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Sept. 21, 2025 – A new study shows that high-intensity interval training (HIIT) is more effective than moderate exercise at protecting adolescent lab animals from cocaine use. Animals exposed to HIIT developed a preference for non-drug environments and an aversion to cocaine, linked to increases in ΔFosB, a molecular switch involved in addiction. People with substance use disorder who participate in recovery running programs have shown improved success in maintaining their sobriety and reducing their risk for relapse.
Those observations led Panayotis Thanos, a University at Buffalo neuroscientist who studies the brain’s reward system, to try to figure out the brain mechanisms behind that phenomenon.
In a new study published today in PLOS One, Thanos, PhD, senior research scientist in the Clinical and Research Institute on Addictions in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB, and co-authors reveal that high-intensity interval training (HIIT) was more effective than moderate exercise in making adolescent lab animals avoid cocaine.
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