State anxiety is reduced after maximal and submaximal exercise among people with panic disorder

Abstract

The purpose of this experiment was to describe state anxiety responses to vigorous exercise in a sample of women with panic disorder and compare the responses to a control condition involving no exercise. It was hypothesized that state anxiety scores would be reduced to a greater extent after exercise compared to a condition involving no exercise. Ten women (mean age of 24.5 years) who met DSM-III-R criteria for panic disorder volunteered. All participants completed three testing sessions; the first included a maximal treadmill exercise test and during the second and third testing sessions the participants completed 25 minutes of either submaximal treadmill walking or seated rest. Five and 15 minutes before and after the exercise or rest sessions, state anxiety was assessed using the 20-item State Anxiety Inventory. A 3 × 4 (Condition × Trials) repeated measures ANOVA found a significant effect for the Trials factor (F = 8.948, df = 1.227, 11.042, p =.01, η =.50) and for the Condition by Trials interaction (F = 5.048, df = 6,54, p <.001, η =.36). The interaction was the result of a significant decrease in state anxiety following the two exercise conditions and no change in state anxiety after the rest condition. The magnitude of the reduction in state anxiety after exercise ranged from Cohen's d = 0.60 to 0.89. People with panic disorder feel less anxious after maximal and submaximal exercise and the anxiolytic effect is larger than what has been found for healthy individuals.