Acute effects of continuous exercise, interval exercise, and sedentary colouring on anxiety, mood, and physical activity enjoyment

Acute bouts of cardiorespiratory exercise have been shown to improve anxiety and mood; however, there is limited research comparing interval and continuous exercise in regards to specific mood states, as well as, comparing exercise to other potential mood-altering activities, such as colouring. The purpose of this randomised cross-over experiment was to examine the immediate effects of two patterns of treadmill exercise (continuous vs. interval) and sedentary colouring on anxiety and mood, and explore differences in physical activity enjoyment. A total of 27 participants (M age = 21.4 years) completed 25 min of each condition: continuous exercise, interval exercise, and sedentary colouring during separate testing sessions. The exercise bouts included a warm-up, cool-down, and 20 min of condition-specific exercise. Results indicate that treadmill exercise led to significantly greater improvements in feelings of vigour and total mood disturbance compared to sedentary colouring with no differential effects between the two patterns of treadmill exercise. Other mood states were enhanced by all three conditions. The findings suggest that individuals seeking to enhance feelings of energy are not limited to engaging in a specific pattern of cardiorespiratory exercise. Individuals pursuing acute improvements in anxiety, anger, confusion, fatigue, and tension may have flexibility in choosing an activity that could modify those mood states by engaging in continuous exercise, interval exercise, or sedentary colouring. Future studies should compare these three conditions with a control group not tasked with an activity to gain a clearer picture of the enhanced mood states observed in the present study.