Models of first responder coping: Police officers as a unique population
Arble, E., Daugherty, A. M., & Arnetz, B. B. (2018) · Stress and Health · doi:10.1002/smi.2821 · Cited by 90
Effects of acute treadmill running at different intensities on activities of serotonin and corticotropin-releasing factor neurons, and anxiety- and depressive-like behaviors in rats
Otsuka, T., Nishii, A., Amemiya, S., Kubota, N., Nishijima, T., & Kita, I. (2016) · Behavioural Brain Research · doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2015.10.055 · Cited by 86

See all 302

Authors: Matta Mello Portugal, E., Cevada, T., Sobral Monteiro-Junior, R., Teixeira Guimarães, T., da Cruz Rubini, E., Lattari, E., Blois, C., & Camaz Deslandes, A.
Venue: Neuropsychobiology
Publisher: S. Karger AG
Published: 2013
Volume: 68
Issue: 1
Pages: 1-14
ISSN: 0302-282X (ISSN-L)
1423-0224
DOI: 10.1159/000350946
OpenAlex: W4294843269
Cited by: 302
References: 17
FWCI: 8.36
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: bronze
Licence: www.karger.com/Services/SiteLicenses (vor)
www.karger.com/Services/SiteLicenses (tdm)

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review

How to cite

Cite CoChat for the checks on this page, and the paper for its own findings.

This page: CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Neuroscience of Exercise: From Neurobiology Mechanisms to Mental Health. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1159/000350946
The paper: Matta Mello Portugal, E., Cevada, T., Sobral Monteiro-Junior, R., Teixeira Guimarães, T., da Cruz Rubini, E., Lattari, E., Blois, C., & Camaz Deslandes, A. (2013). Neuroscience of Exercise: From Neurobiology Mechanisms to Mental Health. Neuropsychobiology. https://doi.org/10.1159/000350946

Data sources

Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.

Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).

Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.

Neuroscience of Exercise: From Neurobiology Mechanisms to Mental Health

Abstract

Overview

Integrity signals

Verification

Claims the paper makes

Self-check

Citations

Cites

Cited by

Metadata

Record

About these checks

How to cite

Data sources