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Impact of exercise on brain neurochemicals: a comprehensive review

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Abstract

Background

Physical activity influences neuro-cognition through organic and peptide molecules of the brain. The organic molecules constitute neurotransmitters and neuromodulators while the peptide molecules include neurotrophic factors. Regular exercise, when repeated overtime, may cause the baseline neurochemical level to rise or fall and help in improvement of neuro-cognition. Several outstanding reviews have summarized these findings; however, the neurobiological basis of these results has received less attention.

Aim

To explore the emergence and effects of physical exercise on three signaling pathways i.e., the neurotransmitters, neurotrophins and neuromodulators.

Methods

To fulfill the purpose of the study, several robust literatures were reviewed based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). Studies that directly matched and fulfilled the primary objective were screened, appraised and presented in a systematic and comprehensive manner.

Results

Chronic exercise and long-term training showed exponential rise in all the three types of neurochemicals. While aerobic and graded exercise depicted linear rise in neurotransmitters and strength, training showed no significant changes in neurotrophins.

Conclusions

The comprehension of exercise and its positive effect on neurochemicals in the improvement of neuro-cognition, neurogenesis and brain functions have been pooled in this study. Single bouts of exercise have been given equal pertinence as chronic exercise in development of a complete psychophysiological well-being. This review magnifies that aerobic exercise of moderate intensity when performed in a regular and precise way improves all three classes of neurochemicals and modulates mental health and wellness.

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Data availability

This is a Reiew Paper and the data has been made available in the Tables as pooled evidence. There is no other data that has to be made avaible. All the data has been made available.

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Acknowledgements

The center for digital library and documentation under the excellence of University Grants Commission (UGC), established a digital library management software D space, which has been a great help to access various research articles and repositories under the Jadavpur University domain. Thus, we would like to recognize the university and its system for this access. Inflibnet and Indest under Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, also are worth a mention and acknowledgement.

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  1. Exercise and Sports Physiology Laboratory, Department of Physical Education, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, West Bengal, 700032, India

    Puneet Bhattacharya, Sridip Chatterjee & Dilip Roy

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All the authors PB, SC and DR have contributed equally in this research work drafting, and ideating the research was performed by PB and SC, while literature search and data analysis were done by PB and DR. The critical revision of the work was performed by SC.

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Bhattacharya, P., Chatterjee, S. & Roy, D. Impact of exercise on brain neurochemicals: a comprehensive review. Sport Sci Health 19, 405–452 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11332-022-01030-y

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