Exercise & Stress

*Lisa G *Justin F * Jennifer P *Kristen B *Kelsey P

Introduction

• As our society becomes more health-conscious, there has been an increased focus on the importance of exercise. Many people exercise to control weight and get in better physical condition to become more healthy or physically attractive. Exercise can also be a extremely effective stress reliever.– The effects of exercising with another person– Exercise paired with virtual reality– The difference in marathon finishers and pre-race

dropouts – The effects of physical activity and psychological health

Article

• Plante T. G., Coscarelli L., Ford M. (2001). International Journal of Stress Management. Does Exercising with Another Enhance the Stress-Reducing Benefits of Exercise? 8(3), 201-213.

Overview

• To see whether or not exercising with another person will help increase the reduction of stress.

• Used college men and women.• Study found that exercising with

another person did increase the stress reduction.

Background Information

• Exercise has many proven physical benefits.• Found to improve mood, the ability to cope with

stress, and promotes emotional health and well being.

• Why, with all these benefits would people not want to exercise?– Authors think it has to do with racial, emotional,

and socioeconomic factors, as well as social support.

• This study looks at the role of social exercise and mood improvement.– Social support has been proven to improve long-

term weight loss, and with social support it has been said that people live a healthier lifestyle.

– With lack of social support, people often experience higher levels of stress.

Purpose of Study

• To Investigate whether social exercise improved stress-reducing benefits while exercising with someone compared to exercising alone.

• No studies have been conducted on this issue.

• Authors define social exercise as completing an exercise workout in the presence of another exerciser doing the same activity with or without verbal communication between the participants.

Method/Procedure• Participants

– 136 college students (48 males, 88 females)– Participants had no injury or disability.

• Measures– Perceived Physical Fitness Scale

• Scale assessed the perception of physical fitness– Marlowe Crowne Social Desirability Scale

• Measured the social desirability or defensiveness of engaging in physical exercise

– Activation-Deactivation Adjective Check List• Measured momentary mood status

• Participants randomly assigned to three groups, and exercised 30 min.– Riding stationary bike alone– Riding stationary bike with another person while talking– Riding stationary bike with another person without talking.

Results• Scores measured before exercise, after exercise, and

before they went to bed.• Exercise energy scores didn’t differ based on group

assignment or gender.• Participants who exercised with another person

reported being more tired than participants who exercised alone.

• Females reported a higher level of tiredness than males.• No significant difference in degree of conditioning

between males and females.• Participants that exercised with someone else reported

to being more calm than those who exercised alone. • No significant gender differences with social interaction

and calmness.

Conclusion• Found that social exercise improved the stress-reducing

benefits, specifically by increasing calmness.• Participants who exercised with another seemed to be

more tired, regardless if they engaged in conversation or not.– This could be because the two participants where

pushing one another.• Limitations

– Information was only gathered from college students, not a very diverse sample of the population.

– Participants weren’t exercising with close friends and it was in a controlled environment. Results could differ if participants were with close friends and the study was conducted in the field.

• Future Studies should examine these issues.

Plante, T.G. et al. (2006). Psychological Benefits of Exercise Paired With Virtual Reality: Out door Exercise Energizes and

Indoor Virtual Exercise Relaxes. International Journal of Stress Management,

13, 108-117.

Article

Overview

• Does Virtual Reality Have Psychological Benefits?– pairing exercise with virtual reality may have

psychological benefits

• Will outdoors have a different psychological impact than indoors?– effects of surrounding have varying effects on

psychological and stress reducing benefits of exercise

Surveys

• Activation- Deactivation Adjective Check List (AD-ACL)

– Measures momentary mood states • Energy, calmness, tiredness, and tension

• Paces Activity Enjoyment Scale (PACES)– Measures the amount of perceived enjoyment one has

during an exercise

• Marlowe Crowne Social Desirability Scale (MC-SDS)

– Measures social desirability or defensiveness

Methods• Condition 1

• Participant took a brisk walk outdoors for 20 min. on a predetermined route

• Condition 2• Participant was on a treadmill for 20 min. in front of a

big screen TV walking the same route as Condition 1 • Condition 3

• Participant was sitting on a soft chair placed in front of the treadmill used in Condition 2 and watched the 20 min. video without the exercise

• Each condition took completed the AD-ACL before their 20 min. stated

• At the end of each condition the participant filled out PACES and another AD-ACL form

Results

• Condition 1– Most enjoyable, most energizing, least amount

of calmness and least amount of tiredness

• Condition 2– Most relaxing

• Condition 3– Least enjoyable most amount of tiredness and

least energizing

• At baseline males were more calm than females after study males were more tired than females

Take Home Message

• Outdoor exercise could be more for a wake up or to get ready for something

• Indoor exercise can be more of a cool down loosen up time

• Using virtual reality and exercise is the most relaxing for stressful situations

Article

• Hansen, C.J., Stevens, L.C., & Coast, J. (2001). Exercise duration and mood state: How much is enough to feel better? Health Psychology, 20,267-275.

Overview

• Wanted to look at the positive physical and psychological benefits of exercise has a result of the fitness movement

• Believed that regular physical activity is beneficial to psychological health, especially considering the management of anxiety, depression, anger, self-esteem, and reactions to stress

• Believed exercise increased levels of mood-altering neurotransmitters, such as beta-endorphins, which may lead to decreases in pain sensation and autonomic reactions to stress

• Conducted the study in an attempt to determine what length of time in one session of physical activity may be sufficient to show positive mood improvements, including a decrease in perceived stress

Method

• Participants consisted of 21 college students (14 females, 7 males), ages 20 to 26.

• Participants were asked to complete a health and exercise history questionnaire, including a request for recent life events that may have an emotional impact on the participant

• Mood state was measured before and after each test session with the self-report Profile of Mood States Inventory (POMS)

• Each participant was tested at the same time and on the same day of each week for 4 consecutive weeks

Method con’t• The four treatment conditions

consisted of:– Test 1:sitting quietly for 30 min facing a

third-floor window– Test 2: a warm-up on the bicycle to bring

HR to 60% of estimated VO2 max and maintaining that level while pedaling for 10 min

– Test 3: a warm-up to bring HR to 60% and maintaining that level for 20 min

– Test 4: a warm-up to bring HR to 60% while maintaining that level for 30 min

Followed by a 10 min-cool down

Results• The sum of the scores on five of the scales

from the POMS inventory (tension, depression, anger, fatigue, and confusion) were found to have a total mood score to be significant, F (3, 39) = 5.62, p=.003

• When looking at the different time levels, an increase in vigor, a decrease in fatigue, and a decrease in total negative mood, including stress, were significant when comparing testing between 0 and 10 min exercise

• A comparison of 10 min with 20 with 30 min exercise indicated no additional significant improvements in mood state

Take Home Message• That exercising for 10 min at an

aerobic level of 60% is sufficient for increasing vigor, decreasing fatigue, decreasing perception of stress, and decreasing total negative mood

• Exercising beyond 10 min will not lead to a bigger impact on stress reduction and mood, therefore one’s mood will not alter any more or less when compared to longer amounts of physical activity

Article

• Havenar, Jake & Lochbaum, Marc (2007). Differences in participation motives of first-time marathon finishers and pre-race dropouts. Journal of Sport Behavior, 30, 270-279.

Overview• 60% of the US population does not engage in

recommended amounts of physical activity, 25% engage in no physical activity, and only 15% engage in 30 minutes of moderate activity for 5 or more days per week

• Past research has yet to investigate the motive differences in runners prior to training for their race– This brings the purpose of the study to

prospectively examine whether the motives of runners differ in those who completed that marathon training and actual marathon from those who dropped out of marathon training

Previous Studies• Curtis and McTeer (1981) – First to specifically

investigate marathoners– Used open-ended questions to figure out why the runners

increased their distance to that of marathoners• Results suggested that runners were initially motivated by physical

benefits (weight loss) and mental benefits (stress relief)• Results also suggested that the increase in distance was for personal

running distance goals

• Summers and colleagues (1982)– Used open-ended response format to examine

motivational changes of first time marathoners through questionnaire packets pre- and post-race• Pre-race – Asked runners to list reasons for participating in their first

marathon– Mental and physical challenges along with a sense of accomplishment were most often

cited

• Post-race – Asked finishers for reason why they would run another marathon

– Top reason was to run a faster time

cont

• Barrell et al. (1989)– Interviewed 24 runners with a least one

marathon experience completed•Found at the beginning of career, motivation

was for staying in shape•Also discovered as runners gained experience,

they were still motivated to stay in shape, but also motivated to compete with themselves and others

Problems with Previous Studies

• They are faulty because they have relied on non-psychometrically validated, open-ended, recall questions

• Studies also included runners who had not completed a marathon for their comparison group

• MOMS (Motivations of Marathoners Scales) formed in 1993– A standardized self-report instrument designed to

measure nine different motivational domains: general health orientation, weight concern, affiliation, recognition, competition, personal goal achievement, psychological coping, self-esteem, and life meaning

– 56-item inventory

Present Study

• Uses MOMS• Adds two original components

– First, to control for potential error resulting from dissimilar marathon experience, the study sample will be comprised solely of first time marathon participants

– Second, one of the comparison groups will be comprised solely of dropouts

• Purpose of Study– Compare the participation motivations of training and

race finishes to pre-race dropouts among a group of first time marathon runners

• Hypothesis– A majority of the study sample would discontinue

training before race

Method• 106 first time marathon runners

– Over age of 18 years– 72 (68) females and 34 (32%) males

• Finishers = 32– 27 (87%) females– 4 (13%) males

• Dropouts = 75– 46 (61%) females– 29 (39%) males

– Asked two questions•“How many miles a week do you run?”•“How long have you been running?”

– Time running was converted into months and multiplied by miles ran per week for each person

– Subjects divided into three experience groups» Low (0-100 miles), medium (101-1000 miles), and high

(>1001 miles)

cont

• Data Collection– Marathon runners were recruited at two

pre-training informational meetings provided by two separate marathon training organizations

– Meetings that were held one week prior to the beginning of training; hence, the investigation’s design was prospective. After the marathon race (six months post meeting and questionnaire completion) race results were obtained to differentiate finishers from dropouts

Results• MANOVAs were conducted for each MOMS

scale– MANOVA was significant for the social motive scale

• Wilk’s Lambda = .94, F(2,103) = 3.16, p < .05

– Follow-up ANOVAs were conducted on the two social motive subscales, both being significant

•Social recognition: F(1, 104) = 4.37– -.34 effect size (moderate)

• Affiliation: F(1, 104) = 4.21– -.43 effect size (moderate)

• The effect sizes suggest that dropouts endorsed these two motives moderately more at the beginning of the training than did those who finished the training and the marathon

– ANOVA on weight• Weight: F(1, 104) = 4.43, p < .05

– -.45 effect size (moderate)• The effect sizes suggest that dropouts began training with

weight as an important motive when compared to finishers– The MANOVAs for the other motive domains were not

significant

Take Home Message

• Weight concern and recognition motives among first time marathoners are possible predictors of premature disseveration from the training program

• Social affiliation/support does increase adherence rates in exercisers

Conclusion

• When life’s annoyances or frustrating situations build up, you may feel stressed or experience low-grade anger. Turning these otherwise potentially unhealthy emotions into motivation for a better well-being and a healthier lifestyle.