Depressed versus nondepressed young adult tobacco users: differences in coping style, weight concerns and exercise level.

Undergraduates age 18 to 24 years (n=656) completed questionnaires assessing tobacco use, depressive symptoms, coping responses, weight concerns, and exercise. The majority of participants were female (72%), White/non-Hispanic (95%), and in the 1st or 2nd year of college (80%). Current tobacco users (n=236) had a higher frequency of depression (40%) than never tobacco users (32%; p=.05). Tobacco users classified as depressed (Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale [CES-D] score a 16) reported greater weight concerns and more frequent maladaptive coping in response to negative mood than tobacco users classified as nondepressed (CES-D score<16). Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that higher maladaptive coping and lower level of exercise were significantly associated with depression among tobacco users.     

Telephone versus mail interventions for maintenance of physical activity in older adults.

Although telephone and mail are often used to promote physical activity adoption, their ability to produce long-term maintenance is unclear. In this study, 140 men and women aged 50-65 years received 1 year of telephone counseling to adopt higher (i.e., more vigorous) versus lower intensity (i.e., moderate) exercise. After 1 year, participants were rerandomized to a 2nd year of contact via (a) telephone and mail or (b) predominantly mail. Participants who were prescribed higher intensity exercise and received predominantly mail had better exercise adherence during the maintenance year than those who received telephone and mail. Both strategies were similarly effective in promoting maintenance in the lower intensity condition. Results suggest that after successful adoption of physical activity with the help of telephone counseling, less intensive interventions are successful for physical activity maintenance in older adults.     

Attentional bias to emotional stimuli is altered during moderate- but not high-intensity exercise

Little is known regarding how attention to emotional stimuli is affected during simultaneously performed exercise. Attentional biases to emotional face stimuli were assessed in 34 college students (17 women) using the dot-probe task during counterbalanced conditions of moderate- (heart rate at 45% peak oxygen consumption) and high-intensity exercise (heart rate at 80% peak oxygen consumption) compared with seated rest. The dot-probe task consisted of 1 emotional face (pleasant or unpleasant) paired with a neutral face for 1,000 ms; 256 trials (128 trials for each valence) were presented during each condition. Each condition lasted approximately 10 min. Participants were instructed to perform each trial of the dot-probe task as quickly and accurately as possible during the exercise and rest conditions. During moderate-intensity exercise, participants exhibited significantly greater attentional bias scores to pleasant compared with unpleasant faces (p < .01), whereas attentional bias scores to emotional faces did not differ at rest or during high-intensity exercise (p > .05). In addition, the attentional bias to unpleasant faces was significantly reduced during moderate-intensity exercise compared with that during rest (p < .05). These results provide behavioral evidence that during exercise at a moderate intensity, there is a shift in attention allocation toward pleasant emotional stimuli and away from unpleasant emotional stimuli. Future work is needed to determine whether acute exercise may be an effective treatment approach to reduce negative bias or enhance positive bias in individuals diagnosed with mood or anxiety disorders, or whether attentional bias during exercise predicts adherence to exercise.     

Visual threat detection during moderate- and high-intensity exercise

The aim of the study was to assess performance on a visual threat-detection task during concurrently performed vigorous exercise on a cycle ergometer. Thirty (15 female) participants completed a baseline condition of seated rest and then moderate- and high-intensity exercise. Moderate- and high-intensity exercise conditions were completed on the 2nd day in a counterbalanced order. During each exercise condition, participants responded to 3 × 3 picture matrices (256 trials in each condition) that contained discrepant fear-relevant and discrepant fear-irrelevant pictures (?hman, Flykt, & Esteves, 2001). Response accuracy was significantly greater, and reaction time was significantly faster, during moderate- and high-intensity exercise compared with the rest condition (ps < .001). The discrepant fear-relevant matrix type was detected significantly more accurately than a discrepant fear-irrelevant matrix (p < .001). The discrepant fear-relevant matrix was detected significantly faster than all other matrix types (p < .001). These results suggest that exercise at a moderate and high intensity may enhance the efficiency of visual detection of both threatening and nonthreatening targets.     

Prospective and Daily Measures of Acute Thoughts, Decisional Struggle, and Coping: Measurement Correspondence and the Prediction of Exercise in Young Adults

Information on the daily stability–variability of decision-making social cognitions has not been obtained. Two purposes were: (1) to examine the correspondence between 1-week prospective and daily measures of acute exercise thoughts, decisional struggle, coping frequency, and coping self-efficacy and (2) prediction of moderate exercise. Seventy-seven experienced exercisers ( M age=22.36 years) completed a 1-week prospective and daily measures of social cognitions. Prospective and aggregated daily acute thoughts were the only non-correspondent measures. Aggregated daily acute thoughts were the only significant predictor of exercise (ß_standardized=.78, p <.01). Daily acute thoughts may be a determinant of moderate exercise in experienced exercisers due to the unpredictable nature of daily events, warranting attention to making daily exercise decisions.     

Contrast of frequency of positive and negative feeling state changes associated with standard and reduced cardiovascular exercise

A field investigation was conducted to assess whether cardiovascular exercise assigned at a level to maximize improvements in fitness, i.e., a standard exercise amount or 30 min. at approximately 80% maximal heart rate, differed significantly in frequency of positive exercise-induced feeling changes when contrasted with exercise that was reduced to 20 min. at approximately 65% maximal heart rate. A significantly more frequent occurrence of positive changes in feelings just after exercise (chi1(2), = 4.95, p < .05, phi(c) = .26) was noted for adults initiating programs at the reduced (n = 36; 86% positive change) vs the standard (n = 36; 64% positive change) amount of exercise. After replication, implications for adjusting exercise to increase adherence were discussed.     

Differentiated ratings of perceived exertion and physiological responses during aerobic dance steps by impact/type of arm movement

Overall ratings of perceived exertion, i.e., undifferentiated RPE, are often used as indicators of exercise intensity during walking, jogging, and cycling; however, conflicting results concerning RPE during aerobic dance exercise have been reported, and the use of differentiated RPE, i.e., local RPE and central RPE, has not been investigated. The purposes of this study were to assess local, central, and over-all RPE, and physiological responses [heart rate (HR); % HRmax; absolute and relative VO2;% VO2 max, ventilation (VE), ventilatory equivalent (VE.VO2(-1); and oxygen pulse] during aerobic dance exercise varied by Arm Movement (Static Arm vs Dynamic Arm) and Impact (High vs Low). Trained women (N = 25; max VO2 = 50.4 +/- 7.5 ml.kg-1.min.-1) completed four aerobic dance steps. No RPE were significantly correlated with heart rate or VO2; however, for all steps all RPE were significantly (r = .40-.62) correlated with VE.VO2(-1) or VE. No interactions were present for RPE or physiological variables, and main effects were noted for Impact and Arm Movement. All RPE were greater for High Impact and for Static Arm Movement. Because VE and VE.VO2(-1) were correlated with Overall RPE for all steps, this may suggest that participants "attended to" perceived changes in respiratory phenomena during aerobic dance exercise. It appears that during combined arm-and-leg aerobic dance exercise the use of Overall RPE is sufficient to assess perceptual sensations associated with the intensity of the exercise. Changes in Overall RPE were proportionate to objective measures of exercise intensity, i.e., HR and VO2; however, it is recommended that both HR and Overall RPE be used to assess fully a participant's objective and subjective responses during aerobic dance exercise.     

Relationship between exercise professionals' behavioral styles and clients' adherence to exercise

Exercise professionals (n = 15) were tested to assess whether specific personal traits or behavioral styles were associated with their clients' adherence to exercise. Assessments with the Personal Profile and the Personal Strengths Profile yielded one trait, "Controlling," that showed a mean difference (z = 2.99, p < .01) between the high and low adherence groups of professionals. Controlling was also significantly correlated (rs = .66, p < .01) with clients' adherence. This trait may be consistent with the interpersonal delivery requirements of interventions known to support adherence to exercise. Limitations and practical implications across exercise venues and types of participants were discussed.     

Effects of increasing expenditure of energy during exercise on psychological well-being in older adults

The purpose of present study was to examine the effects on psychological well-being of energy expended as a result of the exercise intervention. 33 older adults (M age=68.6 yr., SD=4.7) participated in three supervised water-based exercise sessions per week for 12 wk. Based on the relative changes in daily energy expenditure as measured by questionnaire between pre- and posttraining, the subjects were split into three groups. This classified each subject as either having experienced a relatively low change (n=11), moderate change (n= 11), or high change (n= 11) in daily energy expenditure. Our data showed that the group with the greater increase in energy expenditure as a result of exercise, when compared pre- and posttraining, improved only on Depression-Dejection on the Profile of Mood States more than did the group with low change. Consequently, we concluded that the amount of energy expended was partially related to improvement in psychological well-being.     

Depression in adults with type 2 diabetes: the role of adherence, body mass index, and self-efficacy.

Considerable evidence links depression with the development and worsening of diabetes, but the factors contributing to this link have not been established. The authors examined the role of adherence, body mass index (BMI), and self-efficacy. Adult patients with Type 2 diabetes (N = 56) completed self-report measures of diet and exercise adherence, diet and exercise self-efficacy, and depression. BMI was obtained from medical records. Path and mediation analyses indicated that both adherence and BMI independently contributed to self-efficacy. Self-efficacy mediated both the association between adherence and depression and the association between BMI and depression. These findings are consistent with the proposal that lower self-efficacy in reaction to adherence failure and higher BMI contributes to depression in adults with diabetes.     

Mood enhancement persists for up to 12 hours following aerobic exercise: a pilot study

The objective was to estimate the duration of the effects of aerobic exercise on mood. Healthy men (n = 13) and women (n = 35) ages 18 to 25 years (M = 20.2, SD = 3.4) were randomly assigned to either a control or exercise group. Participants completed the Profile of Mood States before, after, and at 1, 2, 4, 8, 12, and 24 hours following either exercise at 60% VO2 peak or quiet rest. Repeated-measures analysis of covariance was utilized with VO2 peak entered as a covariate. The exercise group showed significantly lower total mood disturbance immediately after and at 4, 8, and 12 hours following exercise.     

Women's exercise identity increases after a 16-week exercise RCT and is linked to behavior maintenance at follow-up

BackgroundRegular exercise is critical for disease prevention, but adherence to public health guidelines is poor. Exercise identity is purported to be associated with exercise behavior maintenance, but the extant literature is largely cross-sectional and of low/modest quality.PurposeTo examine change in exercise identity after completion of a supervised exercise intervention, as well as associations between change in exercise identity and exercise maintenance at 6-months follow-up.MethodsN = 276 insufficiently physically active women were randomized to a 16-week, supervised exercise training intervention with 4 conditions fully crossed on intensity (vigorous/moderate) and duration (long/short). Exercise identity was measured pre- and post-intervention and assessments of exercise motivation and behavior frequency were collected at 6-months post-intervention follow-up.ResultsOn average, participants experienced a statistically significant change in exercise identity over the course of the intervention, t (128) = 7.94, p < .001, but identity change scores did not differ across training conditions, p = .91. Identity change was significantly positively related to changes in other theory-informed, motivation-based determinants of exercise, and predicted an additional 16.17 min of exercise per week, on average, at follow-up, b = 16.76, t (103) = 2.30, p = .023.ConclusionsParticipants experienced increased self-identification with exercise after 16-weeks of training, but training volume did not influence the amount of identity change. As expected, greater change in exercise identity was associated with higher levels of exercise behavior at 6-months post-intervention follow-up (ClinicalTrials.gov number NCT02032628 ).     

Self-Presentation Concerns and Health Behaviors Among Cosmetic Surgery Patients

The present investigation examined the relationship between self-presentational motives and physical activity in a population of cosmetic surgery participants. Participants were 50 female and 5 male cosmetic surgery patients (CSPs; M age = 38.5 years) who completed a battery of self-report measures following either vein or acne treatment. Analyses revealed significant group differences on self-presentational concern and public self-consciousness between: (a) those who elected the treatment for appearance motives and those who elected treatment for health-based motives, and (b) the more frequent (3 or more times per week) and less frequent (2 or less times per week) exercisers. Greater self-presentational concerns and greater public self-consciousness were associated with having appearance-related motives for treatment and with being a less frequent exerciser.     

Effects of a short-term exercise program on caloric consumption

The present study investigated the effects of a short-term exercise program on caloric intake. Thirty-three women were randomly assigned to either a high-intensity exercise group (80% maximum heart rate), low-intensity exercise group (55% maximum heart rate), or waiting list control group. Exercisers were required to ride ergometer bicycles three times per week for 7 weeks, expending 200 kilocalories of energy per exercise session. All participants recorded food intake during specified weeks before, during, and following the exercise program. Results showed no significant caloric intake differences among the three groups, but a trend toward reduction in food intake with increased exercise intensity was found. Interestingly, comparisons between caloric intake on exercise and nonexercise days revealed that both exercise groups consumed significantly less on exercise days. Additionally, the control group evidenced a larger caloric intake level than did the two exercise groups on exercise days. These results suggest that exercisers do not compensate for energy expenditure by increasing caloric intake and that choosing between low- and high-intensity exercise does not differentially alter caloric intake. Nevertheless, maximization of negative energy balance or weight loss may be best achieved by exercise programs of high frequency and intensity.     

Acute aerobic exercise improves memory across intensity and fitness levels

ABSTRACT

The present study was designed to examine the impact of exercise intensity and aerobic fitness on free recall, judgments of learning (JOLs), and metacognitive accuracy. In Experiment 1, 30 college students engaged in either (1) no exercise, (2) light exercise (55% of predicted maximal heart rate), or (3) moderate exercise (75% of predicted maximal heart rate) on three different days. In Experiment 2, 29 high-fit students (VO₂ max?≥?70th percentile) and 28 low-fit students (VO₂ max?≤?50th percentile) completed sedentary and light exercise conditions. In both experiments, free recall scores significantly increased in the exercise conditions compared with the sedentary condition, but JOL magnitude and metacognitive accuracy were largely unaffected. These results demonstrate that exercise can improve recall at both light and high intensities, and that the benefit can be obtained by individuals regardless of their fitness level.     

Perceptual and physiological responses during exercise in cool and cold water

This investigation examined the interaction of exposure to cold water stress with both perceived exertion and thermal sensation during exercise. Eight male volunteers performed arm, leg, and combined arm and leg exercise for 45 min. in water at 20 and 26 degrees C. Exercise was performed at a low (n = 7) and a high (n = 8) intensity relative to the ergometer specific peak oxygen uptake (VO2 peak). In general, percent VO2 peak did not differ between types of exercise in either 20 or 26 degrees C water. During low intensity exercise when power output was matched across water temperatures (Tw), percent VO2 peak was greater in 20 degrees C water (52%) compared to 26 degrees C water (42%). Ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) did not differ between Tw. During high intensity exercise when percent VO2 peak was matched across Tw, RPE was lower during exercise in 20 degrees C compared to 26 degrees C. Multiple correlation analyses comparing both final RPE and thermal sensation (TS) with physiological and thermal measures were performed across type of exercise and Tw. RPE was moderately correlated with heart rate (r = 0.68) and ventilation (r = 0.61), whereas very slight relationships were established with TS (r = 0.16), skin and rectal temperatures (r = 0.10 and r = 0.20). TS was moderately correlated with skin and rectal temperatures (r = 0.64 and r = 0.73), whereas low correlations existed between TS and both heart rate (r = 0.32) and ventilation (r = -0.12). These data suggest that the change in oxygen uptake associated with exercise in cold water does not add to the over-all perception of exertion. This perception appears to be related to cardiopulmonary variables rather than thermal measures, whereas thermal sensation is related to thermal measures and not cardiopulmonary variables.     

Comparison of two exercise protocols on fitness score improvement in poorly conditioned Air Force personnel

A 12-wk. study was conducted to contrast the effects of a longer and more frequent aerobic exercise protocol with a shorter and less frequent circuit strength-training protocol for improving U.S. Air Force physical fitness test scores of subjects who previously failed to achieve a passing point total. 83 men and women of the U.S. Air Force (M age = 32.7 yr.) participated in either the unsupervised standard conditioning program, which recommended approximately 60 min. of aerobic activity 4 to 5 days per week (n=26), or the supervised circuit strength-training program, which required approximately 25 min. of alternating strength and endurance exercises 3 days per week (n=57). Subjects were assessed on a 2400-m (1.5-mile) run, abdominal circumference, push-ups completed in 1 min., and abdominal crunches completed in 1 min. Dependent t tests with Bonferroni adjustment indicated that significant improvements were attained by the circuit strength-training group only on each of the aforementioned measures. Significantly more participants in the circuit strength-training group (26%) achieved a passing point total than in the standard conditioning group (19%) at Wk. 12 (chi1(2) =3.96, p = .05). Implications for enhancing physical fitness in poorly conditioned adults were discussed.     

Changing exercise through targeting affective or cognitive attitudes

Two studies investigated the impact of affective and cognitive messages compared to a no-message control on self-reported exercise. Students (Study 1, N = 383 and Study 2, N = 197) were randomly allocated to one of the three conditions (control - no message, affective message or cognitive message). Participants completed questionnaire measures tapping components of the theory of planned behaviour in relation to exercise and reported their level of exercise (3 weeks later). In Study 2, measures of need for affect (NFA) and need for cognition (NFC) were also completed. Results showed that affective messages consistently produced greater increases in self-reported level of exercise than the other conditions. In both studies, this effect was partly mediated by affective attitude change. Study 2 indicated these effects to be significantly stronger among those high in NFA or low in NFC. These findings indicate the value of affective messages that target affective attitudes in changing exercise behaviour.     

Compounding of discriminative stimuli from the same and different sensory modalities

Rats' responding was maintained by fixed-interval schedules of reinforcement in the presence of a tone or two separate lights. The lights were either of low, moderate, or high intensity. Compounds of these single discriminative stimuli each maintained a greater frequency of response than did the single stimuli, and the compound composed of stimuli from different sensory modalities (light+tone) maintained a greater level of responding than did the compound composed of stimuli from the same sensory modality (light+light). Combining lights of different intensity had no differential effect on responding. However, in the second experiment, a compound composed of a light and a tone, each of greater intensity than the light and tone of another compound, initially maintained a higher frequency of response, demonstrating intensity effects during stimulus compounding when the increase in intensity occurs through the component stimuli. This intensity effect, however, was only transitory.     

Why do they do it? Differences in high-intensity exercise-affect between those with higher and lower intensity preference and tolerance

Evidence suggests high-intensity exercise results in a more negative affective response when compared to moderate- or low-intensity exercise. However, a large number of individuals continue participating in high-intensity exercise, in spite of these supposed declines in affective state.PurposeDetermine whether trait differences influence variability in exercise-affect for those with higher versus lower exercise intensity preference and/or tolerance, and determine the mediating relationship between traits, exercise behavior, and affective states.MethodsUndergraduates (N = 245, 20.3 ± 1.7 yrs, BMI = 23.7 ± 3.8, 60.8% female, 82% regular exercisers) completed the Preference for and Tolerance of the Intensity of Exercise Questionnaire. They then completed a 15-min high-intensity body-weight circuit (HIC), a walk, and a reading condition, where valence (via Feeling Scale), perceived physiological activation (via Felt Arousal Scale), and ratings of perceived exertion were taken prior to, every 3-min during, and 20-min post (P20) condition, while activity enjoyment was assessed immediately post.ResultsMultivariate ANOVAs revealed significant differences (p_s < 0.05) in valence between those with high versus low intensity preferences during HIC at minutes 3 (d = 0.615), 6 (d = 0.772), 9 (d = 0.659), 12 (d = 0.625), 15 (d = 0.632), and at P20 (d = 0.554), and for enjoyment following HIC (d = 0.545), but not for walking or reading conditions.ConclusionsThese findings suggest the intensity-preference trait influences how an individual feels during high-intensity exercise, but has less influence on affect during moderate/lower intensity activities. These differences may be predictive of whether an individual will continue high-intensity exercise programming.