Exercise and Mental Health ─ Neurobiological Mechanisms - Includes Digital Download

Every fourth person in North America and Europe experiences at least one episode of depression or anxiety disorder over their lifetimes. Research on the impact of exercise on depression, anxiety, and well-being illustrates a positive effect on various measures of mental health by inducing the same neurobiological alterations as antidepressant drug treatment. It has shown to be less costly, less time-consuming, and have less side effects than medication or psychotherapy alone. Exercise also stimulates the growth of new nerve cells and induces the release of growth factors which improve the health and survival of nerve cells. This text reviews these neurobiological mechanisms.

Prof. Henning Budde (PhD)

Henning Budde has studied Physical Education and Biology in Kiel, Cologne, and Bielefeld and received his doctorate at the Free University, Berlin (Germany). After two years of successful teachers training, he worked as a high school teacher in Hamburg while being involved in neuroscience research projects. From 2006-2011 he was a post doctoral fellow at the Department of Training and Movement Science at Humboldt University, Berlin (Germany). After that, he was a visiting professor for Physical Education at the University of Suwon (South Korea) and an Assistant Professor at the Department of Sport Science at Reykjavik University (Iceland), where he is still affiliated as adjunct professor. Since winter semester 2012/2013 he is a Full-Professor for Sport Science and Research Methodology at the MSH Medical School Hamburg (Germany). Henning Budde’s main research interest is the field of movement neuroscience. He is dealing with the effects of exercise on the brain and how the brain induced movements. As a teacher he is interested how these findings can be implemented in school settings. He has published over 40 articles in peer reviewed journals and in German Sport Scientific journals with a focus on physical education. Some of these articles are communicated as "most cited articles" (e.g. in Neuroscience Letters) or as a "hot topic" articles (e.g. at the Neuroscience Meeting 2007 and 2013).

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Mirko Wegner (PhD)

Mirko Wegner completed his academic training in sport and exercise science and education at the University of Nebraska (USA) and Humboldt University, Berlin (Germany). He received his PhD in sport and exercise science from the Humboldt-University, Berlin (Germany). Mirko Wegner is a certified sport psychologist and his research interests focus on physiological and neurobiological responses to physical and psychological stress, and their affective, health-related, and cognitive consequences. He is an expert in implicit motivational processes and their behavioral and physiological associations. Mirko Wegner is currently working as a post doctoral fellow for the Institute of Sport Science at the University of Bern (Switzerland). His teaching activities include lectures on exercise, health and prevention; sport, exercise and stress relationships as well as motivation and volition in sports.