Exercise Makes You Feel Good, But Does Feeling Good Make You Exercise?: An Examination of Obese Dieters

Abstract

Whereas exercise-induced mood enhancement has been well documented, the relationship between mood and exercise participation is less well understood. Mood states influence evaluative judgments that could plausibly influence a decision to exercise. Further, most exercise-mood research is limited to normal weight adults in response to a single exercise session. The current investigation examines the influence of (a) morning mood on exercise, (b) exercise intensity/duration on mood enhancement, and (c) daily change in mood on exercise days compared with nonexercise days in obese behavioral weight loss program (BWLP) participants. Participants (N = 36) recorded morning, evening, and pre-and postexercise mood, as well as the type, duration, and intensity of exercise. Within-person analyses indicated that (a) morning mood was associated with an increased likelihood of exercising, (b) mood ratings were higher following exercise of greater intensity and duration, and (c) daily mood enhancement was associated with greater exercise initiation and greater exercise intensity. Measuring mood before and after exercise may yield important clinical information that can be used to promote physical activity in obese adults.

Examining acute bi-directional relationships between affect, physical feeling states, and physical activity in free-living situations using electronic ecological momentary assessment

“…These null findings are consistent with several other studies that also examined the affective response from physical activity in free-living settings (Wichers et al, 2012; Kanning, Ebner-Priemer, & Schlicht, 2015; Mata et al, 2012). Nevertheless, there are several studies that found a significant increase in positive affect (e.g., Gauvin et al, 1996; Carels et al, 2007) and decrease in negative affect (e.g., Gauvin et al, 1996; LePage & Crowther, 2010) after engaging in free-living physical activity. These inconsistencies could be due to the different methods used to capture physical activity levels (objectively measured vs. self-reported).…”

How to Investigate Within-Subject Associations between Physical Activity and Momentary Affective States in Everyday Life: A Position Statement Based on a Literature Overview

“…In most cases, the sample was a healthy cohort; however, seven studies dealt with patient groups with conditions such as affective or eating disorders (Axelson et al, 2003; Vansteelandt et al, 2007), breast cancer (Grossman et al, 2008), joint replacement (Powell et al, 2009), knee osteoarthritis (Focht et al, 2004), or chronic pain (Vendrig and Lousberg, 1997). Two studies included overweight people (Carels et al, 2007; Rofey et al, 2010). Although all of the studies made assessments in real time, the number of time points of measurement per day ranged from 1 to 30.…”

Affect in Sporting Activities: a Preliminary Validation of the Worcester Affect Scale

“…Lower order assessment of affect has been more complex with many similar mood states and emotional response scales being developed in the absence of an underlying theoretical framework (Carels, Coit, Young & Berger, 2007;Malouff et al, 1985;Martin et al, 2000;Terry, Lane, Lane & Keohane, 1999;Watson & Clark, 1997). However, the continuing discussion concerning mood and emotion as lower order factors is beyond the scope of this study (see Watson & Clark, 1997 for a review).…”

“…Physical activity and sport has been shown to have beneficial positive effects on affect (Barkoff & Heiby, 2005;Carels et al, 2007;Jones, 2003;Russell, Pritschet, Frost, Emmett, Pelley, Black & Owen, 2003). In some instances, the difficulty in measuring affect pre and post activity seems to be timing the administration of the instrument to enable sufficient time for completion and being confident that the upcoming or previous activity is responsible for the resulting data.…”