Effects of a Single-bout of Moderate-intensity Aerobic Exercise on Mood and Mental Health Biomarkers in Adults with Depressive And/or Anxiety Symptoms

This study investigates whether a single session of aerobic exercise (like running) can improve the participants' mood and whether such benefits can be explained by changes in the blood factors (like hormones) and brain activity.

The main questions this study aims to answer are:

• Can a single session of aerobic exercise improve mood?
• Which changes in the blood and brain could explain the effects of exercise on mood?

Researchers will compare the participants' mood states before and after exercise to see whether exercise can improve mood.

The participants will:

• Answer questionnaires, collect blood, and undergo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) before exercise.
• Perform 30 minutes of running on a treadmill.
• Answer the same questionnaires, collect blood, and undergo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) after exercise.

The entire assessment will last for about 2h45min and will be performed on a single day.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Healthy; Anxiety Symptoms; Depression Symptoms
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Exercise

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 40
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Hong Kong
  • Hong Kong, Hong Kong
    • The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Healthy subjects within the stipulated age range

Exclusion Criteria:

• Acute injury or illness that impairs the ability to safely exercise and/or inability to exercise with a moderate intensity;
• Metabolic and/or neurologic disorders;
• Iron implants;
• People who cannot stay still, are intolerant of noise or fearful of enclosed spaces (due to the small space inside the scanner).

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Basic Science
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Intervention / Treatment

Experimental: Moderate-intensity aerobic exercise; Thirty minutes of exercise on a treadmill, including a 5-minute warm-up followed by increments in speed until reaching optimal moderate to high intensity (60-80% of age-predicted maximal heart rate), which will be maintained for 20 min, followed by a 5-minute cool-down. Age-predicted maximal HR will be defined as 220 beats-per-minute (BPM) minus age in years.

Behavioral: Exercise; Thirty minutes of exercise on a treadmill, including a 5-minute warm-up followed by increments in speed until reaching optimal moderate to high intensity (60-80% of age-predicted maximal heart rate), which will be maintained for 20 min, followed by a 5-minute cool-down. Age-predicted maximal HR will be defined as 220 beats-per-minute (BPM) minus age in years.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Profile of Mood States (POMS)	POMS is a 30-item questionnaire scored on a 5-point Likert-type scale ranging from "Not at all" to "Extremely." It provides six sub≥scales: 1) anger (e.g., grouchy, furious); 2) confusion (e.g., muddled, forgetful); 3) depression (e.g., sad, unworthy); 4) fatigue (e.g., tired, sluggish); 5) tension (e.g., nervous, anxious); and 6) vigor (e.g., lively, active).	From before to immediately after a single session of exercise

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Subjective Exercise Experience Scale (SEES)	SEES is a 12-item questionnaire that is scored on a 7-point Likert-type scale ranging from "Not at all" to "Very much". It Provides 3 subscales that will be used in the present study: 1) psychological well-being (great, positive, strong, terrific); 2) psychological distress (awful, crummy, discouraged, miserable); and 3) fatigue (drained, exhausted, fatigued, tired).	From before to immediately after a single session of exercise
Subject Happiness Scale (SHS)	SHS is a 4-item self-report measure developed to assess an individual's overall happiness as measured through self-evaluation. The response format is a 7-point Likert-type scale.	From before to immediately after a single session of exercise
Blood biomarkers	Blood biomarkers, including brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and Adiponectin	From before to immediately after a single session of exercise
Cardiovascular parameters	Heart Rate Variability (HRV) will be monitored during all the exercise protocol.	Before, during, and immediately after a single session of exercise
BOLD-weighted fMRI images	BOLD-weighted fMRI images will be acquired using a gradient-echo echo-planar imaging (GRE-EPI) sequence with (a) repetition time = 2000 ms, (b) echo time = 30 ms, (c) flip angle = 90°, (d) matrix = 64 × 64, (e) field of view = 220 mm × 220 mm, (f) slice thickness = 4 mm with interslice gap = 0.6 mm, and (g) 33 interleaved axial slices. Additionally, weighted images will be acquired with an interleaved sequence (188 sagittal slices, TR/TE/flip angle = 8.2 ms/3.7 ms/7°, matrix = 256 × 256 mm2, FOV = 256 × 256 × 188 mm, and voxel size = 1 × 1 × 1 mm3).	From before to immediately after a single session of exercise
Diffusion-weighted image (DWI)	Whole-brain diffusion-weighted image (DWI) will be collected with a single-shot diffusion-weighted echo planar imaging sequence (TE, 83 ms; TR, 8700 ms; flip angle, 90°; image resolution, 1.64 mm isotropic; b value, 800 s/mm2; 70 axial slices) in 30 diffusion encoding directions and one non-diffusion-weighted reference image (b = 0).	From before to immediately after a single session of exercise
Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS)	Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) will be utilized to measure levels of glutamate and GABA.	From before to immediately after a single session of exercise

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: YAU Suk Yu Sonata

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): July 18, 2023
• Primary Completion (Actual): August 24, 2024
• Study Completion (Actual): August 26, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: December 5, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 12, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): March 25, 2025

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 25, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 12, 2024
• Last Verified: December 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Anxiety Disorders
• Other Study ID Numbers: HSEARS20221111001-01

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No