The team then looked for why such a connection between exercise and the microbiome might exist. They found that when they inhibited neurons involved in producing dopamine, a neurotransmitter that helps us feel pleasure, it similarly reduced mice’s ambition to exercise. They also tied these neurons to molecules produced by the microbiome. Blocking any part of this path from the microbiome to dopamine release led the mice to exercise less.
Yet another study showing how important a healty gut affects your overall health. I had somehow never seen this one about its impact on exercise (the Nature study dates from 2022), but I've posted before (#608005) about how the gut seems to be closely related to many auto-immune diseases...