A new study documented in The Journal of Neuroscience found a rather convincing link between regular exercise and lower anxiety levels.

In the study, researchers allowed one group of mice to exercise regularly, while ensuring that the other group would remain sedentary. The mice were placed into a mildly anxiety-provoking situation, and the parts of their brains where anxiety gets activated were examined. All of the mice showed activity in the anxiety region of the brain – the hippocampus – but the mice who exercised regularly were able to calm themselves down quicker. In other words, they were able to better cope with the stimulus than the sedentary rats were.

Previous research has examined how the brains of exercisers have more stimulatory neurons (which can produce feelings of general well-being), but this study was able to show that there are also more inhibitory neurons (which help alleviate stress).

By preventing the mice from exercising 24 hours before the stress-inducing incident, the research team was also able to show that this was a long-term effect from regular exercising, rather than a short-term “runner’s high” type of experience.

Of course, we all know that exercise is good for us and we should do it more. Yet there are still so many of us who just can’t make exercise a daily part of our routines.

I’m intrigued by research examining the effect of exercise on anxiety levels because virtually every single person experiences anxiety on a fairly regular basis. Other benefits of exercise like increased lung capacity or a lower resting heart rate may seem fine and dandy, but they aren’t as relatable as decreased anxiety levels.

Perhaps having increasingly convincing evidence that there is a direct link between exercise and anxiety may give many of us that final bit of motivation to actually take action.