Cartoon A shows the timeline of various experiments, including rats’ exposure to Gulf War Illness-related chemicals (GWIR-Cs) and stress, RE regimen, and duration, cognitive and mood function tests, and brain tissue analyses. Animals had access to running wheels to perform voluntary RE for 13 weeks (3 times/week), commencing 10 weeks after the exposure to GWIR-Cs and stress. The behavioral tests were performed after the RE regimen, after which the brain tissues were collected for histological studies. The lower half of the figure illustrates a cartoon of the running wheel (B), the distances ran by GWI rats per week over 13 weeks (C) and per month over three months (C). NS, not significant.