Original articleExercisers Achieve Greater Acute Exercise-Induced Mood Enhancement Than Nonexercisers
Section snippets
Methods
Three groups of adult subjects (nonexercisers, regular moderate exercisers, ultramarathon runners) participated in the study, with 16 subjects (8 men, 8 women) in each group. Sample size determination based on preliminary data from our laboratory indicated that group sizes of 16 would be adequate relative to the main study variables.
All participants were educated beyond high school and were free of known cardiovascular, pulmonary, and metabolic diseases. Exclusion criteria included known
Results
Selected subject characteristics are shown in table 1. Ages ranged from 28 to 59 years and were comparable among groups. As expected, body mass index was lower (P<.001) among the moderate exercisers and ultramarathon runners compared with the nonexercisers. Physical activity levels (leisure time component and total) during the 7 days preceding the study, as determined by the IPAQ, were higher (P<.01) among the ultramarathon runners compared with the nonexercisers and moderate exercisers.
Discussion
This study found that a single session of exercise of appropriate intensity and duration for aerobic fitness training resulted in an increase in vigor and a decrease in fatigue among adult ultramarathon runners and regular moderate exercisers. In contrast, adult nonexercisers showed no improvement in these scores, and the effect was statistically different for this group compared with the exercisers. Although total mood disturbance improved in all 3 groups after exercise, the 2 groups of
Conclusions
Although previous work has shown that aerobic exercise generally results in acute mood improvements, very little attention has been directed at determining whether this effect is similarly present among regular exercisers and nonexercisers. Furthermore, there has been no comparison of regular exercisers and nonexercisers who are middle-aged using exercise intensities and durations within the range that is recommended for enhancing health and fitness. The present study helps clarify that adult
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