Characterizing the affective responses to an acute bout of moderate-intensity exercise among outpatients with schizophrenia

Abstract

In addition to offering many physical health benefits, exercise may help improve mental health among individuals with schizophrenia through regulating affect. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to characterize affective responses experienced before, during and after a 10-min bout of exercise versus passive sitting among individuals with schizophrenia. A randomized crossover design compared affect related to feelings of pleasure and arousal at baseline, 6-min into the task, immediately post-task, and 10min post-task to sitting. Thirty participants enroled in the study; 28 participants completed the study. Separate mixed model analyses of variance were conducted for pleasure and arousal, with test order as the between-subject factor, and time and task as within-subject factors. For pleasure, a significant main effect for time and a time x task interaction effect emerged. Post-hoc Bonferroni corrected t-tests (α=.0125) revealed significant differences between pleasure at baseline and both immediately post-task and 10min post-task. No other main effects or interactions emerged. Individuals with schizophrenia derive acute feelings of pleasure from exercise. Thus, exercise may provide a method of regulating affect to improve mental health. Future studies should examine the links between affective responses to health behaviours such as long-term adherence to exercise within this population.

Keywords: Affect; Exercise; Mental health; Schizophrenia; Walking; Well-being.