Grant: Operating Grant - Priority Announcement: Obesity

Exercise has well-established benefits on cardiovascular health and metabolic health. Recent animal studies and a few human studies have also suggested that regular exercise improves brain health too by 1) stimulating the growth of new neurons in specific regions, 2) stimulating the growth of new vascular branches to carry oxygen to the brain and 3) reducing feelings of depression, stress and anxiety. In particular, the region of the brain that is closely tied to learning and memory, known as the hippocampus, is one of only two brain regions in adults that is able to generate new neurons in response to external stimulation. This phenomenon is of great interest, as this region of the brain is known to have deficits in volume and function in persons with severe and debilitating psychotic disorders, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Symptom severity and memory deficit severity is associated with degree of hippocampal volume loss in psychotic disorders. Our current antipsychotic medications can help ameliorate some symptoms of psychosis, but not all, and they offer little in the way of remediation of memory and/or learning deficits. Moreover, these medications have serious side effects including significant weight gain and alteration of metabolism, leading to high rates of metabolic disorder related to diabetes in patient populations. The current study proposes to investigate the effectiveness of regular exercise to improve both brain health and function, as well as physical health, as an adjunct to regular medications. By improving symptom severity and memory and learning capacity, the likelihood of reduced hospitalization and an earlier return to normal social life, school and work-life are potentiated. Exercise, as an adjunt treatment in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, has the potential of being a highly cost-effective, non-pharmacological approach to improving the well being of psychotic patients, without adverse side effects of medications.