Effectiveness of aerobic exercise in psychiatric disorders: Naturopathy has its say

Aerobic exercise has long been known to improve cardiovascular, metabolic and mental health. While aerobic exercise has been used more frequently in teenagers and young adults to improve cognitive and psychiatric symptoms, recent evidence suggests that it is also effective in older patients. In this regard, clinical trial studies have observed that moderate-intensity aerobic exercise intervention significantly improved clinical, social, and cognitive symptoms of older people with schizophrenia. Working memory, verbal/visual learning, processing speed, and executive function were all improved, while social disability and positive and negative syndrome scale total, positive, negative, and general symptom scores were significantly reduced. Aerobic exercise was found to be an independent predictor of better psychosocial rehabilitation outcomes after controlling for important confounders. Exercise duration showed a linear correlation with improvement in social and cognitive functioning. Aerobic exercise has also been shown to improve cognition and reduce depressive symptoms in adolescents and young and older people with depression. Mechanistically, aerobic exercise has been shown to enhance neurogenesis, synaptic plasticity, and brain volume in association with improved cognition in laboratory animals. In conclusion, early intervention with moderate-intensity aerobic exercise may correct aberrant signaling pathways that lead to the development of cognitive and psychiatric symptoms in psychiatric disorders.