Abstract
Mood improvement immediately after a single bout of exercise is well documented, but less is known about successive and longer term effects. In a “real-life” field investigation, four kinds of exercise class (Beginners, Advanced, Body Funk and Callanetics) met once a week for up to 7 weeks. Before and after each class the members assessed how they felt by completing a questionnaire listing equal numbers of “positive” and “negative” mood words. Subjects who had attended at least five times were included in the analysis, which led to groups consisting of 18, 20, 16, and 16 subjects, respectively. All four kinds of exercise significantly increased positive and decreased negative feelings, and this result was surprisingly consistent in successive weeks. However, exercise seemed to have a much greater effect on positive than on negative moods. The favorable moods induced by each class seemed to have worn off by the following week, to be reinstated by the class itself. In the Callanetics class, positive mood also improved significantly over time. The Callanetics class involved “slower,” more demanding exercises, not always done to music. The Callanetics and Advanced classes also showed significantly greater preexercise negative moods in the first three sessions. However, these differences disappeared following exercise. Possibly, these two groups had become more “tolerant” to the mood-enhancing effects of physical exercise; this may be in part have been due to “exercise addiction.”
References
(1990). Sport psychology: Concepts and applications. Chichester: Wiley.
(1991). Psychology of physical activity and exercise. London: Springer-Verlag.
(1988). The effects of vigorous exercise on anxiety, heart rate, and alpha activity of runners and nonrunners. Psychophysiology, 25, 696-702.
(1988). Exercise as a buffer of life stress: A prospective study of adolescent health. Health Psychology, 7, 341-353.
(1988). The effects of aerobic fitness on additional heart rates during psychological stress. Proceedings of Sport, Health, Psychology and Exercise Symposium 88, 34, 119-128.
(1966). The scree test for the number of factors. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 1, 245-276.
(1992). Mood, mileage and the menstrual cycle. British journal of Sports Medicine, 26, 145-150.
(1992). The effects of fitness training on physiological stress-reactivity (thesis). Dordrecht: ICG Printing.
(1988). Effects of running and other activities on moods. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 67, 43-50.
(1981). Physical fitness training and mental health. American Psychologist, 36, 373-389.
(1995). The effects of running and meditation on beta-endorphin, corticotropin-releasing hormone and cortisol in plasma, and on mood. Biological Psychology, 40, 251-265.
(1970). The structure of mood: A comparison between sleep deprivation and normal wakefulness. Journal of Personality, 38, 453-465.
(1993). Self-reported mood and running under natural conditions. Work and Stress, 7, 161-177.
(1993). Effects of differing intensities and formats of 12 months of exercise training on psychological outcomes in older adults. Health Psychology, 12, 292-300.
(1994). Psychology in sport. London: Taylor Francis Ltd.
(1990). The effect of exercise on normal mood. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 34, 629-636.
(1991). Psychological effects of aerobic fitness training: Research and theory. Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag.
(1971). Psychological effects of acute physical activity. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 52, 422-425.
(1985). Affective beneficence of vigorous physical activity. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 17, 94-100.
(1990). The "runner's high": Dimensional structure of mood before and after running. Proceedings of Sport, Health, Psychology and Exercise Symposium 88, 34, 147-152.
(1990). Effects of temporary withdrawal from regular running. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 34, 493-500.
(1989). The effects of exercise training on mental well-being in the normal population: A controlled trial. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 33, 47-61.
(1994). Mood enhancement over time: Can exercise make good moods better? (Abstract). Proceedings of the British Psychological Society, 2(2), 77.
(1993). Mood enhancement by different kinds of physical exercise. In F.J. BejjaniEd, Current research in arts medicine. Compendium of MedArt International 1992 World Congress (pp. 479-481). Chicago: A Cappella Books.
(1990). Physical fitness and enhanced psychological health. Current Psychology: Research & Reviews, 9(1), 3-24.
(1994). Real world research. Oxford: Blackwell.
(1989). Emotional and psychophysiological effects of aerobic exercise. Psychophysiology, 26, 593-602.
(1993). Exercise psychology: The influence of physical exercise on psychological processes. New York: Wiley.
(1989). Exercise intensity and reduction in neurotic symptoms. A controlled follow-up study. Ada Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 80, 231-235.
(1973). An opponent-process theory of motivation: Cigarette addiction. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 81, 158-171.
(1985). Introduction to Symposium on Endorphins and Behavioral Processes: Review of literature on endorphins and exercise. Pharmacology Biochemistry & Behavior, 23, 857-862.
(1990). Exercise addiction: The opiate connection. In Proceedings of Sport, Health, Psychology & Exercise Symposium 88 (pp. 147-152). London: Sports Council and HEA.
(1993a). Mood enhancement through physical exercise. Introduction to workshop on Health, Sports & Physical Exercise. In H. Schroder et al.Eds, Health psychology—Potential in diversity (pp. 204-209). Regensburg: S. Roderer Verlag.
(1993b). Positive moods induced by physical exercise: "Endorphins." British Psychological Society London Meeting. London 1992. Symposium: Psychological Determinants of Success in Exercise and Sport. BPS 1993 Abstracts 55.
(1995). Exercise addiction: Indirect measures of endorphins? In J. Annett, , & , Exercise addiction: Motivation for participation in sport and exercise? (pp. 6-14). British Psychological Society Occasional Publication, Annual Conference Satellite Workshop Sport and Exercise Psychology Section.
(1988). The short-term influence of high and low intensity physical exercise on mood. Psychology and Health, 2, 91-106.
(1988). Acute effects of aerobic exercise on mood. Health Psychology, 7, 329-340.
(1990). Effects of aerobic conditioning on mental well-being and reactivity to stress. In Proceedings of Sport, Health, Psychology & Exercise Symposium 88 (pp. 129-134). London: Sports Council and HEA.
(1998). Runners' anxiety and mood on running and non-running days: An in situ daily monitoring study. Psychology, Health and Medicine, 3, 193-199.
(1989). The biopsychology of mood. New York: Oxford University Press.
(1990). Endorphins and exercise: Physiological mechanisms and clinical implications. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 22, 417-428.
(1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS scales. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 6, 1063-1070.
(1992). Exercise psychology. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
