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KIN 2276F Post Midterm Notes

Psychology of Exercise (The University of Western Ontario)

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KIN 2276F – Post-Midterm

Chapter 7 – Personality and Exercise

Research Objectives of the Study of Personality
1. Are certain personality attribute to physical activity/exercise participation?
2. Do certain personality attributes develop as a consequence of physical activity/exercise participation?

Personality Defined: The underlying, relatively stable, psychological structures and processes that organize human
experience and shape a person’s actions and reaction to the environment
- An individual’s unique, but consistent psychological makeup
- Relatively stable over time and consistent across situations

Structure of Personality: (According to Hollander, 1967)

- Personality Core
o Developed from early environmental interactions
o Includes perceptions of external work, perceptions of self, basic attitudes, values, interests, and motives
o Reflective of who we are; least amenable to change (can change but difficult)
- Typical responses to situations
o Fairly predictable behaviors and reactions to environment
o This is not as stable as the personality core, however, still relatively stable
- Role-related behaviors
o Variable, daily behaviors influenced by the particular context we are in
o Most easily changed and influenced by environment

Approaches to the Study of Personality:

Dispositional/trait theories
- Generally approaches on the individual level, include biological and trait theories

Learning/situational approaches
- Generally approaches on the environmental level
- Don’t receive the same amount of attention in regards to exercise psychology

Interactionist Perspective: From both approaches and it arose from whether it was most effective to place the
primary focus on the person or on the environment. Both individuals and the situations in which they find themselves are
important in determining behaviour.

Person – Situation Debate: The person is usually referred to as the trait approach, and holds that personality is
derived from stable, enduring attributes of the individual that lead to consistent responses over time. But the situational
approach proposes that the behaviour is best explained by examining the environment and the individual’s reaction to that
environment

Biological Theories:

Constitutional Theory – Somatotypes:

- A type of a biological theory
- Individuals possess certain body types that predispose behavioral consistency:
o Ectomorph: Tense, introverted, inhibited (cerebrotonia)
 Linearity, tallness, leanness
o Endomorph: Affectionate, sociable, relaxed (visceratonia)
 Plumpness, fatness, roundness
o Mesomorph: Adventurous, dominant, aggressive, risk-taking (somatotonia)
 Inverted triangle, athletic body
- Assume possessing one of these somatotypes will affect your behaviour
- Small to moderate correlation between somatotypes and personalities

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o Some relationship but not that strong

o People gravitated more towards trait theories…

Trait Theories of Personality

- Traits = Relatively enduring, highly consistent internal attributes or behavioural dispositions reflective of
underlying biopsychosocial constructs
- Emphasis is placed on the person rather than on the situation or the environment
- Traits are thought to reflect motivational systems that ↑ adaptation to + or - stimuli
- 3 related theories:
o Eysenck’s personality theory
 Eysenck: most noted researcher in this area and often used as a baseline for other research
o Cattell’s personality theory
o Five factor model

Eysenck’s Personality Theory

- Relationships between traits create superordinate trait dimensions
o Extroversion -Introversion (E)
 Cortical arousal
 Introverts avoid further stimulation (chronic over arousal)
 Extroverts seek further stimulation (chronic under arousal)
o Neuroticism (Emotionality) - Stability (N)
 Limbic system, automated nervous system Trait vs. State:
 Neuroticism seek more stress
Traits are dispositioned and
 Stability avoid stress
consistent
o Psychoticism (dominant) – Superego (more empathetic) (P)
 Hormonal driven States are the psychological
 Psychoticism leads to more aggressiveness rxn to a situation, consistent
 Superego avoid exercise with the individual’s traits
- Few people possess the traits that reflect the far ends of the dimensions
- Generally, people fall in between the extremes

Eysenck’s Framework and Exercise…

- Leads to specific predictions in exercise setting for extroversion and neuroticism
o Extroversion: Exercise could lead to increased stimulation, and thus lead to adoption/adherence to
exercise routine
o Neuroticism: Exercise might contribute to more stable, less neurotic personality
- Research shows that personality can change as a result of regular physical activity – reduced negative factors
(neuroticism) and enhanced positive factors (extroversion)
- Well-adjusted personalities as young adults lead to better exercise behaviours later in life neurotic personalities
- Extroverts were more likely to exercise to increase energy and decrease tension
- Long term exercise can reduce trait anxiety/neuroticism
- These are personality traits, therefore slow to change

Cattell’s Personality Theory

- Isolated 16 personality traits that he thought were the essence of personality
- 16 Personality Factor questionnaire (16PF)
o Used in sport personality and exercise studies
o Basically measured these personality traits
- A major conceptual problem has been the difficulty in interpreting complicated findings

Cattell’s Personality Theory and Exercise…

- Individuals with high levels of fitness have lower anxiety and neuroticism; greater emotional stability, placidity,
and relaxation
- Individuals with lower levels of anxiety and neuroticism respond favorably to intense physical training

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The Five Factor Model of Exercise Behaviour

- This is the preferred theory of personality (easy to interpret)
- Not much work with his model and exercise (limited research)
- No relationship between openness and exercise, not much with agreeableness
- The other 3 show more associations with exercise
- Extraversion and conscientiousness seem to be associated with positive exercise behaviours
- They key personality trait explaining exercise participation may be a sub-trait of extraversion: the activity trait
- The activity trait reflects a tendency to be busy, energetic, and to prefer fast-paced living
o This trait is a reliable and strong predictor of PA

Personality

O: Openness to C: Conscientiousness E: Extraversion-introversion A: Agreeableness N: Neuroticism

experience
+ Self-reported + Moderate and strenuous - Exercise - Exercise adherence
exercise exercise behaviour dependence - Self-reported exercise
+ Adaptive exercise + Self-reported exercise - Adaptive exercise
patterns + Adaptive exercise patterns patterns
+ Advanced exercise + Advanced exercise stages - Advanced exercise
stages

Intensity Preference and Tolerance:

- Genetically determined traits
- Intensity Preference = A predisposition to select a particular exercise intensity when given the opportunity
- Intensity Tolerance = A trait that influences one’s ability to keep exercising at an imposed level of intensity even
when the activity becomes uncomfortable
- Both constructs are associated with fitness level and exercise enjoyment

Person-Situation Debate:
- Person perspective or trait approach…
o Personality is derived from stable, enduring attributes that lead to consistent responses over
time/situations
- Situation approach…
o Behaviour is best explained by individual’s reaction to environment

Debate led to the interactionist perspective to studying personality: Both individuals and the situations in which they
find themselves are important in determining behaviour

Other Personality Factors in Exercise Research…

1) Sex-Role Orientation and Exercise:

- Masculinity (M): Instrumental personality – Risk-taking, independent, aggressive, competitive
- Femininity (F) Expressive personality – Understanding, sympathetic, affectionate, compassionate
- Androgynous: Possesses high levels of both M and F
- Cross-gender activities are generally avoided by gender types individuals because of psychological discomfort

2) Type A Behaviour Pattern (TABP) and Exercise:

 Is an action-emotion complex that can be observed in any person who is aggressively involved in a chronic, incessant
struggle to achieve more and more in less and less time and is required to do so, against the opposing efforts of other
things or persons
- Coronary- prone personality
- Anger/hostility are important features for increased risk of cardiovascular disease

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- Exercise has been shown to be effective in reducing this behaviour pattern as well as cardiovascular disease (but
results of studies are not uniform)
o Type A → Type B – through exercise

3) Hardiness and Exercise:

- Characteristics:
o Sense of control over events
o Commitment, dedication, or involvement in everyday life
o Tendency to perceive life events as opportunities
- Related to a tendency to engage in more healthful behaviours, such as exercise
- Not clear if a hardy personality leads to exercise, or if exercise leads to a hardy personality

4) Self-Motivation and Exercise:

- Psychobiological Model: Both biological factors (body composition, body mass) and a psychological factor
(self-motivation) attempt to explain exercise adherence
- Self-Motivation Inventory:
o Lower self-motivation (I’m not very good at committing myself to do things)
o High self-motivation (I’m really concerned about developing and maintaining self-discipline
- Early predictions of model…
o Percentage of body fat and body mass would be negatively related to exercise adherence
o Self-motivation would be positively related to adherence
o Subsequent research hasn’t supported the model very well

Practical Recommendations…
- Individuals who seem to be more emotional/neurotic might be encouraged to begin a regular exercise program
o “Exercise dose” should be the same as would be given to improve fitness and encourage weight loss
- Exercise programs should include some type of aerobic activity, since these activities influence personality factors

Chapter 8 – Self-Concept, Self-Esteem, Body Image and Exercise

Self-Concept: The way in which we see or define ourselves
- “Who I am”

Self-Esteem: The evaluation or affective consequences of one’s self-concept

- The extent to which one feels positive or negative about one’s self-concept (varies between aspects)
- “How I feel about who I am”

Significance of Self-Esteem:
- Self-esteem tops the list of needs that make people happy
- The greatest potential impact of physical activity  increase of a participant’s self-esteem
- Since many people see self-esteem as a primary psychological need….. Promoting that PA can enhance self-
esteem may be a strategy for improving PA levels
- Other terms focus primarily on judgements of ability and potential success in specific situations, activities/skills,
or domains
o Perceived Competence: “Do I consider myself an athlete?” – Is a psychological need
o Self-Confidence: “While I feel capable of doing this activity, am I as capable doing another activity?” –
Since I can run, can I do resistance training?
o Self-Efficacy: “While I feel capable of doing this activity in this situation, am I as capable doing it in a
different situation?” – I can run a 2k, but can I run a 6k?

Theoretical Foundation of Self-Concept/Self-Esteem

- Self-Concept Model
- Model of Exercise and Self-Esteem, With Hierarchically Organized Constructs
o The model of exercise and self-esteem is not really a model, it is more of a ‘recipe’ for how to run the
research

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o This model is more specific to exercise

 Both models have been used a lot in exercise psychology

1. Self-Concept Model (Shavelson, Hubner, and Stanton, 1976) See Pic of it

- General (overall) self-concept is an aggregate construct determined by judgements of self-concept in a number
of domains
- General self-concept consists of 2 primary categories: 16 things in this model
o Academic Self-Concept
o Non-academic Self-concept
- The base level of the hierarchy is defined by one’s behaviour in specific situation (How successful or confident
were you – will feed into your evaluation of your physical ability and possibly physical appearance)

Non-Academic Self-Concept Side…

- Social Self-Concept: Individual’s estimate of their interaction with others, especially family, peers, friends and
partners. Enhanced by positive interactions with others.
o “I am a loner”, and/or “I like being in a relationship”
- Emotional Self-Concept: Individual’s estimate of their own emotional states
o “I am a generally happy person”, and/or “I can get very angry”
- Physical Self-Concept: Individual’s estimate of both general physical abilities & physical appearance
o “I suck at gymnastics”, and/or “I am a skinny person”
o Our estimate of our physical ability is based on our perceptions of successful/unsuccessful performance
in various activities over a period of time
o Activities must be “weighted” according to their value – Bob’s subjective perception of what’s important
has more impact on Bob’s formed self-concept

2. Model of Exercise and Self-Esteem 11 things in this model

- Is more of a model on how to research physical self-esteem
- The hierarchically organized constructs that lead to predictions of global self-esteem
o Horizontal Axis – Time & repetitions of interventions and measures
o Vertical Axis – Specific self-perceptions (base) and general self-perceptions (top)
o Intervention – (In the middle) Altering physical interventions/measures in order to alter self-perception
and self-esteem
- Both sides need to be included – one side there is a physical measure * The left side of the diagram shows the
it has to be measurable basics, the right side shows the changes
you are trying to achieve through an
Proposed Model for Examining Exercise and Self-Esteem Interactions:
intervention
Physical Acceptance: The extent to which an individual accepts who he/she is
physically
- Even without objective indicators of improved fitness → self-esteem & physical acceptance can improve, just
based on the feeling that physical competence has improved (subjective perception of success)
- Even if the baseline measures don’t show an improvement, after intervention it doesn’t change, we may think that
the variables will not change in self-esteem  BUT THAT IS WRONG
o It is the subjective feeling that you are improve – “I am getting better”** key
o As long as the person thinks they are improving, that’s what has a positive impact on their self-esteem

Self-Esteem: Only subjective perceptions of success are relevant to one’s self-esteem

- Sometimes your own perception differs from other’s

How Do We Measure Self-Esteem/Self-Concept?

- Self-esteem + self-concept have traditionally been measured as uni-dimensional, global constructs
- Introduction of 2 physical self-concept measures:

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o Physical Self Perception Profile (PSPP)

o Physical Self-Description Questionnaire (PSDQ)

Physical Self Perception Profile (PSPP)

- Valid and reliable instrument containing 5 subscales: (multidimensional)
o Sport Confidence
o Physical Condition
o Body Attractiveness
o Physical Strength
o Physical Self-worth
- Relatively short (30 items), but limitations are that the response format is complex (not user friendly)

Physical Self-Description Questionnaire (PSDQ)

- More comprehensive than PSPP
- Measures 9 physical self-concept subdomains:
o Health
o Coordination
o Physical activity participation
o Body fat
o Sport competence
o Appearance
o Strength
o Flexibility
o Endurance
- Single-statement items (rating scale from 1= false to 6 = true) = MORE SIMPLER
- Very long (70 items)

What is the Effect of Exercise on Self-Esteem and Self-Concept? ** KNOW FOR EXAM
- Approximately 50% of research studies support a positive effect of exercise on self-esteem/self-concept
- The effects are usually small but significant
- No studies have found a negative effect of exercise on self-esteem/self-concept
- Improvements in physical fitness may be necessary to have improvements in self-esteem/self-concept
- May take a long time for exercise to influence self-esteem and self-concept

Body Image: Mental picture we form of our bodies, “What I look like”
- Multidimensional, and includes emotional consequences of body image: “Body Esteem”
- Ex. One’s perception of one’s body elicits either pleasing/satisfying or displeasing/dissatisfying feelings: “How I
feel about what I look like”
* Look at body image separately from physical self-concept
Dimensions of Body Image:
Perceptual Dimension - The picture of our own body that we form in our mind
Cognitive Dimension - How we think about and evaluate our body in terms of appearance & function
Affective of Emotional Dimension - Feeling’s experienced in relation to our body’s appearance & function
Behavioural Dimension - Things that we do that reflect our positive and negative perceptions, thoughts & feelings about
our body

What Influences Body Image: *

- Interpersonal experiences (teasing, praise, and comments from others on body)
- Psychological factors (self-esteem, perfectionism, social support)
- Behaviours (PA, dieting, and grooming)
- Physical characteristics (body fatness, muscularity, height)
- Sociocultural influences (cultural body ideas, television, magazines, and other media influences)
- Physical changes (changes to body during pubertal years, aging, injury, or disease)

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Body Image: Reality & Ideals Sometimes there’s a discrepancy between how we look
- Body Reality: Actual physical characteristics (body reality) and how we think we should look (body
o Certain height, eye colour, and weight ideal) = Body Image Disturbance
- Body Ideal: How we think our bodies should look
- Healthy Body Image: When body reality and body ideal are similar vs. Body Image Disturbance (if not ideal
people may have a body image disturbance)
Statistics on Body Image:
- 1973: 15% of men, 25% of women dissatisfied with appearance
- 1997: 43% of men, 56% of women dissatisfied with appearance
- 2006: 46% of men, 59% of women feel that their body is just “okay”

Perceptual Measures of Body Image:

- Started with a scale from 1-10 of different body shapes and people had to choose what they though they looked
like (could be different from what they actually look like)
- Morphing software to alter digitally a photographic image of a study participant → ability to distort arms, legs,
torso etc.
- Can look at actual, estimated, and ideal – keep changing things with software

Cognitive Measures for Body Image:

Multidimensional Body- Self Relations Questionnaire

- 10 Sub-scales: Cognitions based on body’s appearance, health, and physical functioning
- Scoring: 1-5 points, Definitely Disagree to Definitely Agree (higher score is a better score)
- Critique: Doesn’t assess men’s body image concerns adequately → most men’s concerns are about not being
sufficiently muscular (compared to being thin for women)
- Drive for Muscularity Scale: Has 7 items to assess male body image cognitions about muscularity
- Today we have pretty good measures for doing cognition and body image

Affective and Behavioural Measures:

- Affective Measures: Assess feelings such as worry, shame, anxiety, comfort and pride in relation to the body
(questionnaires)
- Behavioural Measures: Assess the frequency with which one engages in behaviours that might be indicative of
body image disturbance (ex. wearing baggy clothing, dieting, excessive exercise, using steroids, regularly
measuring waist size) (usually self-report)

How Can Physical Exercise Influence Body Image? → Mechanisms of change

1. Improvement in physical fitness or performance (objective, only weak evidence)
2. Increased self-efficacy (subjective, support here is much better)
o If your physical self-concept improves than your self
3. Improvements in physical self-concept
→ They can be separate or interact with each other

Physical Activity Positively Influences Body Image, But Effects Are Higher:
- For adults more than university students or high/middle/elementary school students
- For overweight or obese people more than people of normal weight (these people have a more of a concern with
their body image, effects more with positive concerns)
- For females more than males
- With frequent exercise (usually have a larger impact on body image versus individuals who do not exercise
frequently)
→ There tends to be no difference for objective physical improvements vs. no improvements
→ There tends to be no difference for aerobic exercise, resistance exercise, or both combined

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Self-Esteem and Physical Self-Concept Influence Exercise:

- Higher self-esteem leads to better adherence to exercise programs
- Physical self-concept tends to have a larger influence on PA participation than self-esteem
- Individuals who have positive perceptions of their physical skills and attributes will be more likely to engage in
exercise
o If they consider exercise to be ‘who they are’ and if they think of themselves as exercisers, they will be
happy to exercise
Body Image Can Influence Exercise Participation:
- Body dissatisfaction can be a motivator for starting to exercise, but overall research suggest that negative
body image is more of a deterrent than an incentive to exercise
o Unless that appearance motivator changes, once they start exercising, adherence can be a problem
o Start off as the motivator  but then move to more of an intrinsic motivator – maybe actually start
actually enjoying what you are doing
o Appearance changes very slowly with exercise, so if you don’t get the changes you expect it’s easy to
get frustrated and disengage in exercise
- Body dissatisfaction is not a factor that keeps people continuing to exercise
- Body image concerns can influence exercise setting preferences and exercise attire preferences

Practical Recommendations:
- Determine why individual is interested in exercising and determine his/her goals
- Conduct baseline health and fitness assessments to provide feedback about progress
- Ensure that exerciser feels a sense of accomplishment and personal control regarding exercise routine
- Focus on effort and personal improvement, NOT appearance

Self-Presentation & Social Physique Anxiety in Injury Rehabilitation Settings:

Self-Presentation: A person’s attempt to monitor and control the impressions that other people form of them

Social Physique Anxiety (SPA): A form of social anxiety resulting from concerns about others evaluation of one’s
physique, body shape, or form

Negative Outcome of Self-Presentational Concerns in Exercise:

Psychological Response:
- Lack of enjoyment
- Increased negative feeling states
- Reduced confidence
- Increased anxiety

Behaviour:
- Decreased duration of activity session
- Decreased adherence
- Non-participation

Exercise vs. Physiotherapy Environments:

- Do we get the same negative consequences in the physio environment?
- Gym and clinics both have an open-concept, with lots of people around

Study 1: Purpose

1. Do self-presentational concerns exist within injury rehabilitation settings?

2. Who is most at risk for these concerns?
3. How to preferences for features of the environment of the social and physical rehabilitation environment relate to SPA?

Pts: 134 female, and 54 male kinesiology students

- M age = 20, M BMI = 22.58

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- 58% had received physiotherapy tx previously

Measures:
- Demographic information
- Social physique anxiety scale (9 items, 5 pt scale = 1 being low SPA, 5 being high SPA
- Total scores range from 9-45
- 3 questionnaires developed for the study
o Self-presentation in injury rehab questionnaire (assess SP concerns in physio, 32 items)
o Injury rehabilitation social environment preferences questionnaire (assess features of rehab and in a social
environment, 14 items, 5 pt scale)
o Injury rehabilitation treatment environment preferences questionnaire (open concept gym area, bed
surrounded by curtain, examination room with closed doors)

Procedure & Data Analysis:

- Administered questionnaires to participants
- Bivariate correlations between the questionnaires
- ANOVA with high and low SPA as independent variables and preference items as dependent variables

Results:
1. Evidence that SP concerns exist for males and females in the rehab setting
2. SP concerns were higher in females, SPA higher in females also
3. As women’s SPA increased, they demonstrated greater preference for female pts, loose-fitting, concealing clothing, and
a curtained bed tx setting

Results: ANOVA
- Compared to women who scored low in SPA and who scored high in SPA
o Greater preferences for female pts, loose fitting, concealing clothing
o Less preference for an open concept tx setting

Discussion:
- Provided initial evidence that SP concerns are present in this setting
- Would they be higher in non-kin students? Probably
- Identified population most at-risk = women with high SPA
- Demonstrated relationships between SPA and women’s preferences for certain features of the rehabilitation
environment
- BUT, responses based on hypothetical injuries and rehabilitation scenarios

Study 2: Purpose

1. To replicate study 1 with women who were injured and initiating physiotherapy
- To examine relationship between SPA and SP concerns, as well as SP in preferences for the features of the
rehabilitation environment
Pts:
- 62 injured women
- M age = 40
- M BMI = 26
- 65% had physiotherapy previously
- English speaking
- Prescribed physiotherapy, but not yet started

Procedures:
- Potential participants identified and approached by sport medicine physician at referral appointment
- Met with researcher prior to start of physiotherapy program
- Questionnaire package administered

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Results:
- SP concerns were present for injured women
- As SPA increased, women reported greater preferences for other females, and receiving tx in a private
examination room (kin students wanted less privacy)
- No other significant relationships were found between SPA and preferences for:
o Clothing
o Social atmosphere
o Physique/ability of other people around
o Others whom they felt the need to impress
o Sex of the physiotherapist

Discussion:
- Further support for existence of SP concerns in injury and rehab for women who are injured and experience SPA
- Preference for other female pts and being treated in a setting that affords maximal protection from the evaluation
of others was demonstrated as SPA increased
- However, results based on imagined scenarios rather than real-life experiences
** Questionnaires can be limiting, are not open ended, only get info about what asked
- T/f, additional info is necessary, particularly from women high in SPA who are in the process of rehabilitating an
injury

Study 3: Purpose

Participants:
- Injured women – 10
- Aged 16-64
- BMI M=34.37
- Had to at least 3 physiotherapy appointments
- SPAS score had to be greater than 25 = M was 36.44
Procedure:
- Approached by doctor and screened using the SPAS
- Qualitative methodology: semi-structured interviews
o Had outline to interview but is open ended
o Interview 1: prior to physio
o Interview 2: After 3 appointments, before 4th appt

Interview Questions: * won’t ask us

- Previous physio experience
- SP concerns
- Social settings preferences
- Physical setting preferences
- Ideas to improve rehab comfort

SP Concerns: General
- Fear of being evaluated negatively due to lack of
familiarity with the situation
- Injury validity
o Ex. Minor injuries, fear of people thinking
they’re faking it
o Ex. People blaming her injury on obesity

Social Setting Preferences: General

- Number of others in the room
o Don’t want too many but also don’t want to be
the only want
- Amount and type of social interaction
o Physiotherapist be happy, energetic, positive

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- Need to impress
o Nervous
o Need to try harder
- Sex of others
o More comfortable around own sex
- Age
o Want others to be your age or older

Social Setting Preferences: Specific

- Physique/ physical ability
o Want to be fatter/ less active than them
- Physiotherapist
o Kind, caring, non-judgemental, etc.
o Only really cared about physiotherapist sex depending on where injury is
Physical Treatment Setting:
- Privacy Preferred
- More worried about people looking at them and judging them than they are about recovering
o Would quit rehab

Implications: Modify Environment

- Assortment of treatment setting options; use curtains/ shut down; additional exam rooms; create semi-private
areas; and, hide/remove mirrors

Implications: Implement Policies

- Exclusively women, smaller clinics, signup sheets for private rooms (doable)
- Limited by injury type
o Unrealistic

Implications: Physiotherapist’s Role

- PT awareness of SP concerns
o PT get very little training for the psychological side
- Discuss treatment setting options
- Facilitate open communication
- Foster an interactive, supportive social setting
- Encourage comfortable attire
- Provide coping strategies

Chapter 9 – Stress and Exercise

Stress defined: What we experience when we face challenges in our lives

- External or internal stressors
- Can be negative or positive (a stressor for one person may not be a stressor for another person)
o Distress: Exams, divorce, deadlines
o Eustress: Marriage, graduation, job promotion
- How someone perceives a threat

Causes of Negative Stress:

- Biological
o Substance abuse – alcohol/drugs
o Nutritional excess – caffeine, sugar
- Psychological
o Perfectionist attitudes
o Obsessiveness/compulsiveness
o Need for control
- Interpersonal

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o Lack of social skills, shyness, insecurity, loneliness

o Environmental strain – noise, temperature

General Adaptation Syndrome:

- Regardless of the stressor, the rats in the study in 1930’s showed the same type of response

1. Arousal and alarm – Initial reaction to stress (a general way to response)

- This initial reaction can be considered as a primary appraisal
- Can I cope with it – secondary appraisal
2. Fight or flight response – For males, and the “tend and befriend” response – for females
- Adaptations to deal with the crisis
- Whatever the response is = requires coping for the secondary responses listed above

- Anxiety, irritability, and vulnerability until stress is resolved

o If the stressor is unresolved – Stage of Resistance: Strain, worry, cynicism, difficulty sleeping
o If the stressor is prolonged – Stage of Exhaustion: Anxiety and depression

Stress Response: Is initiated when some real or perceived threat or challenge is encountered

Vicarious Cycle of Stress

- The stress is perceived in the cortex = Some sort of appraisal
- Depending on the appraisal, you will get some sort of stress response.
- The amygdala is considered for the stress response
o It will send information down to the brain stem (activates corticotrophin releasing hormone and ACTH)
and then down to the adrenal gland
 In the adrenal gland, the secretion of epinephrine or norepinephrine and cortisol will be released
o If the situation is a challenge but can be handled, positive  Releases E and NE
o If the situation is something negative, cannot be handled  Cortisol will be released

Chronic Stress – A cycle that constantly repeats between the adrenal glands and the brainstem creating higher levels of
cortisol (a feedback loop)

Stress Response Summarized:

- Secretion of two kinds of hormones from the adrenal glands
o Catecholamine’s – E and NE which the situation presents a challenge to an individual
o Cortisol – When an individual is faced with a threat or unpleasant challenge
 How much the person feels in control influences whether E/NE or cortisol is released

Homeostasis and Allostasis:

Homeostasis – The ability of an organism to change and stabilize its internal environment despite constant
changes to external environment
Allostasis – Wide range of functioning of coping/adaptation systems, depending on a variety of factors (time of
day, internal needs, external demands)

Allostatic Load:
- The cost of coping/adaptation
- The wear and tear on the brain and the body
- Ongoing stress: Stress response never turns off, it leads to illness and disease
o Ex. Chronic elevations of HR and BP can lead to decreased immune function, memory loss and increased
risk of anxiety and depression

Combat Stress in Soldiers:

- Morgan et. Al. (2001) documented stress in active-duty soldiers
- Experiment involved interrogations following mock captures, food and sleep deprivation, and problem solving
- Resulted in elevated cortisol levels – Dissociated thinking, psychological disconnect from one’s environment, and
poor performance

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Cross-Stressor Adaption Hypothesis: A stressor of sufficient intensity and/or duration will induce adaptation of stress
response systems
- Exercise training is thought to develop cross-stressor tolerance by…
o Habituation – A decreased magnitude of response to some familiar challenge ** supported by research
evidence
o Sensitization – An augmented response to a novel stressor ** not much research supports this

 Exercise can be viewed as a familiar challenge and should influence the stress response to non-exercise stressors (ex.
Increased fitness level leads to decreased stress response in non-exercise settings)
- T/f, regular exercisers cope with life stressors better than people who don’t exercise

Psychophysiology:
- Stress is both physical and mental
- Examines cognitive, emotional, and behavioural events through their manifestation as physiological processes
and events
- Includes relatively non-invasive measures of many bodily systems:
o EMG, EEG, ECG
o Endocrine and immune function

Measurement:
- Self-Report Measurement
o PSS – Perceived Stress Scale
 Measures the degree to which situations in one’s life are viewed as stressful
 Does not help to uncover the physiological mechanisms underlying the stress response
 Use in conjunction with other measures
- Cardiovascular Measurement
o Most frequently used physiological measure
o HR and BP examined mostly
o Doesn’t say why changes occur
- Hormonal Measurement
o Catecholamines and cortisol (cortisol is way more effective than HR/BP)
o Derived from plasma, urine, saliva
o Non-invasive

Exercise and Stress:

- People report less stress following acute exercise bouts
- ↓ Stress in general when physically active as opposed to being sedentary

Exercise-Stress Research:
- Effect of exercise on stress response studied in a variety of areas
o Cardiovascular fitness
o Hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) cortical axis response
o Immune fn
o Reactivity vs. Recovery

Cardiovascular Fitness
- Results are inconclusive
- Mechanisms responsible for the sympathetic aspect of the psychosocial stress response (ex. NE & E) and the
response to exercise stress may be different
- Research does suggest that aerobic fitness may have stress-buffering effects to psychosocial stressors (ex. ↓
resting HR)
 Concluded: Can’t make conclusions, but being fit is going to be an overall positive when handling stress in your life

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Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) Cortical Axis

- Traustadottir et al. (2005) compared fit & unfit older women’s responses to stress tests
o Found: Fit women has lower cortisol response, but found no differences for ACTH and CV measures
 Concluded: Aerobic fitness affects the HPA axis by reducing the cortisol response to psychosocial stress

Immune Function:
- LaPierre et al. (1990): Men who exercised for five weeks before being told they were HIV-positive had little
change in psychological and immunological measures
- Control group showed significantly ↓ NK cell activity as well as ↑ anxiety and depression

Reactivity vs. Recovery:

- Evidence suggests that fitness or exercise training may provide a more rapid recovery from the stressor once it is
no longer present
o How soon are your stress levels back at baseline
- Trained individuals: ↓ HR response & ↓ cortisol levels in recovery (more rapid ↓ in stress levels)
- Short duration of the stress response could have the effect of ↓ the allostatic load and overall wear and tear on the
body
o Overtime the ↓ allostatic load can make a big difference

Mechanism to Explain the Exercise Effect: Physiological Toughness Model

- A psychophysiological framework
- Explains how exercise can reduce the immediate effects of stress & can enhance recovery from stressors
- Intermittent but regular exposure to stressors (ex. regular exercise) can lead to psychological coping, emotional
stability, and physiological changes

Physiological Toughness Model

- Physiological changes lead to adaptive performance in challenge/threat situations, enhancement of immune
system fn, and greater stress tolerance
- Ex. Rapid NE/E release in response to stress & a quick return to baseline levels when stressor is removed

Practical Recommendations….
- Exercise can be a way of dealing with daily stressors of life
o Morning exercise: Help get one ready to face day’s challenges
o Noontime workout: Provide a much needed break in the day to recharge batteries
o Evening workout: Useful to purge tensions and worries of the day

Chapter 10 – Anxiety and Exercise

Anxiety

Mental Illness vs. Mental Health:

- It’s a continuum, people can fall anywhere on the spectrum
- Mental health can be very positive, generally in a good state of mind, can adapt to change and cope with
adversities.
- Mental health problems; Signs and symptoms of insufficient intensity or duration to meet the criteria for any
mental disorder, but are sufficient to warrant active efforts in health promotion, prevention, and treatments
- The other end is diagnosable mental disorders (altered thinking, mood, behaviour that results in some sort of
impaired, cant fn as well
- Mental illnesses can sometimes be not even diagnosed, which would be defined as ‘mental health problems’
o Having a mild case of anxiety – not enough to be clinically diagnosed – but having symptoms of an
anxiety disorder
o This person can still fn reasonably well, but from a mental standpoint their health isn’t great
Mental Disorders:

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- Health conditions that are characterized by alterations in thinking, mood, or behavior associated with distress and
impaired functioning
- Mood disorders, eating, personality, anxiety, psychotic

Anxiety Defined: Pathological counterpart of normal fear, manifest by disturbances of mood, as well as of thinking,
behaviour, and physiological activity
- Anxiety is not stress, everyone experiences stress but not everyone experiences anxiety
- Chronic stress can lead to the development of anxiety, but they are not the same thing
o Anxiety is more severe (always -, while stress can be +)
- Anxiety is more than chronic stress and ↑ arousal:
o Perception and concern over the threat are disproportionate to the actual threat
o Cognitive and behavioural actions are undertaken to avoid the symptoms of an anxiety attack
o Anxiety is usually experienced far longer than the arousal lasts
o Anxiety can occur in the absence of an actual threat

Anxiety Disorders: A group of disorders, many types of anxiety

- Panic disorder
- Social anxiety disorder
- Phobias
- GAD – Default disorder, if you can’t be dx with one of the other disorder you can be dx with this
- OCD
- PTSD You can have more than 1 anxiety
disorder or a depressive disorder
Panic Disorder
- Intense fear and discomfort associated with physical and mental sx including
o Sweating, trembling, shortness of breath chest pain, nausea
o Fear of dying or loss of control of emotions
- Induce urge to escape or run away, and often results in seeking emergency help (ex. Hospital)
- Frequently accompanied by a major depressive disorder
- Twice as common in women as in men

Specific Phobia:

- Very noticeable and persistent fear, often excessive and disproportionate, invoked by the expected or actualy
presence of an object or situation
- General categories include animal type, natural environment type, situation type, blood/injection/injury type
- Accompanied by a variety of physical symptoms (like shortness of breath), and psychological symptoms (like a
feeling of choking or a sense of things being unreal)
- More than twice as common in women as in men

Agoraphobia
- Severe, pervasive anxiety when in situations perceive to be difficult to escape from, or complete avoidance of
certain situations (ex. Crowded areas alone outside of home, travel in a bus or plane)
- Often seen after onset of panic disorder
- Twice as common in women as in men

Social Phobia (Social Anxiety Disorder)

- Marked, persistent anxiety in social situations (ex. Public speaking)
o Possibility of embarrassment or ridicule is crucial factor
o Individual is preoccupied with concern that others will notice the anxiety sx (ex. Trembling, sweating,
halting/rapid speech)
- Accompanied by anticipatory anxiety days or weeks prior to feared event
- More common in women than in men

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
- Obsessions, such a recurrent thoughts or images that are perceived as inappropriate or forbidden elicit anxiety

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- Individual perceives loss of control, thus acts on impulses or thoughts

- Compulsions, including behaviors or thoughts, ↓ anxiety associated with obsessions
o Includes overt behavior (ex. Hand washing) and mental acts (ex. Counting, praying) that takes a long time
to complete
- Disorder has fluctuating course, including periods of ↑ sx, usually linked with life stressors
- Equally common in women and men

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

- Defines by worrying lasting more than six months, along with multiple sx (ex. Muscle tension, poor
concentration, insomnia, irritability)
- Takes a long time to dx
- Anxiety and worry not attributable to other conditions (ex. Panic disorder, phobias)
- Disorder has fluctuating course, including periods of ↑ symptoms, usually linked to life stressors
- Twice as common in women as in men

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

- Anxiety and behavioral disturbances following exposure to extreme trauma (ex. Combat, physical assault), which
persist for more than 1 month
- Dissociation, sx involving perceived detachment from emotional state or body is a critical feature
- Sx also include generalized anxiety, hyperarousal, avoidance of situations that trigger memories of trauma,
recurrent thoughts
- Occurs in about 9% of those exposed to extreme trauma (likely higher though)

Prevalence of Anxiety: 15-20% of US population

- National Comorbidity Survey have anxiety
o 18% of adults in the US have a diagnosable anxiety disorder
o Of those individuals diagnosed, 22% are serious, 34% are moderate, and 44% are mild
- U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services
o 16% of population will have an anxiety disorder
Cost of Anxiety: 80-100 billion per year
- Economic burden in terms of treatment and lost productivity: for the USA
o Approx. 1/3 of costs are for psychiatric tx
o Approx. 1/2 of costs are for non-psychiatric medical tx
o 10% of costs re indirect expenses
o 5% of costs are for prescriptions and mortality costs (anxiety- induced suicide)
- Drug/substance abuse add to the costs – Almost impossible to determine because they can be hidden

Symptomatology:
- Unpleasant feelings (uncertainty, feeling overwhelmed)
- Bodily sx (muscle tension, autonomic hyperactivity)
- Changes in cognitions (obsessions, compulsions irrational fear of objects or situations)
- Changes in behaviour (avoidance of situations)
- Vigilance (looking out for a problem)

Clinical Anxiety vs. Normal Anxiety:

- Anxiety is characterized by worry, self-doubt, nervousness, and tension
o Regardless it being clinical or normal – we are talking about to what degree each of these symptoms are
present. Only when it gets severe enough will it disrupt daily life.
- When anxiety disrupts thought processes and behaviour so much that normal behaviour is disrupted, it becomes
clinical
- Clinical anxiety is distinguished from “normal” anxiety based on the number and intensity of sx, degree of
suffering, and degree of dysfunction

Treatment:
- Medications: Tranquilizers and anti-depressants
o Can be costly & have side-effects

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- Psychotherapy: CBT for coping strategies

o Can be costly
o CBT can be time-consuming
- Physical Activity: A potential tool in both the prevention and tx of anxiety

Measuring Anxiety
State Anxiety: A transient emotional state characterized by feelings of apprehension and heightened autonomic nervous
system activity (↑ HR/R/muscle tension, sweaty palms)
- How are you feeling right now?
- Usually assessed after single bouts of exercise (measured before/after exercise)

Trait Anxiety: A more general predisposition to respond with apprehension, worry, and nervousness across many
situations (lack of confidence, difficulty making decisions, feelings of inadequacy)
- Usually assessed after chronic exercise (after an exercise program)

Psychological and Physiological Measures of Anxiety: (basically same measures that are used for stress)
- Psychological measures:
o Self-report inventories
- Physiological measures:
o Muscle tension, via electromyography
o Blood pressure and heart rate
o Skin responses
o EEG

Research on Preventative Effects of Exercise:

- Exercise can be a preventative tx for anxiety
- Greater self-reported physical activity associated with better mental health, and fewer symptoms of anxiety
- There is a potential link between regular exercise and a reduced likelihood of a variety of anxiety disorders
- Higher levels of physical activity are sometimes related to lower self-reported anxiety
o The more exercise = the greater benefit
- Individuals who are physically fit have less anxiety than their unfit counterparts
- Trait levels of anxiety decrease following activity

Research on Use of Exercise as a Treatment:

- Initially low-fit and highly anxious individuals have the most to gain from exercise training
- Both anaerobic and aerobic training resulted in significant psychological improvements)
- Significant relationship has been noted between aerobic capacity and anxiety levels, with greater fitness levels
related to lower anxiety

More on Use of Exercise as a Treatment:

- Vigorous exercise is not necessary for improvements
- In patients with panic disorder:
o Pharmacotherapy is most effective, but exercise results in significant improvement
o Patients show significant anxiety reductions following exercise

Relationship between Exercise and Anxiety

- Aerobic exercise
o Anxiety reduction
o No difference between modes
o Reductions in state anxiety following acute exercise and in trait anxiety following chronic exercise
o Reductions are seen in self-reports and measures of muscle tension, cardiovascular system, and central
nervous system
- Resistance Exercise
o May result in slight increases in anxiety and then a small reduction 20 min. later
- Acute exercise

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o Effect does not last indefinitely; lasts for 2 to 4 hours

o Anxiety returns to pre-existing levels
o Possibility that over time pre-exercise levels of anxiety may become reduced
- Exercise vs. other treatments
o Exercise has been shown to be better than not doing anything and is as effective as other treatments
o Exercise may be more effective than anti-anxiety drugs

Consensus Statements Regarding Exercise and Anxiety:

- Exercise can be associated with reduced state anxiety
- Long-term exercise is usually associated with reductions in neuroticism and trait anxiety
- Exercise can result in the reduction of various stress indices
- Exercise can have beneficial emotional effects across all ages and both genders

What We Don’t Know About Exercise and Anxiety

- Intensity levels of exercise
o More research is needed on recommendations of minimal exercise intensity levels
- Duration of exercise
o Some research shows that durations of less than 20 minutes were as effective as those greater than 20
minutes
o Anxiety reduction seems to be achieved regardless of duration

Mechanisms of Change (3):

1. Thermogenic hypothesis
2. Distraction/time-out hypothesis
3. Other possible mechanisms of change are similar to those proposed in previous chapters (ex. mastery, self-
determination)

1) Thermogenic Hypothesis
- Elevated body temperature resulting from exercise may also lead to psychological changes such as reduced
anxiety
- The brain senses the temperature increase  leads to muscular relaxation response  feeds back to the brain 
interprets the muscle response as relaxation or reduced anxiety
- It could be brain temperature driving this hypothesis, not body temperature that drives the affective response
o T/f more research is needed, this hypothesis has some importance, but not the entire explanation

2) Distraction/Time-out Hypothesis
- The anxiety-reducing effects of exercise may be due to the distraction it provides from one’s normal routine
- An anxious or depressed individual who exercises is taking a “time-out” from his/her worries and concerns

 No one of these 3 will explain anxiety completely; a combination of these three will likely be a better explanation

Practical Recommendations:
- Exercising on a regular basis does seem to be useful in reducing/treating anxiety, although the minimal level
required is unknown
- Aerobic forms of exercise seem to be most effective
- Individuals with more severe forms of anxiety should consult with a mental health care provider

Chapter 11 – Depression & Exercise

Mental Health, Mental Illness, & Mental Disorders
- Mental Health: “State of successful performance of mental function, resulting in productive activities, fulfilling
relationships with other people and the ability to adapt to change and to cope with adversity”
- Mental Illness: Refers collectively to all diagnosable mental disorders
- Mental Disorder: “Health conditions that are characterized by altered thinking, mood, or behaviour… associated
with distress and/or impaired functioning” (ex. anxiety, depression)

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Mental Health Problems:

- Signs and symptoms of insufficient intensity or duration to meet criteria for mental disorders
- Symptoms are sufficient enough to potentially warrant active efforts in health promotion, prevention & treatment
 A lot of research in depression is considered a mental health problem, sub clinical. Someone may not clinically
diagnosed with depression but they may exhibit all the required symptoms

Depression Defined:
- Mood disturbances: Influences mood regulation beyond the usual variations
- Persistent low mood & inability to find enjoyment in activities
- Lack of motivation to begin to continue activities
- Feelings of worthlessness
- Not as prevalent as anxiety

1) Major Depressive Disorder: (unipolar major depression)

- Depressed mood, loss of interest, or pleasure are primary sx
o Not driven by physiological causes or medical conditions
- Other sx may vary
- Episodes last approximately 9 mo. if untreated
- 80-90% remit within 2 years of first episode
- 50% will reoccur
- Sx cause significant impairment in social, work, or other important areas

2) Bipolar:
- 1 or more episodes of mania or mixed episodes of mania and depression
- Mania can range from pure euphoria/elation to irritability
- Thoughts are grandiose or delusional
- Decreased need for sleep
- Easily distracted, with racing thoughts
- Excessive involvement in pleasurable activities that are likely to have painful consequences (ex. unrestrained
shopping spree, sexual indiscretions)
- Higher familial prevalence (stronger genetic component)

3) Dysthymia:
- Chronic form of depression
- Fewer than 5 persistent sx
- Duration of approx. 2 years for adults, approximately 1 year for children
- Increased susceptibility to major depression
- Seldom remits spontaneously
- Women twice as likely to be dx than men

4) Cyclothymia:
- Marked by maniac and depressive states, but of insufficient intensity/duration to dx as bipolar or MDD
- Increased risk of developing bipolar disorder

Depression Generally Characterized by the Following:

- Feelings of sadness/elation
- Feelings of guilt/worthlessness
- Disturbances of appetite
- Disturbances in sleep patterns
- Lack of energy
- Difficulty concentrating
- Loss of interest in all/most activities
- Problems with memory
- Thoughts of suicide
- Hallucination

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Prevalence:
- Disability adjusted life years (DALYs)
o Estimate of the years of healthy life lost to premature death &years lived with severe disability (i.e.,
disease and disability burden)
o Of the mental illnesses major depression was 2nd to ischemic heart disease and ranked ahead of CV
disease, alcohol use and traffic accidents in disease and disability burden
- Mood disorders are in the top 10 list of disabilities worldwide
- In a given year, 21% of US adult population will have a diagnosable mental disorder, which includes a 7% one
year prevalence rate for any mood disorder

Costs:
- Overall costs of depression - $83 billion/year in 2000
- Breakdown of costs: 31% on direct treatment & rehabilitation, 7% on mortality, 62% for absenteeism & reduces
work productivity
- Other costs: Increased risk for other diseases & decreased quality of life for individual & families

Causes:
- Not well understood
- Physiological and psychosocial factors interact in response to some stressful event
- Some research has focused on biological factors (ex. neurotransmitter deficiencies) but this is an insufficient
explanation
- Individual variation in manifestation
o Heredity, coping skills, experience, gender, environment, & social support

Treatment:
- Depression is often untreated – due to stigma of mental illness
- When depression is treated:
o Pharmacotherapy & psychotherapy (often CBT)
o Noncompliance is frequent
o Can be expensive & have unwanted side-effects
- Physical activity could help both prevent and treat depression

Measurement:
- Standard classification criteria (choose 1 or another)
o Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR)
o Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC)
o International Classification of Diseases( ICD-10)
- Self-report measures
o Questionnaires (asks if had sx recently, add up scores, greater than 16 = some sx, above 40 = a lot of sx)
 Beck Depression Inventory
 Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale
 Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale)

Research on Preventative Effects of Exercise:

- Research shows a connection between prevalence of ↑ physical activity and ↑mental health problems
- Least active individuals have the greatest incidence of mental health problems, including sx of depression
- Regular PA can help prevent mental health disorders or reduce their occurrence

Research on Tx of Non-clinical Depression:

- Various meta-analyses have shown:
1. Exercise resulted in decreased depression
2. Some factors moderated exercise treatment effects while others did not
3. Exercise was as effective as, and sometimes more effective than, traditional therapies

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Exercise Variables as Moderating Factors:

- Mode of exercise (no difference for different types of exercise)
- Length of exercise program (length of exercise program is not as important as “just doing it”)
- Exercise Intensity (more research needed)
- Duration or frequency (more research need)
- Acute vs. chronic (both single bouts & long-term exercise reduced depression)

Participant Variables as Moderating Factors:

- Age (exercise decreased depression for all ages)
- Gender (exercise decreased depression for both genders)
- Initial level (regardless of initial depression level, all participants showed similar decreased in depression)

Effectiveness of Exercise vs. Traditional Treatments

- Exercise is better than no tx
- Exercise = traditional treatments (relaxation, psychotherapy, some medication)
- Exercise + psychotherapy = BEST
- Exercise is cost effective
- Exercise also ↑ physical health (added benefit)

Research on Tx of Clinical Depression:

- Hospitalized psychiatric patients rated exercise as the most important part of comprehensive treatment plan
- Both aerobic & anaerobic exercise resulted in significant psychological improvements
- Interventions should last at least 10 weeks
- Pts should exercise 3-5 times per week
- Duration should be 45-60 min
- For pts engaging in aerobic exercise, exercise intensity should be 50-85% of max. HR
- For pts doing resistance training, intensity should be 80% of 1 rep max
- People who trained harder had greater reductions in depression
- Exercise tx = pharmacotherapy tx
- Follow-up study of 6 months, exercise groups was more likely to be fully or partially recover
- Exercise might reduce the level of medication needed, length of time it is needed & perhaps even the need for
medication at all
o Study: Pts on an antidepressant but no counselling, 20 pts, randomized into exercise (aerobic) and
stretching groups
o Results: ↓ depressive sx (using Beck inventory), ↑ coping with depression, ↑ S-E, no changes in cortisol
o BOTH groups had these results (t/f both exercise & stretching reduce depression)
- There are way more studies on anxiety than depression (needs further research)
In Summary…
- Exercise can be effective as a tx for mild-moderate depression
- Exercise may be an effective component in the tx of severe depression

Mechanisms of Change: (none of these have good research, but some combinations can explain exercise & depression)
- Anthropological Hypothesis
- Endorphin Hypothesis
- Monoamine Hypothesis and Neurogenesis Hypothesis
- Mastery Hypothesis
- Affect Regulation Hypothesis
- Social Interaction Hypothesis

Anthropological Hypothesis (very general = could also explain anxiety, NOT specific for depression)
- Evolutionary perspective
- We are generally predisposed to be physically active
- Technology has progressed so that we no longer have to engage in vigorous activity for our survival
- Incidences of depression have increased dramatically
- By violation our genetic predisposition by being sedentary, we risk having health problems

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Endorphin Hypothesis
- During stress/exercise, the body produces endorphins (natural painkillers)
- Increase in endorphins may reduce depression
- More research is needed before firm conclusion can be reached

Monoamine and Neurogenesis Hypothesis

- Monoamine:
- Effects of exercise on depression are due to be altered by neurotransmitters: (regulate emotion)
o Serotonin; norepinephrine; epinephrine; dopamine
- Neurotransmitters involved in the regulation of emotion
- Exercise increases the rate of neurotransmitter production
- Neurogenesis:
- The synthesis of new neurons in the brain, particularly in brain areas shown to be affected by depression
- Hypothesis says: Exercise promotes neurogenesis by increasing levels of brain derived neurotropic factor (BDNF)

Mastery Hypothesis
- Psychological effects of exercise are derived from sense of accomplishments or mastery felt upon completion of a
task
- Individual has a sense of greater self-worth & personal control over the environment

Affect Regulation Hypothesis

- Exercise serves to reduce negative affective states
- Exercise provides temporary relief form depressive symptoms
- Perhaps shorter multiple bouts of exercise during the day would be effective (get the temporary relief multiple
times, but little evidence to support this)

Social Interaction Hypothesis

- Exercise provides an individual an opportunity to interact with others  Social aspect of exercise is accomplished
- This hypothesis may account for part of depression reduction, but it cannot be the sole explanation

Practical Recommendations…
- Regular exercise can be useful in treating depression as well as in protecting against depression
- Monitoring the exercise dosage and modify as the individual’s level of fitness changes (usually 3-5 times a week,
moderate intensity)
- Type of exercise doesn’t matter, just make it enjoyable
o We need to find ways to make exercise enjoyable  to start it, but maybe more importantly stay with it

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