Dopamine’s role in improving mental performance

Portsmouth: According to a new study, the feel-good hormone dopamine may play an important role in improving the response after exercise.

Scientists at the University of Portsmouth in the UK say the findings could improve exercise-based treatments for mental conditions such as epilepsy, schizophrenia, ADHD, drug addiction and depression.

The study found that the reaction time of the cyclists improved due to the increase in dopamine levels after exercise.

Dr Joe Costello, from the university’s School of Sport, Health and Exercise Science, said: “Researchers know that cardiovascular exercise improves mental performance, but the mechanisms behind this have yet to be studied in humans. was not done.

Using new brain imaging techniques, researchers were able to understand the role of dopamine in the brain’s increased performance during exercise, and the results were really encouraging, he said.

He said that this research suggests that this hormone is an important neuromodulator for better reaction time.

The study, published in the journal Physiology, involved 52 men. These subjects underwent mental exercises in a positron emission tomography (PET) scanner while at rest and while cycling. The scanner monitored the movement of dopamine in the participants’ brains.

According to the results, when the participants cycled while lying down in the machine, the amount of dopamine in their brains increased and this process was found to be associated with better reaction time.