Can Exercise Change Your Brain's Chemistry Like Antidepressants?

Is it possible to rewire your brain — to change the chemistry within your mind — to the same power as antidepressants, without actually taking any? 

In the world's first medical textbook on record, written by Hippocrates in 300 BCE, the Greek physician wrote about exercise as a treatment for depression. Over 2,000 years later, a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School says those findings still hold up.

Related: 3 Ways That Consistent Training Keeps Your Brain Fit as You Age

"The studies really have shown that getting exercise in is as good as taking an antidepressant," John Ratey, M.D., author of SPARK: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, says. "There's nothing in life that you can't walk off."

On this episode of the Spartan Up! podcast, Ratey and Spartan CEO Joe De Sena discuss exercise's power over depression, the benefits of being outdoors, and the value behind always having a goal or destination in mind.

Listen to the podcast in its entirety below. 

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