Prefrontal oxygenation and the acoustic startle eyeblink response during exercise: A test of the dual-mode model

Aerobic exercise promotes emotion regulation: a narrative review

Aerobic exercise improves the three stages of emotion regulation: perception, valuation and action. It reduces the perception of negative emotions, encourages individuals to reinterpret emotional situations in a positive or non-emotional manner, and enhances control over emotion expression behaviours. These effects are generated via increased prefrontal cortex activation, the strengthening of functional connections between the amygdala and several other brain regions, and the enhancement of the plasticity of key emotion regulation pathways and nodes, such as the uncinate fasciculus. The effect of aerobic exercise on emotion regulation is influenced by the exercise intensity and duration, and by individuals' exercise experience. Future research may explore the key neural basis of aerobic exercise's promotion of emotion regulation.

Affective and Enjoyment Responses to Sprint Interval Exercise at Different Hypoxia Levels

Benefits of performing sprint interval training (SIT) under hypoxic conditions on improving cardiorespiratory fitness and body composition have been well-documented, yet data is still lacking regarding affective responses to SIT under hypoxia. This study aimed to compare affective responses to SIT exercise under different oxygen conditions. Nineteen active males participated in three sessions of acute SIT exercise (20 repetitions of 6 s of all-out cycling bouts interspersed with 15 s of passive recovery) under conditions of normobaric normoxia (SL: PIO₂ 150 mmHg, FIO₂ 0.209), moderate hypoxia (MH: PIO₂ 117 mmHg, FIO₂ 0.154, simulating an altitude corresponding to 2500 m), and severe hypoxia (SH: PIO₂ 87 mmHg, FIO₂ 0.112, simulating an altitude of 5000 m) in a randomized order. Perceived exertions (RPE), affect, activation, and enjoyment responses were recorded before and immediately after each SIT session. There were no significant differences across the three conditions in RPE or the measurements of affective responses, despite a statistically lower SpO₂ (%) in severe hypoxia. Participants maintained a positive affect valence and reported increased activation in all the three SIT conditions. Additionally, participants experienced a medium level of enjoyment after exercise as indicated by the exercise enjoyment scale (EES) and physical activity enjoyment scale (PACES). These results indicated that performing short duration SIT exercise under severe hypoxia could be perceived as pleasurable and enjoyable as performing it under normoxia in active male population.

Aerobic Exercise Decreases Negative Affect by Modulating Orbitofrontal-Amygdala Connectivity in Adolescents

Long-term negative affect in adolescence is associated with impairment in quality of life, interpersonal function, and social adaptation. Although physical exercise could decrease negative emotion, the underlying mechanism remains largely unknown. Acute exercise with controlled intensity might be a good experimental paradigm to unravel the potential neural mechanisms underlying the effects of physical exercise on negative affect. In this study, twenty-three males in late adolescence were randomly assigned to acute exercise group (AG) or control group. The experiment contained pre-test and post-test session interleaved with 30-min moderate-intensity exercise or seated rest. In each session, a resting-state fMRI scanning was conducted followed by completing Positive and Negative Affect Schedule and Profile of Mood State. Bilateral amygdala was used as seed region to calculate t voxel-wised functional connectivity (FC) of amygdala to whole brain. The results demonstrated, for the first time, that AG exhibited increased FC between right amygdala and right orbital frontal cortex. Significantly decreased negative affect was also observed in AG. Moreover, the increased rOFC-amygdala FC was also associated with the decreased depression score. Our findings suggest that exercise-induced decreased negative affect might be modulated by functional interactions of amygdala with both cognitive control and limbic networks, which offers a meaningful insight for clinical treatment and prevention of emotional disorders in late adolescence.

Self-reported tolerance of the intensity of exercise influences affective responses to and intentions to engage with high-intensity interval exercise

This study investigated the effect of self-reported tolerance of the intensity of exercise on affective responses to, self-efficacy for and intention to repeat low-volume high-intensity interval exercise (HIIE). Thirty-six healthy participants (mean age 21 ± 2 years) were split into high tolerance (HT; n = 19), low tolerance (LT; n = 9), and very low tolerance (VLT; n = 8) of exercise intensity groups. Participants completed 10 × 6 s cycle sprints with 60 s recovery. Affective valence and perceived activation were measured before exercise, after sprints 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 20 min post-HIIE. Intention and self-efficacy were assessed 20 min post-HIIE. Affective valence was significantly lower in VLT vs. LT (P = 0.034, d = 1.01-1.14) and HT (P = 0.018, d = 1.34-1.70). Circumplex profiles showed a negative affective state in VLT only. The VLT group had lower intentions to repeat HIIE once and three times per week than HT (P < 0.001, d = 1.87 and 1.81, respectively) and LT (P = 0.107, d = 0.85; P = 0.295, d = 0.53, respectively). Self-efficacy was not influenced by tolerance. Self-reported tolerance of exercise intensity influences affective responses to and intentions to engage with HIIE.