A Single 30-Minute Exercise Session Has an Immediate Antidepressant Effect

Photo credit: Ridhwan Nordin via Unsplash. Article by Michelle Starr. ScienceAlert – November 29, 2025. Research article: Molecular Psychiatry.

A single, half-hour session of moderate exercise is enough to confer an immediate mood-boosting effect, and now scientists have figured out why. In mice – and likely humans – that boost comes from the release of a hormone called adiponectin, which travels into the brain and sparks activity in a region associated with emotional regulation. The result is a lift in mood that could hang around for hours, although the duration has yet to be measured in humans. […]

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