A study that was published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology→ looking at more than 50,300 adults in Massachusetts who completed an exercise survey, and more than 700 who underwent brain imaging, showed that people who exercised more tended to have fewer cardiovascular disease events, and lower activity in stress-related brain regions.
Those with depression, had larger reductions in cardiovascular disease risk from physical activity than those without, and had even more reductions if they exercised for more than 150 weekly minutes.
This suggests that physical activity may reduce risk of cardiovascular disease which may be due to decreasing activity in parts of brain related to stress.
What does this mean?
This is one more reason for us to exercise! Not only does this study suggest that exercise can improve stress, improve symptoms of depression, it also suggests that it can improve our cardiovascular disease risk factors as well.
Reference:
doi:10.1001/jama.2024.7730
