ACUTE EXERCISE OF VARYING INTENSITIES AND DURATIONS ON POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE MOOD STATES   CHUN-XIAO HE AND DANIEL M. LANDERS ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY   The purpose of this study was to determine if high fit and moderately fit subjects have an enhanced mood state following exercise at varying workloads.  Sixteen fit (M_vo2max=55ml/min/kg) and 16 moderately fit subjects (M_vo2max=45 ml/min/kg) were recruited to participate in a no exercise condition and in six combinations of two intensities (50-55% & 70-75% of V0_2max) and three durations (5, 30, & 45 min) of treadmill running.  The conditions were administered on separate days in a randomized order.  Subjects completed the Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS) before exercise and at 5-, 15-, 25-, and 30-min post-exercise.  Heart rate (HR) and ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) were recorded during exercise.  As expected, HR for high intensity exercise was significantly higher than for low intensity exercise (P<0.05).  Compared to moderately fit subjects, high fit subjects ran faster in both high intensity (M= 6.62 vs. 5.41 mph) and low intensity (M= 5.41 vs. 4.61 mph) conditions.  This finding suggests that fit subjects produce more power output  than moderately fit subjects, although they have the same RPE and HR for the exercise performed.  There was a significant increase in positive and a decrease in negative mood states across most workload conditions (P<0.05).  Negative affect was generally reduced following exercise, but increases in positive affect were only evident at 5-min post-exercise.  It is concluded that across all exercise workloads examined, the time course of positive and negative mood changes following exercise is different.
 
Supported by a Life Fitness grant to the senior author.  An abstract of this paper is published in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 30(5), May 1998 Supplement, S220.