Keynote Lecture

Exercise in Schizophrenia: Understanding and Cure

Schizophrenia is a severe brain disorder characterised by positive, negative, affective and cognitive symptoms and can be regarded as a disorder of impaired neural plasticity. This lecture focusses on the beneficial role of exercise in schizophrenia and its underlying mechanisms.

Apart from the established pharmacological treatments in schizophrenia, aerobic exercise has a profound impact on the plasticity of the brain of both rodents and humans such as inducing the proliferation and differentiation of neural progenitor cells of the hippocampus in mice and rats. Aerobic exercise enhances LTP and leads to a better performance in hippocampus related memory tasks, eventually by increasing metabolic and synaptic plasticity related proteins in the hippocampus. In healthy humans, regular aerobic exercise increases hippocampal volume and seems to diminish processes of ageing like brain atrophy and cognitive decline.

Several meta-analyses demonstrate the beneficial effect of exercise on function, positive as well as negative symptoms and brain structure in multi-episode schizophrenia.

Prof. Peter Falkai, M.D., Ph.D.

Professor and Chairman at the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy
Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Germany

Professor Peter Falkai has been working in the field of psychiatry for 30 years. His main research interest is focused on the neurobiology of psychotic disorders, namely schizophrenia. He has been member of various international and German scientific societies, such as the Schizophrenia International Research Society (SIRS) and is currently president of the European Psychiatric Association (EPA).

Prof. Falkai has been leading multidisciplinary teams of researchers, whose clinical and research expertise focus continuously on the neurobiological origins and pathomorphological aspects as well as on causal treatment options of psychotic disorders.