Exercise helps treat addiction, says study

Washington: Aerobic exercise can help treat drug or alcohol addiction by altering the brain's reward system, a study has found. Also known as “cardio”, aerobic exercise is brisk exercise that increases heart rate, breathing and circulation of oxygen through the blood, and is associated with decreasing many negative health issues, including diabetes, heart disease and arthritis. It is also linked to numerous mental health benefits, such as reducing stress, anxiety and depression. Scientists at the University at Buffalo in the US identified a key mechanism in how aerobic exercise can help impact the brain in ways that may support treatment and prevention strategies for addiction. “Several studies have shown that, in addition to these benefits, aerobic exercise has been effective in preventing the start, increase and relapse of substance use in a number of categories, including alcohol, nicotine, stimulants and opioids,” said Panayotis Thanos, senior research scientist at University at Buffalo. “Our work seeks to help identify the underlying neurobiological mechanisms driving these changes,” Thanos said. Using animal models, researchers found that daily aerobic exercise altered the mesolimbic dopamine pathway in the brain. Dopamine is a key neurotransmitter associated with substance use disorders, playing an important role in reward, motivation and learning.