Effect of a Single Bout Exercise on Mental Health in Young Adults

Background: Exercise improves mental health and well-being, reduces depression and anxiety and enhances cognitive functioning. Many studies have tested the effects of a period of exercise on mental health but the present study investigated mental responses to a single bout exercise in healthy subjects. Materials and methods: Twenty-one healthy male participants (age 21.25 ± 1.95 years old; weight 66.44 ± 10.89 kg; height 1.75 ± 0.07 m) agreed to take part in this research. By SCL-90-R questionnaire, the psychological dimensions such as somatization, obsessive, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, hostility, phobic anxiety, paranoid and psychotics measured before and after a fatigue protocol. The subjective effort level was assessed during exercise by using Borg’s scale for rating of perceived exertion. The protocol continued until the subjects reached a heart rate of 85% HR max or perceived the exercise as very hard on the Borg’s scale. In this research, paired t-test was used for comparison of mental dimensions before and after fatigue protocol. Results and discussions: Findings indicated that fatigue decreased somatization, depression, anxiety and paranoid of subjects. There was no significant difference in obsessive, interpersonal sensitivity, hostility, phobic anxiety and psychotics before and after fatigue protocol. Also, in all factors the global severity index was decreased after fatigue, except interpersonal sensitivity and psychotics factors. Conclusion: The results support that even one bout exercise improves mental health. On the other hand, the psychological benefits of exercise are not limited to long-term exercise

Keywords:

Mental health , Fatigue , SCL-90-R , Single bout exercise