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MU students participate
in a 5K walk/run event on Stankowski Field. Photo by Brian
McNeill
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High-Intensity
Exercise Reduces Anxiety
By Jeff Neu
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause
of death in the United States. The amount of stress and anxiety
a person experiences is a major factor in cardiovascular disease.
For the past three decades experts have vacillated in their
recommendations concerning the amount and intensity of exercise
required to alleviate stress and anxiety.
Recently, most experts have agreed that
a moderate to low amount of regular exercise can ease personal
tension and stress. However, a new study by researchers at the
University of Missouri-Columbia shows that a relatively high-intensity
exercise is superior in reducing stress and anxiety that may
lead to heart disease. Moreover, the researchers found that
high-intensity exercise especially benefits women.
“Conventional wisdom says that exercising
for 30 minutes at a moderate exercise intensity is more effective
in reducing anxiety than either a low or high intensity dose,”
said Richard Cox, professor of educational and counseling psychology
and leader of the study. “This conclusion, however, is
deceptively simple because reductions in anxiety are not always
observed immediately following a high intensity bout of exercise.”
In the study, female participants, ages
18 to 20 and 35 to 45, completed three experimental sessions.
Each session started with a test to determine the anxiety level
of the participant. Following the test, the women either did
not exercise (control condition) or exercised at a moderate
or high-intensity level for 33 minutes. After the session, Cox
measured anxiety levels at 5, 30, 60 and 90 minutes post-exercise.
Although all three exercise conditions,
including the control condition, showed a decline in anxiety
over time, Cox found the high-intensity level experienced the
sharpest decline. Cox said the intensity of exercise conditions
did not differ in anxiety levels at baseline or immediately
after exercise, but a difference favoring the high intensity
level emerged at 30, 60 and 90 minutes post-exercise.
Results also showed that when the iron
status of the women was taken into consideration, the beneficial
effect of high-intensity exercise was greater for the older
women.
“This is a relationship that needs
to be further explored,” Cox said. “It appears to
suggest that after controlling for iron status, the beneficial
effects of exercise on anxiety may only apply to older women
and not to younger women.”
Cox believes this study, which is scheduled
for publication in the Research
Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, will prove beneficial
to medical practitioners in the fight against heart disease.
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Last Update:
March 12, 2007
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