Physical activity lowers cardiovascular disease risk in part by reducing stress-related signalling in the brain, new research from the UK reveals.
The biggest cardiovascular benefits were found in people with stress-related conditions such as depression.
Physical activity such as bike riding is known to be of considerable benefit to cardiovascular and brain health, but the research found there might there be a mechanism that linked the two.
In the study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, investigators from the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston analysed medical records and other information from 50,359 participants from the Mass General Brigham Biobank who completed a physical activity survey.
A subset of 774 participants also underwent brain imaging tests and measurements of stress-related brain activity.
Over a median follow-up of 10 years, 12.9% of participants developed cardiovascular disease while participants who met physical activity recommendations had a 23% lower risk of developing cardiovascular disease, compared with those who did not meet the recommendations.
Individuals with higher levels of physical activity also tended to have lower stress-related brain activity.
Notably, reductions in stress-associated brain activity were driven by gains in function in the prefrontal cortex, a part of the brain involved in executive function (decision making, impulse control), which is known to restrain stress centres of the brain.
Analyses accounted for other lifestyle variables and risk factors for coronary disease.
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