29/11/2025
Exercise, Therapy & Trauma: What Recent Research Reveals
Trauma doesn’t just live in your memories — it lives in your body. While therapy is incredibly powerful for helping you process, understand, and talk through your traumatic experiences, science now shows that movement plays a much deeper role than we ever imagined.
🧠 Recent research suggests that physical exercise can actually help your brain weaken or “overwrite” traumatic memories, making them less emotionally charged over time.
Here’s how it works:
💥 1. Exercise reduces stress chemicals
Trauma increases cortisol and adrenaline in the body. Regular physical activity helps bring these levels down, giving your nervous system a chance to reset.
🧬 2. Exercise stimulates neurogenesis
Activities like running, brisk walking, cycling, or strength training boost the growth of new neurons in the hippocampus — the part of the brain involved in memory and emotional regulation.
🔁 3. Movement helps rewire emotional responses
When you exercise, your brain releases endorphins and BDNF (Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor), which help “soften” the emotional intensity linked to past events.
This can make traumatic memories feel less overwhelming, reducing triggers over time.
🤝 4. Best results come from combining therapy + exercise
Therapy helps you understand and express your trauma.
Exercise helps your brain process and release it.
Together, they create a powerful pathway toward genuine healing.
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Takeaway
Trauma healing isn’t only about talking — it’s also about moving.
Your body remembers everything, and movement is one of the most effective ways to let it go.
Start small. Walk, stretch, breathe, move.
Your brain — and your heart — will thank you. 💛