Exercise and Mood: An Analysis

Effects of Exercise on Mood Changes

• Study looks at how pre-exercise depressed mood affects how exercise changes other mood dimensions.
• Done in a real setting with people who had done aerobic dance before. It tested if exercise would improve mood no matter what, if mood changes were bigger for those with depressive symptoms, and if pre-exercise depression meant more anger, confusion, fatigue, tension, and less vigor.

Methods

• 80 regular exercisers took part (average age 27.90 years, SD=4.32 years).
• They filled out the Profile of Mood States-A (POMS-A) 15 minutes before and right after an aerobic dance class.
• To see how depression played a role, participants were put in a no-depression or depressed mood group based on their pre-exercise depression scores.
• The exercise was a 60-minute aerobic dance class, including warm-up, main session, and cool-down.

Results

• Repeated measures MANOVA showed anger, confusion, fatigue, tension, and vigor all went down significantly, which backs up the idea that exercise improves negative mood.
• The depressed mood group saw bigger drops in anger, confusion, fatigue, and tension, and a bigger increase in vigor, matching what they predicted.
• Pre-exercise depressed mood was linked to a negative mood profile, as expected.

Conclusions

• Exercise can improve mood, especially for people with depressive symptoms before exercising.

Key Words

• Depression
• Mental health
• Exercise physiology
• Mood disorders

Examining Mood Changes

• There's been more research lately on how exercise affects mood changes.
• The general trend from POMS research says exercise boosts mood, leading to more vigor and less anger, confusion, depression, fatigue, and tension.
• But, these findings aren't always consistent.
• Research has focused on exercise type and intensity (like % of max heart rate, or if it’s aerobic).

Exercise Impacted by Mood

• Examined how pre-exercise depressed mood influences mood changes after exercise.
• It builds on a recent mood model, looking at how exercise affects mood changes.
• Hypothesis: aerobic dance improves mood.
• Hypothesis: aerobic dance has a stronger mood-boosting effect for those with depressive symptoms before class.
• Hypothesis: pre-exercise depression means more anger, confusion, fatigue, tension, and less vigor.

Grounding Hypotheses

• Aims to solve conflicting exercise and mood findings.
• Study found high-intensity running increased fatigue and anger more than low-intensity.
• Swimming shorter distances is better for mood.
• Exercise improved mood for regular runners, but didn't change mood for non-runners.

Methodology Issues

• Mood changes may be due to methodological issues.
• Research has used experimental or quasi-experimental setups.
• The exercise type is determined by the researcher, with samples recruited for research.
• Participants may not be exercising for personal benefits.

Improved Mood

• People feel that exercise improves mood.
• They found 44% of people said exercise was the best way to regulate mood.
• An alternative view is 56% didn't use exercise.
• Those who exercise for mood have positive mood after exercise, and vice versa.
• Experimental research might be due to participants using exercise to regulate mood.

Focus on Mood Changes

• Focuses on mood changes by looking at exercisers with and without depression.
• Depressed mood includes more anger, confusion, fatigue, tension, and less vigor.

Depression Defined

• Depression is the most important mood because it's demotivating.
• Includes sadness, worthlessness, and self-blame.
• Use a scale with independent depression markers.

Division of Samples

• Divide the sample into depressed mood and no-depression groups.
• Depression, even mild, impacts other moods.
• Higher anger, confusion, fatigue, and tension, with lower vigor before competition.
• Failure to reach important goals leads to depressed mood.
• Anticipated failure to achieve goals can lead to pre-competition depression.

Exercise Influence

• Studies the influence of exercise on mood changes for exercisers with and without depression.
• Exercise will have a greater mood-boosting effect in the depressed mood group.

Exercise Effectiveness

• Exercise reduces depression. Exercise is linked to improved mood through achievement.

Elements Influencing Achievement

• Two factors are seen as influencing exercise, fostering a sense of achievement.
• Participants see achievement by completing the session.
• Aerobic dance requires following instructor moves, so the pace is external.

Setting Performance Goals

• In internally paced exercises, it is easier to set goals and judge achievement.
• Depressed individuals fail to reach their goals, leading to negative mood.
• Exercise leads to improved mood if the experience is free of competition.

Exercise Sessions

• Prior experience contributes to fostering a sense of achievement.
• Dance difficulty is reduced with experience.
• Successfully completing the session is important for those with pre-exercise depression.
• Depression magnifies task difficulty.
• Completing the exercise while depressed produces achievement, and improves mood.

Influence Unknown

• The extent to which pre-exercise depressed mood influences changes in other mood dimensions is not known.
• It investigates exercise and its influence on changes in other moods in depressed and non-depressed exercisers.

Study Volunteers

• 80 volunteers (average age 27.90 years, SD=4.32, 37 male, 43 female).
• Involved 3 months to 2 years in aerobic dance sessions.

Conditions

• The inclusion criterion ensures consistent exercise. Participants had attended an exercise class at least once a week for the previous three months.
• Homogeneity made sure exercise related to the session.
• The aerobics class was at the same time each week.
• The same music accompanied each session, because it affects mood changes.

Exercise Session

• The aerobic dance session went for 60 minutes, consisting of warmup, the main session and cool-down.
• Participants followed the moves from the instructor.
• Warm-up was to raise heart rate and stretch.
• The main session had rhythmic movements designed to raise heart rate between 50-70% of their heart rate maximum. It included increased abdominal muscle strength.
• Cool-down involved stretching and rhythmic breathing exercises.

Mood Measurement

• POMS-A was picked to measure mood for four reasons.

Items to Consider

• Validated on athlete samples.
• Developed for use with student or psychiatric populations.
• Validated for British population.
• Important consideration: brevity as mood was measured directly before and after exercise class.

Items of Difficulty

• POMS-A made it so that individuals as young as 11 could understand the items, adults would have little difficulty.
• Validation of the POMS-A includes a 24-item six factor model.
• Predictive validity among adult athletes.

Inventory Constructs

• The POMS-A inventory assesses six mood constructs: anger, confusion, depression, fatigue, tension, and vigor.
• Items are rated on a 5-point scale from "not at all" to "extremely".
• POMS-A scores were converted to T-scores.

Facilitating Comparisons

• Transforming raw scores to T-scores to make comparisons with an appropriate reference group.

To Examine Depression

• Participants grouped by pre-exercise depression scores.
• Scores based on the POMS-A items "depressed", "downhearted", "unhappy", and "miserable".
• Split into no-depression group and depressed mood group on POMS-A scores.

Testing

• The purpose of the present study was to test mood changes.
• Previous research using POMS-A found a score of zero as the mode.

Analysis Results

• Bartlett test showed variance within groups wasn't equal. Pillais value was used as a more conservative statistic.
• Repeated measures factorial MANOVA showed interaction effect.

Main Effects

• Significant main effect for depression.
• Significant main effect for mood changes over time.
• Interaction effects were found for scores of anger, confusion, fatigue, tension, and vigor.
• Differences showed the reduction in anger, confusion, fatigue, and tension, and vigor increase was greater in the depressed group.
• Main effects was found through the differences in scores of confusion, fatigue and tension.

Analysis

• Anger, confusion fatigue, tension, and vigor reduced significantly.
• Depression scores reduced significantly.
• Depressed mood group reported significantly higher post-exercise depression scores.

Discussion

• Study examined how exercise affects mood changes in depressed and non-depressed exercisers.

Proven Statements

• The first hypothesis said exercise affects mood.
• Results show exercise influences mood changes.
• This aligns with research showing exercise reduces negative mood.
• Mood reduction from exercise involves aerobic dance and consistent use in intervention.

Relatively Free

• Relatively free of interpersonal competition.
• If mood-enhancement is the goal, the session should be free of competition.

Emphasis

• Competition tends to emphasize the product of winning rather than taking part.
• Improved mood means completing an exercise class fosters achievement.
• The sample included those that were experienced who had participated with consistency. Instructors are familiar. Participants can cope with demands.

Hypothesis Test

• The second hypothesis asked if exercise affects mood being greater.
• Depressed mood group reported greater mood changes.
• Reduction and tension was significantly greater in the depressed mood group.

Theoretical Predictions

• Consistent results show the depressed group reported higher anger.
• Exercise improves mood for individuals.
• Improved mood from exercise is unknown.

Proven Studies

• Studies show exercise helps treat individuals.
• Study shows exercise is mood regulated.
• Participants were familiar with instructions.
• Those selected were transitory, or clinical.
• In the study was likely caused by factors.

Exercises

• Served to focus for demands over the session.
• Regulation from exercising.
• Exercise maintains a positive mood.
• Mechanisms improve mood and should be investigated.
• The influence should be investigated.

Collective Study

• Conclusions support effective changes, study enhancing in individuals.
• Suggests an effective strategy is to help about mood.