A brief review of exercise, bipolar disorder, and mechanistic pathways

Daniel Thomson; Alyna Turner; Sue Lauder; Margaret E Gigler; Lesley Berk; Ajeet B Singh; Julie A Pasco; Michael Berk; Louisa Sylvia

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00147

A brief review of exercise, bipolar disorder, and mechanistic pathways

Front Psychol. 2015 Mar 4:6:147. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00147. eCollection 2015.

Authors

Daniel Thomson¹, Alyna Turner², Sue Lauder³, Margaret E Gigler⁴, Lesley Berk⁵, Ajeet B Singh⁶, Julie A Pasco⁷, Michael Berk⁸, Louisa Sylvia⁹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Applied Sciences, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University , Bundoora, VIC, Australia.
² Innovation in Mental and Physical Health and Clinical Treatment Strategic Research Centre, School of Medicine, Deakin University , Geelong, VIC, Australia ; Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne , Parkville, VIC, Australia ; Centre for Translational Neuroscience and Mental Health, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Newcastle , Callaghan, NSW, Australia.
³ Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne , Parkville, VIC, Australia ; Federation University Australia , Ballarat, VIC, Australia.
⁴ Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital , Boston, MA, USA.
⁵ Innovation in Mental and Physical Health and Clinical Treatment Strategic Research Centre, School of Medicine, Deakin University , Geelong, VIC, Australia ; Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategic Research Centre, School of Psychology, Deakin University , Geelong, VIC, Australia.
⁶ Innovation in Mental and Physical Health and Clinical Treatment Strategic Research Centre, School of Medicine, Deakin University , Geelong, VIC, Australia.
⁷ Innovation in Mental and Physical Health and Clinical Treatment Strategic Research Centre, School of Medicine, Deakin University , Geelong, VIC, Australia ; Department of Medicine, NorthWest Academic Centre, University of Melbourne , St Albans, VIC, Australia.
⁸ Innovation in Mental and Physical Health and Clinical Treatment Strategic Research Centre, School of Medicine, Deakin University , Geelong, VIC, Australia ; Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne , Parkville, VIC, Australia ; Florey Institute for Neuroscience and Mental Health , Parkville, VIC, Australia ; Orygen, The National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health , Parkville, VIC, Australia.
⁹ Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital , Boston, MA, USA ; Harvard Medical School, Harvard University , Boston, MA, USA.

Abstract

Despite evidence that exercise has been found to be effective in the treatment of depression, it is unclear whether these data can be extrapolated to bipolar disorder. Available evidence for bipolar disorder is scant, with no existing randomized controlled trials having tested the impact of exercise on depressive, manic or hypomanic symptomatology. Although exercise is often recommended in bipolar disorder, this is based on extrapolation from the unipolar literature, theory and clinical expertise and not empirical evidence. In addition, there are currently no available empirical data on program variables, with practical implications on frequency, intensity and type of exercise derived from unipolar depression studies. The aim of the current paper is to explore the relationship between exercise and bipolar disorder and potential mechanistic pathways. Given the high rate of medical co-morbidities experienced by people with bipolar disorder, it is possible that exercise is a potentially useful and important intervention with regard to general health benefits; however, further research is required to elucidate the impact of exercise on mood symptomology.

Keywords: bipolar disorder; depression; exercise; hypomania; mechanistic pathways; neurogenesis.