Are the neurochemicals released by exercise the same ones targeted by antidepressant medications?
Yes — and the overlap is striking. The most commonly prescribed drugs for depression and anxiety work by releasing or modulating noradrenaline, dopamine, and serotonin. Those are the exact same neurochemicals that a simple 10-minute walk floods into the brain. According to neuroscientist Wendy Suzuki, exercise is a natural, prescription-free mechanism for achieving the same neurochemical effects as antidepressant medications.
"Every single time you move your body, you are releasing literally a flood of neurochemicals in your brain. I'm not talking about run a marathon. I'm talking about even taking a walk, a 10-minute walk gets that flood of neurochemicals going."
— Wendy Suzuki, Neuroscientist & Dean, New York University
Key neurochemicals involved
Noradrenaline, dopamine, serotonin, endorphins, and growth factors are all released by physical movement. Antidepressant and anti-anxiety medications primarily act on noradrenaline, dopamine, and serotonin — the same three chemicals exercise naturally activates within minutes of movement.
Suzuki frames this not as a vague wellness claim but as a pharmacological parallel. The drugs work; they modulate these chemicals. Movement does the same thing — immediately, without a prescription, and without changing into workout gear. As she puts it, exercise is simply "a natural way to get that." You don't need a marathon. A 10-minute walk is the threshold.
This insight emerged in the episode Feel Better Fast: The 5 Things That Shift Your Mood Instantly, which Mel Robbins built after more than 500,000 people responded to a single Instagram story asking what they needed help with right now. The overwhelming thread across those responses: anxiety, mental fatigue, and feeling stuck. Suzuki's neurochemical framework was one of five science-backed tools presented as an immediate, accessible answer. Hear the full episode on Listenly.
About Wendy Suzuki
Wendy Suzuki is a world-renowned neuroscientist and the Dean of the College of Arts and Science at New York University, one of the most prominent academic positions in her field. Her research focuses on memory and brain plasticity — the brain's ability to physically change and reorganize itself in response to experience and behavior. Suzuki is particularly known for translating complex neuroscience into practical, everyday tools: how small, repeatable actions like movement directly reshape the brain's structure and chemistry. She is also at the forefront of research exploring how physical activity improves focus, learning, memory, and overall brain health. Her authority on the exercise-neurochemistry connection is not anecdotal — it is grounded in decades of laboratory research on how the brain responds to movement at a chemical level, which is precisely what makes her comparison between antidepressant pharmacology and a 10-minute walk so scientifically substantive.
See also
Dr. Suzuki says that if you feel the initial shock of cold water, that is already the point — you can get out, dry yourself off, and the adrenaline boost will carry you easily through the rest of the morning.
Dr. Wendy Suzuki recommends ending every hot shower by turning the water to maximum cold, describing it as a natural adrenaline boost. The shock of cold water triggers an immediate neurochemical shift that resets mood and energy.
Dr. Suzuki identifies chronic stress and chronic anxiety as the most common negative brain plasticity drivers. These conditions cause retraction in the brain's structure over time.