Affective responses to acute exercise: A meta-analysis of the potential beneficial effects of a single bout of exercise on general mood, anxiety, and depressive symptoms

Objective Acute exercise elicits various biobehavioral and psychological responses, but results are mixed with regard to the magnitude of exercise-induced affective reactions. This meta-analysis examines the magnitude of general mood state, anxiety, and depressive symptom responses to acute exercise while exploring exercise protocol characteristics and background health behaviors that may play a role in the affective response. Methods A total of 2770 articles were identified from a MEDLINE/PubMed search and an additional 133 articles from reviews of reference sections. Studies had to have measured general mood before the acute exercise bout and within 30 minutes after exercise completion. Effect sizes were estimated using Hedges' g, with larger values indicating improvement in the outcome measure. Results A total of 103 studies were included presenting data from 4671 participants. General mood state improved from preexercise to postexercise (g = 0.336, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.234-0.439). Anxiety (g = 0.497, 95% CI = 0.263-0.730) and depressive symptoms (g = 0.407, 95% CI = 0.249-0.564) also improved with exercise. There was substantial and statistically significant heterogeneity in each of these meta-analyses. This heterogeneity was not explained by differences in participants' health status. Meta-regression analyses with potential moderators (intensity of exercise, mode of exercise, usual physical activity level, or weight status of participants) also did not reduce the heterogeneity. Conclusion This meta-analysis shows significantly improved general mood, decreased anxiety, and lower depressive symptoms in response to an acute bout of exercise. There was substantial heterogeneity in the magnitude of the effect sizes, indicating that additional research is needed to identify determinants of a positive affective response to acute exercise.