Exercise, by contrast, promotes production of neurohormones like norepinephrine that are associated with improved cognitive function, elevated mood and learning. And that can improve thinking dulled by stressful events — some research even shows how exercise can make you smarter.

In fact, many researchers posit that improved communication could be the basis of both greater reserves of the neurochemicals that help the brain communicate with the body and the body’s improved ability to respond to stress. The American Psychological Association reported:

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This workout of the body’s communication system may be the true value of exercise; the more sedentary we get, the less efficient our bodies in responding to stress.

But going for a rigorous jog or bike ride (or even for a walk or out dancing) can actually cause immediate stress reduction. On a common psychiatric metric, PALMS, those who are just post-workout rate higher for mood, memory and energy — and lower for depression, tension and anxiety.

That’s particularly surprising because, as our question-asker points out, rigorous exercise temporarily raises our level of circulating cortisol — the hormone that rises when we experience stress. The key word in this instance is temporary: For most people, cortisol rates return to normal following even intense exercise.

Exercise may improve mental health by helping the brain cope better with stress, according to research into the effect of exercise on neurochemicals involved in the body’s stress response.

Mental health benefits

Preliminary evidence suggests that physically active people have lower rates of anxiety and depression than sedentary people. But little work has focused on why that should be. So to determine how exercise might bring about its mental health benefits, some researchers are looking at possible links between exercise and brain chemicals associated with stress, anxiety and depression.

So far there’s little evidence for the popular theory that exercise causes a rush of endorphins. Rather, one line of research points to the less familiar neuromodulator norepinephrine, which may help the brain deal with stress more efficiently.

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Brain chemistry

Work in animals since the late 1980s has found that exercise increases brain concentrations of norepinephrine in brain regions involved in the body’s stress response.

Norepinephrine is particularly interesting to researchers because 50 percent of the brain’s supply is produced in the locus coeruleus, a brain area that connects most of the brain regions involved in emotional and stress responses. The chemical is thought to play a major role in modulating the action of other, more prevalent neurotransmitters that play a direct role in the stress response. And although researchers are unsure of exactly how most antidepressants work, they know that some increase brain concentrations of norepinephrine.

But some psychologists don’t think it’s a simple matter of more norepinephrine equals less stress and anxiety and therefore less depression. Instead, they think exercise thwarts depression and anxiety by enhancing the body’s ability to respond to stress.

Stress response

Biologically, exercise seems to give the body a chance to practice dealing with stress. It forces the body’s physiological systems — all of which are involved in the stress response — to communicate much more closely than usual: The cardiovascular system communicates with the renal system, which communicates with the muscular system. And all of these are controlled by the central and sympathetic nervous systems, which also must communicate with each other. This workout of the body’s communication system may be the true value of exercise; the more sedentary we get, the less efficient our bodies in responding to stress.

Thanks to Rod K. Dishman, PhD, of the University of Georgia, and Mark Sothmann, PhD, of Indiana University’s School of Medicine and School of Allied Health Sciences.