Moderate and Intense Exercise not Modify Anxiety Scores but Promote Different Affective Answers in Adults

Abstract

It is well known that moderate exercise can positively modulate mood states; however, few studies have shown the effects of intense exercise. PURPOSE: Compare the impact of moderate and intense exercise on anxiety, affective and positive subjective experience answers in healthy adults. METHODS: Ten healthy male subjects (28.70±6.25yrs; 72.51±10.68kg; 175±4.38cm; 23.60±2.66kg/m2; 16.56±6.38%Fat mass), were submitted to two intensities based on maximal treadmill test separated by 7 days: 1) 60%; 2) 85%. For these conditions, the subjects answered a Subjective Exercise Experiences Scale (SEES) and IDATE-State scale in the following time-courses: baseline (B), immediately after (IA) and 30 minutes after (R) finishing of the exercise. The Feeling Scale (FS) was recorded at 1, 5, 10 and last minutes of exercise. The situations were compared by two-way ANOVA with post-hoc Duncan test, with significance p≤0.05. The protocol was approved by Unifesp Ethics Committed (#2.381.537). RESULTS: We didn’t observe differences in anxiety comparing groups or time-courses, however, SEES Positive well-being subscale show lower scores at IA during 85% when compared with 60% (19.90±2.23vs17.40±2.95; p=0.02). The increase of fatigue was observed at B when compared IA in 60% (6± 3.83vs11.10±7.64; p=0.01). Similar data was observed in 85%, with increase in B when compared to IA (8.80±6.39vs14.40±7.41; p=0.006) and remain higher at R (p=0.03). The FS on 60% show a significant decrease at last minute compared to 1 (p=0.0002), 5(p=0.002) and 10(p=0.009) minutes; on 85%, similar data was observed. The last minute was lower when compared to 1 (P<0.001), 5 (p<0.001), 10 (p<0,001); but the 10 minute was lower compared to 1 (p<0.001) and 5 (p<0.001). When comparing intensities 60% showed higher scores at the FS at the 10 (p<0.001) and the last minute (p<0.001) compared to 85%. CONCLUSIONS: The comparison between the exercise intensities show that, there was no difference between anxiety scores, on the other hand, moderate exercise presented better IA well-being response, faster fatigue recovery and maintained affectivity with positive values ​​indicating pleasure from the beginning to the end of the test.