Can you run off a bad mood? New facial scanner tool measures impact of exercise on your mind

The idea that exercise can help to boost our mental health is nothing new – the benefits of moving more are well documented in helping to treat depression, reduce anxiety, improve self-esteem, memory and thinking skills.

For the average armchair athlete though, it’s almost impossible to quantify just how much an exercise session can boost the mind: we get it in theory, but wouldn’t it be interesting – and motivating – to understand exactly what mental boost we get from each run, yoga or cardio session? 

Enter ASICS, who have devised a new tool that allows us to track the effects we actually get from exercise, thanks to research carried out by San Francisco bioinformatics company EMOTIVE and Dr Brendon Stubbs, exercise and mental health researcher at King’s College London. 

Six months of research with elite and everyday athletes using EEG (or the less catchily-titled electroencephalogram, a recording of brain activity) and self-report data collection found that the ‘runners high’ we get is more complex than just an endorphin boost – and much more multifactorial than one hormone.

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