Is There an Effect of Acute Exercise on Mood?

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Table of Contents

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW1

Immediate Effects of Exercise on Mood1

How might exercise affect mood?2

Type of Exercise and Its Effectiveness3

Anaerobic Exercise3

Aerobic Exercise4

Personality Types and Attitude/Behavior Towards Exercise4

Personality and Exercise5

REFERENCES8

Chapter 2: Literature Review

The literature surrounding the concept of exercise and its effects on mood is wide and varied. For the purposes of this research, studies that examined the differences between aerobic and anaerobic exercise, shed light into the relationship between type of personality and attitude/behavior towards exercise, and were referenced repeatedly in more recent articles, indicating an influence on current trends in research regarding exercise were considered to be relevant.

Immediate Effects of Exercise on Mood

In the past fifteen years, there has been a rapid increase in high quality evidence that exercise is beneficial for both physical and mental health, yet very few Americans regularly engage in physical activity ("Healthy people 2010", 2000; Dubbert, 2002; Landers & Arent, 2001). One explanation for this problem is that exercise is physically and mentally aversive, and therefore people do not like to do it. There is, however, a substantial body of evidence that even a single bout of exercise improves post-exercise mood (Yeung, 1996). What is not known, though, is what dose of exercise is needed to produce optimal mood improvement in different individuals. Although there is some evidence that exercise-induced mood contributes to adherence to exercise (McAuley, Jerome, Elavsky, Marquez, & Ramsey, 2003), it remains to be determined if in-task increases in negative mood may account for the apparent paradox in which mood improvement follows exercise, yet poor adherence to exercise regimens is widely observed. If we could determine the optimum level of exertion for mood improvement in different individuals, this could be useful in promoting adherence to exercise routines among the general public, as well as helping clinicians recommend the most effective exercise treatment for patients with low mood. It is also scientifically important that this work be done in a theoretical context, or it will be impossible to refine recommendations in a consistent way as more evidence is gathered.

In addition to the evidence that chronic exercise improves mood, there is also a substantial literature on mood improvement from a single bout of exercise. In an important review of the mood effects of acute exercise, Yeung (1996) noted that the vast majority of studies examining this phenomenon showed positive mood effects from exercise, while only a handful showed negative or no change in mood from exercise. Many of those that did not find mood benefit did not consider mood a primary outcome variable, usually because they were more interested in the psycho-physiological response to cognitive stress following exercise (Yeung, 1996). Though most of this work has been done in healthy participants, there is also evidence that a single bout of exercise improves mood in patients with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) (Bartholomew, Morrison, & Ciccolo, 2005). Though reviewers have consistently found support for the relation between exercise and mood improvement, experts have called for further research to ...