How Rats Get Used to Running Without Getting Stressed
Hypothalamic Crh/Avp, Plasmatic Glucose and Lactate Remain Unchanged During Habituation to Forced Exercise
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Just being near a running wheel—without exercising—reduced stress markers during a later workout.
Most assume only physical training reduces stress, but mere exposure to the equipment had measurable biological effects—suggesting environmental familiarity plays a bigger role than we think.
Practical Takeaways
If starting a new workout routine, ease into it over ~1 week to reduce physical stress and improve endurance.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Just being near a running wheel—without exercising—reduced stress markers during a later workout.
Most assume only physical training reduces stress, but mere exposure to the equipment had measurable biological effects—suggesting environmental familiarity plays a bigger role than we think.
Practical Takeaways
If starting a new workout routine, ease into it over ~1 week to reduce physical stress and improve endurance.
Publication
Journal
Frontiers in Physiology
Year
2020
Authors
Á. Toval, Francisco Vicente-Conesa, Paloma Martínez-Ortega, Y. Kutsenko, N. Morales-Delgado, D. Garrigos, A. Alonso, B. Ribeiro Do Couto, M. Popovic, J. Ferran
Related Content
Claims (6)
Exercise can change how your body handles stress by rewiring the system that controls cortisol, the stress hormone.
Rats that got used to running on a wheel before a tough workout had lower sugar and stress markers in their blood compared to rats who weren’t used to it — meaning getting used to exercise might help their bodies handle new workouts better.
Running on a wheel for 8 days doesn’t seem to keep stress genes turned on in the brains of male lab rats, which means their stress system probably isn’t stuck in overdrive after this training.
Just being around a running wheel—even if they don’t run—helps male rats handle exercise stress a little better, but not as much as if they were used to using the wheel regularly.
Rats that slowly get used to running on a wheel over 8 days don’t show signs of stress in their blood — their stress markers either stay the same or go down, suggesting the routine isn’t stressing them out.