How running can help people with PTSD

What the research says

The strongest recent evidence comes from a clinical trial led by Professor Richard Bryant at the University of New South Wales in Sydney. Researchers worked with 130 adults who had a clinical diagnosis of PTSD. Everyone received the same nine trauma-focused therapy sessions. One group then did around ten minutes of aerobic exercise after each session, while the other did gentle stretching.

At the six-month follow-up, the group who’d exercised reported lower PTSD severity than the stretching group. Interestingly, the difference didn’t show up straight after treatment finished – it appeared over the following months, which suggests the benefits build over time.

An earlier, much smaller pilot study from the University of Texas at Austin (Powers and colleagues, 2015) pointed in a similar direction. In that study, people did 30 minutes of treadmill exercise before each therapy session, and those who exercised showed greater improvement in their symptoms. It was a very small study, so its findings are best seen as an early signal rather than firm proof, but it helped lay the groundwork for the larger trials that followed.

A 2026 review that pulled together 14 separate trials found that exercise can produce a modest but real reduction in PTSD symptoms. It’s worth being honest that this is still a developing area rather than settled science. But the direction of travel is encouraging, and the trials that have looked specifically at aerobic exercise – the kind a run gives you – are among the most promising.

Why might exercise help?

Part of the explanation may lie in a brain protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF. BDNF helps the brain adapt, learn and form new connections, and some research suggests its levels can be lower in people living with PTSD and C-PTSD.

BDNF plays a role in something called fear extinction – the process by which the brain learns that a previously frightening cue is now safe. This is exactly what trauma-focused therapies like EMDR and Trauma-Focused CBT aim to support. Research suggests that aerobic exercise can briefly raise BDNF levels, which may help the brain become more receptive to the learning that happens in therapy. That’s the leading theory behind why exercise paired with therapy seems to help more than therapy alone.

Additionally, PTSD and C-PTSD are linked to changes in a part of the brain called the hippocampus, which helps us tell the difference between danger and safety, and which tends to be smaller in people affected by trauma. Aerobic exercise is one of the few things shown to support this region: research has found that regular aerobic exercise can actually increase the size of the hippocampus. Work focused on PTSD specifically is still at an earlier stage, but the overlap is striking: trauma appears to wear down the very part of the brain that exercise seems to help build back up.

There may be a second reason too. Running produces some of the same physical sensations as fear – a faster heartbeat, quicker breathing, sweating. A 2019 review of 19 studies suggested that, through repeated running, the brain can gradually learn that these sensations aren’t a sign of danger, so the body’s alarm becomes less easily set off by them. In other words, running may offer a safe, controlled way of teaching the nervous system that a pounding heart isn’t always something to fear.

Running may also help settle the body’s stress-response system. PTSD and C-PTSD can leave the body on high alert, with the parts that help us calm down and recover underused. Regular exercise seems to retrain this balance: each run is a small, manageable dose of physical effort that the body then recovers from, and over time this can help the whole system handle everyday stress more steadily.

It’s worth remembering this is still an area of active research, and the brain is rarely that tidy. But the broad idea – that movement can help create conditions in which treatment lands better – is supported by a reasonable amount of evidence.

How else can running help?

Beyond the brain chemistry, running can offer something more straightforward.

It can give you a sense of control. Trauma can leave the body stuck in a ‘fight or flight’ state, and running at your own pace, for as long or as little as you choose, can be a way of working with that energy rather than against it. Many people find it helps them feel like they’re doing something positive and active for themselves.

It can lift your mood. Running releases endorphins, which can leave you feeling steadier and more positive afterwards. There’s good evidence that regular exercise can help with low mood and depression, which often go hand in hand with PTSD and C-PTSD.

It can help you sleep. Sleep problems are one of the most common and stubborn parts of PTSD and C-PTSD. A 2025 review of trials found that regular exercise made a real difference to sleep quality for people with PTSD, and better sleep can make everything else a little more manageable.

It can be a break from rumination. For some people, the rhythm of running gives the mind somewhere else to go when thoughts feel stuck on a loop.

And it’s accessible. You don’t need a gym or equipment – just sensible footwear and somewhere to move. If a gym feels safer, that’s completely fine too.

The benefits of running also connect with other approaches that focus on the link between emotional state and physical tension, such as Progressive Muscle Relaxation and Tension and Trauma Releasing Exercises (TRE). On top of that, regular cardiovascular exercise can boost energy, focus and appetite.

Ideas for using running to ease symptoms

There’s no single right way to do this. Some people find running alongside breathing or meditation especially helpful – a few breathing exercises before you set off, then letting the rhythm of your steps settle you into a calmer state.

If your hypervigilance allows it, some people use music to deepen that sense of release. Others prefer to stay alert to their surroundings, and that’s just as valid. The point is to find what feels right for you.

If isolation is part of your experience, and it often is with PTSD and C-PTSD, running with others can help. Free, weekly events like parkrun welcome walkers as much as runners, with no pressure on pace, and around a third of GP practices in the UK now point patients towards them for exactly this reason. Joining a group can feel daunting at first, so there’s no harm in starting at the back, walking the whole thing, or simply turning up to volunteer until it feels comfortable.

One of our supporters, Clare, started running alongside her therapy after developing PTSD following a traumatic incident she witnessed. She found it helped her, in her own words, to ‘process what had happened and gave her mind some calm’.

Why running isn’t right for everyone

This matters as much as the benefits, and it’s rooted in the same science.

Severe anxiety from PTSD and C-PTSD affects heart rate, breathing and muscle tension – a cluster of responses known as hyperarousal. For some people, the physical sensations of running, like a racing heart and quickened breath, can feel uncomfortably close to those same trauma responses. Rather than helping, it can set off feelings of panic.

This is one of the main reasons some people with PTSD and C-PTSD actively avoid strenuous exercise, and there’s nothing wrong with that. What soothes one person can heighten distress in another.

Also, if running alone doesn’t feel safe, you might try running with a friend, in a group, or on a treadmill where you’re in a more controlled space. And if it doesn’t help, or makes anxiety worse, that’s important to know too – there’s no failure in that, and other kinds of movement might suit you better. The point is to keep what works and let go of what doesn’t.

PTSD UK’s founder found exactly this:

‘I felt that I needed to get rid of the adrenaline coursing through my body – it was so electric and overwhelming – but I couldn’t go out running due to my hypervigilance, so I joined a gym. On the days I felt strong enough to get to the gym, I did the ‘safe’ classes – aqua-aerobics and dance aerobics – they consisted of me and lots of lovely retired ladies, so I felt safer than being out and about running on my own. It really helped me ‘use up’ that adrenaline, and I felt much better that day’.

A few things to keep in mind

If you have any underlying health conditions, it’s worth checking with your doctor before starting regular running.

Build up gradually. Learn to walk at a faster pace before you run – increase your speed, distance and any added challenge like hills slowly, to avoid injury and to keep it sustainable.

Go steady rather than hard. Research suggests gentle to moderate running tends to help more than pushing to your limit, and very intense exercise can heighten the sense of being on high alert for some people. You’re not trying to exhaust yourself, just to move.

Test what works. Try running alone, with someone, or in a group, and notice what gives you the most ease. There’s no failure here, only finding your own fit.

And finally

Running can be a useful way to support your wellbeing alongside other treatment – but it works best as part of a wider picture, not on its own. Whatever else you explore, it’s important to address both the symptoms and the underlying condition.

NICE guidance, updated in 2018, recommends trauma-focused psychological therapies as the first-line treatment for PTSD and C-PTSD – specifically Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) and Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). Recovery looks different for everyone, and treatment decisions are best made with a qualified professional.

These aren’t medical recommendations – they’re approaches that have helped others and might help you too. Please work with a professional to find what’s right for you, and know that support is available.