In the study, people with stress-related conditions, such as depression, experienced the most cardiovascular benefits from physical activity and also tended to have lower stress-related brain activity. Physical activity had a 23% lower risk of cardiovascular disease. Notably, reductions in stress-associated brain activity were driven by gains in function in the prefrontal cortex, a part of the brain involved in executive function (i.e., decision making, impulse control) and is known to restrain stress centers of the brain.