A recent study conducted at Princeton University determined that exercise creates anxiety while simultaneously reducing long-term anxiety.

Researchers tested adult mice by allowing half to run on a wheel placed in their cage, while the other half had no wheel to run on. The study showed those who ran on the wheel were more likely to try new things and explore the sunlit parts of new areas, whereas the sedentary mice remained in darkness – a sign that the unknown caused anxiety. All of the mice were also placed in a cold bath, thus inducing stress. The runners quickly recuperated while the sedentary mice maintained long-term stress.

Blake Lane, an exercise physiologist at The Wellness Center in Madison, stated while this evidence may seem obvious, it is not monotonous.

“We haven’t been able to prove with physiological evidence the benefits of exercise as a stress reducer,” Lane said. “We have only experienced the results of how it makes us feel.”

With the onset of an external stress stimulation, neurons fire and induce anxiety. The running mice released a neurotransmitter, called GABA, that inhibits brain activity. This neurotransmitter shuts down firing neurons that cause stress and instead give a sense of calm.

Lane agrees with the study’s results that exercising provides both immediate effects and long-term – even when the running mice were without exercise for 24 hours, they responded in the same fashion.

Elizabeth Gould, director of the Gould Lab at Princeton admits the understanding of many people that mice will respond differently to research than actual humans, though thinking logically she sees the study as a viable form of parallelism.

“I think it’s not a huge stretch to suggest that the [brain] of active people might be less susceptible to certain undesirable aspects of stress than those of sedentary people,” Gould said.

Lane has no doubts the study conducted on the mice will reflect the same results in humans.

“I believe at a fundamental level that all species will respond the same way to stress, be that positive or negative,” Lane said. “What may be different is the level in which the response is taken.”

Though the study encourages people to exercise to reduce anxiety, many with a social anxiety find themselves being stressed just from thinking about how much they need to work out.

“These stressors can be managed,” Lane said. “The negativity can be out-weighed with the positive results of exercise, especially when you consider the long-term positive effects on personal health.”