PTSD is a mental disorder that is easily developed after a stressful experience. The current study shows that exercise is effective in preventing and treating PTSD. However, the effects of light-intensity exercise (LIE) in PTSD symptoms are not well understood.
There is one hypothesis that brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is involved in erasing fear memories. This molecule’s level is also known to rise in the hippocampus, the part of the brain that deals with memory and learning, with regular exercise.
For this purpose, the present study employed an animal treadmill exercise model that was developed to address exercise intensity relative to lactate threshold. This model enabled them to examine whether exercise can undo memories of fear and whether BDNF plays a role in this process. This study appears in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.
For the experiment, rats were at first put into a chamber and then exposed to a weak electric current in an effort to create fear-based memories. Therefore, the rats were trained in LIE for four weeks after the above process.
Following the training period, the rats were returned to the chamber and their behaviour was recorded and compared with that of rats that had not been through exercise training.
Usually, rats freeze in place when they are afraid. In the beginning, all animals showed directional freezing, a response to fear.
Nevertheless, the rats that were exercised on a daily basis gained progressively more activity. This means that through exercise, the memory of fear is easily wiped off.
However, when BDNF signalling was blocked in those rats through the administration of a certain drug, the effect of exercise on erasing fear memory was no longer observed, which shows that BDNF signalling is crucial for the erasure of fear memories via LIE.
The discussed above findings show that PTSD psychological symptoms resulting from stress may be decreased by frequent LIE because LIE increases BDNF in the hippocampus.
The patients with PTSD also have depressive symptoms and have difficulty in the regular exercise practice. This study evidences that even LIE is capable of eliminating fear memories. Furthermore, these findings can potentially inform novel exercise-based intervention and prevention programmes with good patient compliance.
Reference;
Reference; University of Tsukuba. Regular light-intensity exercise can help erase fear memories and prevent PTSD, study suggestsÂ
