Promoting brain health and resilience: The effect of three types of acute exercise on affect, brain-derived neurotrophic factor and heart rate variability

Physical exercise supports brain health and resilience through a variety of factors involving affective states, neurotrophins, and autonomic activity. These factors play a crucial role in supporting mental and physical health across the lifespan. We evaluated the acute effects of moderate-intensity continuous exercise, high-intensity interval exercise, and resistance exercise on positive and negative affect, Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF), and Heart Rate Variability (HRV). In a repeated measures cross-over design, 12 participants over 5 weeks underwent all three exercise types while affect, phlebotomy, and cardiac, measures were taken pre-, immediately post-, 30-minutes, and 60-minutes post-exercise. We found an increase in plasma BDNF concentrations irrespective of exercise type from immediately pre-exercise to post-exercise. The HRV analysis identified a decrease in root mean square of successive differences (RMSSD) immediately post-exercise, followed by a gradual increase to above pre-exercise levels at 60-minutes post exercise. We also observed a decrease in negative affect following exercise that was sustained till 60-minutes post-exercise. Taken together, the results suggest that although exercise type did not differentially affect negative affect, BDNF, or HRV, all three measures suggested a consistent physiological and psychological improvement post-exercise, highlighting the potential benefits of various forms of exercise on aspects of brain health and resilience.