Still postponing that fitness routine? Now you have even more reason to shift into high gear. Exercise, long touted for shedding those pounds, can also lighten your mind's load, according to an accumulating body of research.

 

  For years, well into the 1990s, those pleasurable chemicals called endorphins reaped the credit for that burst of energy and optimism you got after a workout, says Tedd Mitchell, MD, president and CEO of the Dallas-based Cooper Clinic. “But the benefit of physical activity is probably multifactorial - it's not just the old endorphin high people used to talk about.“

 

  Exercise appears to influence the circulation of mood-linked neurotransmitters, such as serotonin and dopamine, he says. Plus, as anyone who runs can attest, a few miles can jettison some anxiety-producing adrenaline. “It's like taking a dose of a tranquilizer,“ Dr. Mitchell quips.

 

  And that payoff can persist long after cooling off, according to University of Vermont research presented at last year's American College of Sports Medicine meeting. The study, which tracked mood for 24 hours after a workout, found that participants were more upbeat as many as 12 hours later.

 

  What's exciting exercise enthusiasts like Dr. Mithcell, though, is that animal studies are starting to provide further insights into brain-related hypotheses “that indeed you are changing the brain structure itself,“ he says. Contact for complete article