The Positive Feedback Loop Your Life Might Be Missing
How moving your body strengthens your brain, lifts your mood, and sets up better sleep, and why the smallest first step is enough.
Movement is good for the brain in ways you might not expect.
I talk with a lot of people about their thoughts and feelings—their worries, moods, memories, sleep, what’s meaningful to them... And somewhere in nearly every one of those conversations, I work to bring some measure of focus into the body. The mind-body connection is one of the most practical but overlooked concepts in life: what is good for your body is good for your brain, and what is good for your brain tends to be good for the rest of you as well. But it’s not just cliche kitchen-table wisdom, it’s actually physiological brain chemistry. And together, we’re going to explore why productively connecting mind and body can become a self-reinforcing loop that carries you from weary days and restless nights toward something significantly better—restful sleep and refreshed, clear-headed days.
What Happens in Your Brain When You Move
Every time you move your body with at least some kind of vigor, your muscles and brain begin exchanging chemical messages. A 2018 review in the journal, Frontiers in Neuroscience, examined the relationship between exercise and the growth of new neurons in the hippocampus, the brain region that is critical for memory consolidation and learning. The authors identified a key molecule in this process: brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF—which helps regulate the differentiation and survival of brain cells (Liu & Nusslock, 2018). (Think of it as fertilizer for the garden of your mind).
The same review describes how proteins released by working muscles can cross the blood-brain barrier and help increase BDNF expression in the hippocampus, which is linked to improved memory (Liu & Nusslock, 2018). Your muscles, in other words, are not just moving you around. They are sending chemical signals that help your brain grow and maintain the very connections you rely on to remember where you parked your car and what you meant to say in that one conversation at work.
Before we get too excited, however, there are some limits to our understandings of all this. Most of the detailed work on exercise and new neuron growth has been done in animals, and the authors themselves note that much less is known about how this plays out in the living human brain. BUT, what we can get excited about is that the human-based findings of this research point in the same direction. Exercise has been shown to increase the size of the hippocampus in human adults, which is nothing short of remarkable. (I’d wager a bet that you didn’t think your last pair of tennis shoes were going to make your brain bigger!)
If you have 10 minutes, then you can benefit your mind, body, and soul.
But I Have No Time!
It’s a fair enough thought. A lot of people feel like they don’t have time to take care of themselves (especially if that care involves active exercise). Although, folks like might counter by noting that if you don’t take care of yourself everything you’re doing isn’t going to amount to much in the long run. Regardless, however, the encouraging news for my time crunched nay-sayers is that research keeps has shown that you don’t actually need hours in the gym. Meaningful benefits can come from very small doses of activity.
A 2018 randomized study in Health Promotion Perspectives assigned 66 young adults to walk briskly, meditate, or sit quietly for ten minutes. Both the walkers and the meditators showed significant reductions in fatigue and low energy compared with the control group (Edwards & Loprinzi, 2018). Ten minutes was enough to make people feel less sluggish and more restored.
Interestingly, in that study, the meditation group showed a significant improvement in overall mood, while the walking group's improvement in overall mood did not reach statistical significance. The participants were also young, already physically active college students, so the findings may not generalize to everyone. And while those caveats may feel a bit defeating, I actually find them to be useful. These finding indicate that movement and mindfulness are partners, not competitors (which is why I encourage clients to walk without headphones and simply notice the air, the sounds, and the feel of each step).
A 2026 study from the University of Tsukuba in Japan, published in Imaging Neuroscience, added another piece. Twenty-four healthy young adults ran very slowly for ten minutes, at a pace close to walking. Afterward they showed improved mood and better performance on a test of executive function, the set of skills behind attention and self-control, along with increased activity in prefrontal brain regions associated with focus and mood regulation (University of Tsukuba, 2026). It is a small study of a single exercise session, so it is not a cure-all. But it supports the idea that you do not need to push hard for your brain to take notice.
And, through both these studies (and many others I didn't mention), ten minutes appears to be all it takes.
Movement and Depression
A 2024 systematic review and network meta-analysis in The BMJ (one of the world's oldest general medical journals) analyzed randomized trials of exercise for people meeting clinical thresholds for major depression. The researchers concluded that exercise is an effective treatment for depression, with walking or jogging, yoga, and strength training working better than other forms, particularly when done at higher intensity. They found moderate reductions in depression for walking or jogging, and they suggested that these forms of exercise could be considered alongside psychotherapy and antidepressants as core treatments (Noetel et al., 2024).
It’s important to note, however that the participants in these trials had depression that was formally assessed and often supported by structured programs. Taking a walk is a wonderful addition to care, and it can be a meaningful part of a plan—but it is not a substitute for professional support when you are really struggling. If depression has settled in and will not lift, please reach out to a licensed provider. (It’s the smart choice.)
Good exercise opens the door to good sleep, and good sleep opens the door to good exercise—the perfect positive feedback loop.
A Connection to Sleep
A large 2026 meta-analysis in Sleep Medicine Reviews looked at 200 randomized trials with more than 23,000 participants in total. It found that exercise improves subjective sleep quality, with a small but significant improvement in objective sleep efficiency (in the trials that measured it). People with poorer baseline sleep were much more likely to see a clinically meaningful benefit than people who already slept relatively well. The authors also suggested programs of roughly 25 weeks for adults with moderate to severe sleep problems (Liang et al., 2026).
Exercise is not a magical remedy for sleep, and to be sure research does not claim it is. BUT, the people who need help with sleep the most, also appear to be the ones most likely to benefit, and the benefit builds with consistency rather than an immediate overnight fix. As always, patience and regularity win.
What Do We Do
Movement releases chemicals that support the growth and strength of brain cells, especially in areas tied to memory and focus. Better focus and a steadier mood make the next day feel more manageable. A body that has had some movement tends to rest more deeply at night. And deeper, more restorative sleep gives you the energy, patience, and mental clarity to move again tomorrow. Each part feeds the next.
Just as importantly, this also works in reverse, which is why so many people feel unwell, chronically tired, and anxious. Poor sleep drains the energy needed to exercise, and inactivity makes sleep worse. If this is you, or if it sounds familiar, let go of any self-judgement and instead welcome something new to help break the cycle.
Here is how I would start:
Pick a ten-minute walk and attach it to something you already do. After breakfast, before the evening news, right after you let the dog out, while out on errands, right after lunch…
Go outside if you can. Morning daylight does double duty by helping set your sleep-wake rhythm in addition to giving you a boost to help you get active.
Keep the pace conversational. You should be able to talk in full sentences. Easy counts, and you can always pick up the pace if and when you want to.
Notice something. The temperature of the air, the sound of your steps, a tree you have passed a hundred times. That small act of attention offers a meditative benefit for your mind.
Be consistent before you are ambitious. Ten minutes most days beats an hour once in a burst of motivation.
If you have a health condition, are returning after a long break, or take medications that affect your heart rate or balance, check with your physician before you ramp up. (In fact, you should always consult your doctor before starting any new course of exercise.)
Where I Come In
I have built my practice on compassionately meeting people where they are and helping them get to where they want to be. Through holistic counseling and CBT-I sleep coaching, I help people build an identity around their most authentic selves that is fully integrated in wellness of body, mind, and soul. For my clients seeking better sleep, that means rest that actually restores, and habits and beliefs that keep that restorative sleep going night after night. If your sleep is stuck, your motivation is flat, or you simply want someone in your corner while you figure out what sustainability looks like, I would be glad to talk. I work with clients in person in the Buffalo area and online. So go get moving and be well!
Adam Scheldt is a holistic counselor, CBT-I sleep coach, and rabbi based in Kenmore, New York, serving clients in person locally and online throughout the world.
References
Banno, M., Harada, Y., Taniguchi, M., Tobita, R., Tsujimoto, H., Tsujimoto, Y., Kataoka, Y., & Noda, A. (2018). Exercise can improve sleep quality: A systematic review and meta-analysis. PeerJ, 6, e5172. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.5172
Edwards, M. K., & Loprinzi, P. D. (2018). Experimental effects of brief, single bouts of walking and meditation on mood profile in young adults. Health Promotion Perspectives, 8(3), 171-178. https://doi.org/10.15171/hpp.2018.23
Liang, Z., Zhao, S., Tian, S., Wang, C., Zhang, M., Xu, K., Yin, M., Ng, S., & Ning, Z. (2026). Determinants and interrelations of exercise effects on sleep quality: A multimethod meta-analysis. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 86, 102239.
Liu, P. Z., & Nusslock, R. (2018). Exercise-mediated neurogenesis in the hippocampus via BDNF. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 12, 52. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2018.00052
Noetel, M., Sanders, T., Gallardo-Gomez, D., Taylor, P., del Pozo Cruz, B., van den Hoek, D., Smith, J. J., Mahoney, J., Spathis, J., Moresi, M., Pagano, R., Pagano, L., Vasconcellos, R., Arnott, H., Varley, B., Parker, P., Biddle, S., & Lonsdale, C. (2024). Effect of exercise for depression: Systematic review and network meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. BMJ, 384, e075847. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj-2023-075847
University of Tsukuba. (2026, July 13). Benefits of slow running: Just 10 minutes of very slow running improves mood and executive function while activating the prefrontal cortex [Press release]. https://www.tsukuba.ac.jp/en/research-news/20260713140000.html