Effect of aerobic exercise on negative affect, positive affect, stress, and depression

The impact of intermittent exercise on mouse ethanol drinking and abstinence-associated affective behavior and physiology

BACKGROUND

Negative emotional states are associated with the initiation and maintenance of alcohol use and drive relapse to drinking during withdrawal and protracted abstinence. Physical exercise is correlated with decreased negative affective symptoms, although a direct relationship between drinking patterns and exercise level has not been fully elucidated.

METHODS

We incorporated intermittent running wheel access into a chronic continuous access, two-bottle choice alcohol drinking model in female C57BL/6J mice. Wheel access was granted intermittently once mice established a preference for alcohol over water. After 6 weeks, alcohol was removed (forced abstinence) and mice were given continuous access to unlocked or locked wheels. Negative affect-like behavior, home cage behavior, and metabolic activity were measured during protracted abstinence.

RESULTS

Wheel access shifted drinking patterns in the mice, increasing drinking when the wheel was locked, and decreasing drinking when unlocked. Moreover, alcohol preference and consumption were strongly negatively correlated with the amount of running. An assessment of negative affect-like behavior in abstinence via the novelty suppressed feeding and saccharin preference tests (SPT) showed that unlimited wheel access mitigated abstinence-induced latency increases. Mice in abstinence also spent more time sleeping during the active dark cycle than control mice, providing additional evidence for abstinence-induced anhedonia- and depression-like behavior. Furthermore, running wheel access in abstinence decreased dark cycle sleep to comparable alcohol- and wheel-naïve mice. Given the positive impact of exercise and the negative impact of alcohol on metabolic health, we compared metabolic phenotypes of alcohol-abstinent mice with and without wheel access. Wheel access increased energy expenditure, carbon dioxide production, and oxygen consumption, providing a potential metabolic mechanism through which wheel access improves affective state.

CONCLUSIONS

This study suggests that including exercise in AUD treatment regimens has the potential to reduce drinking, improve affective state during abstinence and could serve as a non-pharmacological approach to prevent the development of an AUD in high-risk individuals.

Brief Report on the Psychophysiological Effects of a Yoga Intervention for Chronic Stress

Abstract. This paper evaluates the results of a longitudinal investigation of the potential benefits of yoga in a nonclinical sample of chronically stressed women (N = 116). Women undertook a twice weekly, hour-long yoga class for a period of 2 months, measuring psychological and physical indicators of health periodically. Changes in both areas were compared against a wait-list control group. The reported energy expenditure between groups was estimated to be similar, which suggests that the control group engaged in physical activities other than yoga. Of the six psychological outcomes measured, we found improvements in three. Specifically, those in the practicing yoga group experienced increases in positive affect, decreases in levels of distress and stress, as well as a decrease in waist circumference and increased flexibility. No between-group differences were found in mindfulness, well-being, and negative affect. These findings are generally consistent with an emerging literature, suggesting that yoga may provide both psychological and physiological effects that extend beyond its more obvious physical benefits, and are discussed in terms of the body’s allostatic load. These results should be considered in light of this study’s limitations, which include its small sample size, lack of an “active” control group, and female-only participants.

Exercise-based treatments for substance use disorders: evidence, theory, and practicality

BACKGROUND

Epidemiological studies reveal that individuals who report risky substance use are generally less likely to meet physical activity guidelines (with the exception of certain population segments, such as adolescents and athletes). A growing body of evidence suggests that individuals with substance use disorders (SUDs) are interested in exercising and that they may derive benefits from regular exercise, in terms of both general health/fitness and SUD recovery.

OBJECTIVES

The aims of this paper were to: (i) summarize the research examining the effects of exercise-based treatments for SUDs; (ii) discuss the theoretical mechanisms and practical reasons for investigating this topic; (iii) identify the outstanding relevant research questions that warrant further inquiry; and (iv) describe potential implications for practice.

METHODS

The following databases were searched for peer-reviewed original and review papers on the topic of substance use and exercise: PubMed Central, MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, and CINAHL Plus. Reference lists of these publications were subsequently searched for any missed but relevant manuscripts. Identified papers were reviewed and summarized by both authors.

RESULTS

The limited research conducted suggests that exercise may be an effective adjunctive treatment for SUDs. In contrast to the scarce intervention trials to date, a relative abundance of literature on the theoretical and practical reasons supporting the investigation of this topic has been published.

CONCLUSIONS

Definitive conclusions are difficult to draw due to diverse study protocols and low adherence to exercise programs, among other problems. Despite the currently limited and inconsistent evidence, numerous theoretical and practical reasons support exercise-based treatments for SUDs, including psychological, behavioral, neurobiological, nearly universal safety profile, and overall positive health effects.

Regular exercise is associated with emotional resilience to acute stress in healthy adults

Physical activity has long been considered beneficial to health and regular exercise is purported to relieve stress. However empirical evidence demonstrating these effects is limited. In this study, we compared psychophysiological responses to an acute psychosocial stressor between individuals who did, or did not, report regular physical exercise. Healthy men and women (N = 111) participated in two experimental sessions, one with the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) and one with a non-stressful control task. We measured heart rate, blood pressure, cortisol, and self-reported mood before and at repeated times after the tasks. Individuals who reported physical exercise at least once per week exhibited lower heart rate at rest than non-exercisers, but the groups did not differ in their cardiovascular responses to the TSST. Level of habitual exercise did not influence self-reported mood before the tasks, but non-exercisers reported a greater decline in positive affect after the TSST in comparison to exercisers. These findings provide modest support for claims that regular exercise protects against the negative emotional consequences of stress, and suggest that exercise has beneficial effects in healthy individuals. These findings are limited by their correlational nature, and future prospective controlled studies on the effects of regular exercise on response to acute stress are needed.

"Don't crack under pressure!"--Do leisure time physical activity and self-esteem moderate the relationship between school-based stress and psychosomatic complaints?

OBJECTIVE

Stressful experiences occupy a central role in most etiological models of developmental psychopathology. Stress alone, however, insufficiently explains negative health outcomes. This raises the question why some children and adolescents are more vulnerable to the development of psychopathological symptoms than others. The primary purpose of this research was to demonstrate whether leisure time physical activity and self-esteem protect against stress-induced health problems.

METHOD

The findings are based on a cross-sectional study of 407 Swiss boys and girls (M=14.01 years). All variables are self-reported. Analyses of covariance were applied to test for main and moderator effects.

RESULTS

The findings suggest that school-based stress and psychosomatic complaints are important issues during adolescence. The results show that a higher level of psychosomatic complaints accompanies stress. Surprisingly, psychosomatic complaints and physical activity were unrelated. Likewise, no association was found between physical activity and stress. In contrast, students with high self-esteem reported significantly less complaints and a lower extent of perceived stress. Finally, the results do not support the stress-moderation hypothesis. Neither physical activity nor self-esteem buffered against the detrimental effects of school-based stress on psychosomatic health.

CONCLUSION

The findings lend support to previous research with German-speaking samples but are in marked contrast to Anglo-Saxon studies, which generally support the role of physical activity as a moderator of the health-illness relationship. In this investigation, developmental features and methodological limitations may have accounted for the insignificant results.

In vivo human brain biochemistry after aerobic exercise: preliminary report on functional magnetic resonance spectroscopy

BACKGROUND

Our aim was to disclose whether the positive psychological changes observed after a single bout of aerobic exercise have a biochemical correlate that can be visualized by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) of the human brain.

METHODS

Right-handed male volunteers underwent psychological testing and MRS of the frontal lobe of the left hemisphere, both before and after 20 minutes of jogging at about 70% of their maximal aerobic capacity.

RESULTS

Although there was a significant decrease on the postexercise anxiety test scores (z = -2.201, P < .05), there was no significant difference between the preexercise and postexercise scores of positive and negative affect. Considering both "amplitude" and "area under the curve" values calculated for the peaks of metabolites N-acetylaspartate (NAA), creatine, and choline, none were found to be significantly changed (P > .05) after the exercise.

CONCLUSION

This is, to our knowledge, the first study to report on a functional application of MRS to mood states. Because it offers the ability to directly measure metabolic changes in the brain during neuronal activation, "functional MRS" may be a potential new tool that may be used as an adjunct to functional magnetic resonance imaging.

Physical activity and mental health: the association between exercise and mood

Physical activity is an important public health tool used in the treatment and prevention of various physical diseases, as well as in the treatment of some psychiatric diseases such as depressive and anxiety disorders. However, studies have shown that in addition to its beneficial effects, physical activity can also be associated with impaired mental health, being related to disturbances like "excessive exercise" and "overtraining syndrome". Although the number of reports of the effects of physical activity on mental health is steadily increasing, these studies have not yet identified the mechanisms involved in the benefits and dangers to mental health associated with exercise. This article reviews the information available regarding the relationship between physical activity and mental health, specifically addressing the association between exercise and mood.

Relations among exercise, coping, disordered eating, and psychological health among college students

Researchers have long been interested in the coping styles of individuals who display disordered eating characteristics. Recently, exercise has been recognized as both a behavior and coping strategy that might be present among individuals with disordered eating. The present study evaluates the role of exercise as both a coping mechanism and as a health behavior in relation to eating pathology and other measures of psychological health in a nonclinical university population. Female (n=235) and male (n=86) undergraduate students completed questionnaires that assessed exercise behavior, coping strategies, eating attitudes, self-esteem, life satisfaction, affect, depression, and anxiety. The results indicate that the relations among exercise, coping, and eating pathology is complex. Exercise was related to positive psychological health in males, whereas exercise in females was associated with both positive and negative psychological health. For women with high Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26) scores, exercise was significantly associated with negative affect, and a trend existed in this group such that exercise was associated with higher levels of depression and anxiety. Conversely, for women with low EAT scores, exercise was associated with positive affect. This suggests that exercise might be differentially associated with mental health based on the presence or absence of eating pathology.

Measuring exercise-induced mood changes in fibromyalgia: a comparison of several measures

OBJECTIVE

To compare scales measuring exercise-induced changes in mood.

METHODS

Mood changes in a randomized, 23-week controlled trial of exercise were assessed using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire, and the Mental Health Inventory (MHI). Effect sizes and t-tests were computed on 23-week change scores. Scales were deemed to be confounded if items addressed sleep disturbances, fatigue, or effort (symptoms of both mood disturbances and fibromyalgia).

RESULTS

Efficacy (15 exercise subjects) and intent-to-treat analyses (27 exercise subjects) generated medium effects for BDI (total, cognitive), MHI depression (efficacy only), and CES-D (intent-to-treat only) scales. BDI (total, cognitive), MHI (depression, positive affect, total [MHI-5]), and STAI scales distinguished exercise from control subjects at 23 weeks in all analyses. BDI somatic and CES-D scales were deemed to be confounded.

CONCLUSION

We recommend the BDI cognitive, STAI, and MHI-5 scales to measure depression, anxiety, and general mood, respectively, in patients with fibromyalgia.

Effect of a randomized, controlled trial of exercise on mood and physical function in individuals with fibromyalgia

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the effect of exercise on mood and physical function in individuals with fibromyalgia.

METHODS

Subjects were randomly assigned to an exercise (EX) or control (CTL) group. EX subjects participated in 3 30-minute exercise classes per week for 23 weeks. Subjects were tested at entry and at 6, 12, and 23 weeks. Tests included the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), 6-minute walk, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), Mental Health Inventory (MHI), Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ), Arthritis Self-Efficacy Scale (ASES), and a measure of tender points and knee strength.

RESULTS

Fifty subjects (27 EX, 23 CTL) completed the study, and 31 (15 EX, 16 CTL) met criteria for efficacy analyses. In efficacy analyses, significant improvements were seen for EX subjects in 6-minute walk distances, BDI (total, cognitive/ affective), STAI, FIQ, ASES, and MHI (3 of 5 subscales) scores. These effects were reduced but remained during intent-to-treat analyses.

CONCLUSION

Exercise can improve the mood and physical function of individuals with fibromyalgia.

Exercise-induced regulation of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) transcripts in the rat hippocampus

Previous results from our laboratory indicate that two nights of voluntary wheel running upregulates brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) mRNA expression in the hippocampus. In order to investigate the time-course of the BDNF response and to examine how physical activity preferentially activates particular transcriptional pathways, the effects of 6 and 12 h of voluntary wheel running on BDNF and exons I-IV mRNA expression were investigated in rats. Hippocampal full-length BDNF mRNA expression was rapidly influenced by physical activity, showing significant increases in expression levels as soon as 6 h of voluntary wheel running. Moreover, there was a strong positive correlation between distance run and BDNF mRNA expression. Exon I mRNA expression was significantly upregulated after 6 h of running and was maintained or enhanced by 12 h of voluntary running. Exon II had a slower time-course and was significantly upregulated after 12 h, selectively in the CA1 hippocampal region. Exon III and Exon IV showed no significant increase in expression level after 6 or 12 h of running in the paradigm studied. It is significant that the rapid neurotrophin response is demonstrated for a physiologically relevant stimulus, as opposed to the extreme conditions of seizure paradigms. Furthermore, exercise-induced upregulation of BDNF may help increase the brain's resistance to damage and neurodegeneration that occurs with aging.

Changes in scores on the profile of mood states following a single bout of physical activity: heart rate and changes in affect

28 college age students participating in a weight lifting class exhibited significant decreases in negative affect and increases in positive affect. Changes in affect were correlated with average exercise heart rates. Higher heart rates were correlated with reductions in negative affect and increases in positive affect. Correlations of .37 and .40 suggest that, in accordance with earlier studies, exercise intensity may be indirectly related to exercise.