Clear Your Mind Through Exercise? A Lab Study Investigating the Effect of Exercise on Emotion Regulation

Background: Despite a strong theoretical background suggesting that physical exercise reduces negative emotions, methodological shortcomings produced inconsistent evidence for this relationship. Studies indicate adaptive cognitive emotion regulation (ER) as a mediator in this relationship and suggest that trait emotional intelligence (EI) may moderate the relationship between exercise and adaptive cognitive ER. Aim: While improving methodological shortcomings, this experiment aimed to clarify and extend previous research investigating the exercise-negative emotions relationship. To allow for stronger causal conclusions, this study was the first to explore adaptive cognitive ER as a mechanism. As another theoretical extension, it examined whether trait emotional intelligence strengthens the relationship between exercise and adaptive cognitive ER. Method: 103 participants completed a measure of negative emotions and trait EI before recalling a negative personal event to induce...Show moreBackground: Despite a strong theoretical background suggesting that physical exercise reduces negative emotions, methodological shortcomings produced inconsistent evidence for this relationship. Studies indicate adaptive cognitive emotion regulation (ER) as a mediator in this relationship and suggest that trait emotional intelligence (EI) may moderate the relationship between exercise and adaptive cognitive ER. Aim: While improving methodological shortcomings, this experiment aimed to clarify and extend previous research investigating the exercise-negative emotions relationship. To allow for stronger causal conclusions, this study was the first to explore adaptive cognitive ER as a mechanism. As another theoretical extension, it examined whether trait emotional intelligence strengthens the relationship between exercise and adaptive cognitive ER. Method: 103 participants completed a measure of negative emotions and trait EI before recalling a negative personal event to induce negative emotions. After indicating their negative emotions again, they were randomly allocated to one of three conditions: An experimental condition in which participants exercised by cycling at a moderate intensity, an attentional control condition in which participants completed a puzzle and a no-attention control condition in which participants relaxed. While completing their respective task, participants were instructed to reflect on their negative personal event. After task completion, negative emotions and adaptive cognitive ER were assessed. Results: Contrary to expectations, a one-way ANCOVA showed that negative emotions were not lower after exercising compared to puzzling or relaxation. An exploratory analysis revealed that all participants, regardless of their condition, experienced less negative emotions from before to after exercise, puzzling or relaxing. However, PROCESS showed partial support for an indirect effect: Compared to participants who puzzled, those who exercised engaged in more adaptive cognitive ER and consequently experienced less negative emotions. Finally, trait EI did not strengthen the relationship between exercise and adaptive cognitive ER. Conclusion: Exercise reduces negative emotions as well as puzzling and relaxation. This effect may be due to mechanisms not assessed in this study. However, this study provides preliminary evidence that exercise indirectly lowers negative emotions via adaptive cognitive ER. Future studies are needed to clarify the potential of exercise to reduce negative emotions by employing larger and more diverse samples, such as clinical samples, as well as including other – theoretically sound – underlying mechanisms. Practically, this study suggests that different strategies effectively reduce negative emotions, regardless of how emotionally intelligent individuals are.Show less

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Clear Your Mind Through Exercise? A Lab Study Investigating the Effect of Exercise on Emotion Regulation