Acute Exercise: Buffering Psychosocial Stress Responses in Women

We evaluated the experimental hypothesis that an acute bout of aerobic exercise (AE) serves as a buffer to psychosocial stress responses in low to moderate physically fit women. Forty-eight (24 White, 24 Black) 25- to 40-year-old women participated in two counterbalanced experimental conditions: an...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Health psychology 1992, Vol.11 (6), p.355-362
Main Authors: Rejeski, W. Jack, Thompson, Amy, Brubaker, Peter H, Miller, Henry S
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptation, Psychological
Adult
Aerobic Exercise
Arousal
Attention
Blood Pressure
Distress
Exercise - psychology
Exercise Test
Female
Gender Identity
Heart Rate
Human
Human Females
Humans
Physical Fitness
Physiological Correlates
Problem Solving
Psychological Stress
Social Environment
Social Stress
Stress
Stress, Psychological - complications
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:We evaluated the experimental hypothesis that an acute bout of aerobic exercise (AE) serves as a buffer to psychosocial stress responses in low to moderate physically fit women. Forty-eight (24 White, 24 Black) 25- to 40-year-old women participated in two counterbalanced experimental conditions: an attention control and a 40-min bout of AE at 70% heart rate (HR) reserve. The attention control and AE treatments were followed by (a) 30 min of quiet rest, (b) exposure to mental and interpersonal threat, and (c) 5 min of recovery. Blood pressure (BP) and HR were monitored at baseline, during the stressors, and throughout recovery. Self-reported distress was assessed before each stressor and upon completion of the recovery period. The results provided clear evidence that exercise dampens BP reactivity to psychosocial stress. Additionally, compared with the attention placebo control, AE reduced both the frequency and intensity of anxiety-related thoughts that occur in anticipation of interpersonal threat and challenge. Key words: exercise, stress, reactivity, race, affective responses, blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR)
ISSN:0278-6133
1930-7810
DOI:10.1037/0278-6133.11.6.355