Can Exercise Rewire the Brain Addiction Circuitry?

NCT ID: NCT06317753

Last Updated: 2025-04-03

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: NOT_YET_RECRUITING
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 60 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2026-01-31
• Study Completion Date: 2027-12-31

Brief Summary

The aim of the present study is to apply neuroimaging techniques to investigate how physical exercise may influence the addiction circuitry, ultimately reducing alcohol consumption and craving in youth binge drinkers. This proposal will advance knowledge on how exercise may modulate the neurocircuitry of addiction. Uncovering the neurobiological mechanisms underlying the interactive neural effects of exercise and alcohol intake may provide additional scientific insights for the development of preventive and intervention programs for youth BD and AUD.

Detailed Description

The proposed research plan focuses on the identification of changes in the structural and functional brain parameters (e.g. volume, brain activity), in response to a physical exercise (PE) protocol, on the neurocircuitry of addiction, after a 4 month-intervention program in college binge drinkers (BDs). The main objectives of this proposal are: O1) to evaluate the potential benefits of PE on the brain structure and function, particularly in the neurocircuitry of addiction, in a sample of Portuguese college students with a binge drinking pattern of alcohol use; and O2) to determine whether the PE intervention reduces craving and alcohol consumption levels in BDs. The present project will involve: i) a pre-intervention comprehensive evaluation of behavioral (alcohol consumption), psychological (craving levels), physiological (VO2, HRV), and neurological (neuroimaging) variables; ii) a training phase consisting of 48 sessions (3 weekly sessions*16 weeks) of aerobic (exp group 1), agility-cognitive (exp group 2) exercise and stretching (control group; iii) a post-intervention evaluation of behavioral, physiological, and neurological (neuroimaging) variables; iv) and a 6 months' follow- up evaluation of behavioral, physiologicaln and cognitive variables. A randomized controlled trial will be implemented at the University of Minho. It will include a total of 60 college students with a binge drinking pattern of alcohol intake, 20 participants per condition.

Conditions

Physical Exercise

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: PREVENTION
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Experimental condition 1

Participants allocated to the Experimental condition 1 will be following a aerobic exercise training program.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Aerobic Exercise

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Participants allocated to the Aerobic condition will be following a 4 month-intervention aerobic exercise protocol of 3 weekly interleaved sessions with a 50 minutes duration

Experimental condition 2

Participants allocated to the Experimental condition 2 will be following an agility-cognitive exercise training program.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Agility-Cognitive Exercise

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Participants allocated to the Agility-Cognitive condition will be following a 4 month-intervention agility-cognitive exercise protocol of 3 weekly interleaved sessions with a 50 minutes duration

Control condition

Participants allocated to the Control condition will be following a stretching/relaxation training program.

Group Type: ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Stretching/relaxation

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Participants allocated to the stretching control condition will be following a 4 month-intervention protocol of 1 weekly session with a 50 minutes duration

Interventions

Aerobic Exercise

Participants allocated to the Aerobic condition will be following a 4 month-intervention aerobic exercise protocol of 3 weekly interleaved sessions with a 50 minutes duration

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Agility-Cognitive Exercise

Participants allocated to the Agility-Cognitive condition will be following a 4 month-intervention agility-cognitive exercise protocol of 3 weekly interleaved sessions with a 50 minutes duration

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Stretching/relaxation

Participants allocated to the stretching control condition will be following a 4 month-intervention protocol of 1 weekly session with a 50 minutes duration

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• binge drinking > or = 5 ; > or =4 for women alcoholic drinks
• in the same time window (±2h)
• at least once per month
• <150 minutes of physical activity per week

Exclusion Criteria

• Major and/or unstable medical conditions
• Physical limitations that may constraint the practice of exercise
• Cardiovascular and respiratory insufficiency
• History of traumatic brain injury or neurological disorder
• Non-corrected sensory deficits
• Personal history of psychopathological disorders
• Family history of alcoholism or substance abuse in first degree relatives
• Consumption of medical drugs with psychoactive effects (e.g., sedatives or anxiolytics) during the month previous to the assessment
• Use of illegal drugs and AUDIT scores >20
• MRI contraindications
• Current or previous (past year) participation in a physical exercise program

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 24 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

University of Minho

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Sonia Sousa

Principal Investigator

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Sónia Sousa, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Research Center in Psychology, School of Psychology, University of Minho

Central Contacts

Sónia Sousa, PhD

Role: CONTACT

soniamachado@psi.uminho.pt

+351917824280

Adriana Sampaio, PhD

Role: CONTACT

adriana.sampaio@psi.uminho.pt

Other Identifiers

UMinho1

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id