Patients are often told by doctors that exercise is good for their mental and physical health. In fact, doctors will commonly recommend exercise as a treatment for anxiety. Anxiety is an intense emotional response resulting in the feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease. Anxiety isn’t necessarily just psychological, it can have physical characteristics as well. While most people suffering from anxiety want to feel better, not everyone either wants to exercise or has the time to dedicate to exercise. This can leave patients feeling obligated or forced to exercise. Therefore, leading to the question: Does forced exercise yield the same anxiety reducing benefits that voluntary exercise would?
Inside the Brain
Lets start by explaining how exercise reduces anxiety. First, GABA is a chemical in the brain that blocks certain communication between nerve cells. GABA plays a major role in modulating the effects of anxiety on responsiveness to stressful events. Therefore, when people voluntarily exercise, more GABA is released in the brain, which ultimately leads to reduced stress. Why is reducing stress important when making memories?
Anxiety and Memory Forming
Memory forming can be affected by anxiety. Stressful situations can be measured by looking at glucocorticoid hormones. These hormones are released into the hypothalamus to form memories. While experiencing anxiety, there are too many glucocorticoid hormones being released, resulting in the stronger memories. On the contrary, low levels of glucocorticoids will result in weak memory forming. In neuroscience, the consistent activity and strengthening of synapses, due to these hormones, are called long-term potentiation (LTP). When there are high levels of glucocorticoids, LTP is enhanced and forms many strong synapses. Compared to when there are low levels of hormones, LTP is suppressed and can’t form strong signals leading to weaker memories. This is important because exercise can lower stress levels resulting in balanced memory making.
Voluntary Vs. Forced Exercise
In one study, researchers looked at the behavior of rats. These rats were divided into groups – one group ran on a wheel whenever it chose to, while another group ran on mechanized wheels that rotated according to a predetermined schedule. The rats behaviors were then observed when they were put into an environment where they would freeze similar to “deer in the headlights”. The results of this experiment showed that the nonactive rats froze for longer periods of time compared to any of the active rats. These results imply that humans who perceive exercise as being forced — whether it be for health reasons or another — are likely still going to receive the same anxiety reducing benefits compared to people who voluntarily exercise. This being said, the feeling of being in control of ones own actions has its own health benefits outside of anxiety relief. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2315291/Being-forced-exercise-reduce-anxiety-depression.html
Conclusion
Overall, anxiety can be a life consuming illness. If anxiety is not controlled it can affect many aspects of ones life including memory making, ability to sleep at night, ability to carry out ordinary daily tasks, and more. As it turns out, doctors are correct when they claim that exercise benefits mental and physical health. While there are other treatment options for anxiety, the first step to relieving feelings of anxiety is exercising. You can go here to read more about treatment options for anxiety: https://www.anxiety.org/treatments
