Studies // Cited work

The effect of acute aerobic exercise on positive activated affect: A meta-analysis

Reed, J., & Ones, D. S. (2006). The effect of acute aerobic exercise on positive activated affect: A meta-analysis.

Level A Meta-analysis doi:10.1016/j.psychsport.2005.11.003

What this study supports

Cited for the claim that acute aerobic exercise increases positive activated affect in the short term. The number and designs of included studies were not re-verified from an abstract, so claims relying on it are held at moderate confidence.

Who was studied
Not verified: no abstract was retrievable; a meta-analysis of studies of single sessions of aerobic exercise.
Design
Meta-analysis
Level of evidence
Syntheses of controlled studies: meta-analyses and systematic reviews of experiments and trials.

Claims that rest on it

Each claim states what the site asserts, at what strength, and with what caveat.

EmpiricalLevel AConfidence MODERATE

Single sessions of aerobic exercise are associated with a short-term increase in positive activated affect, such as feeling energetic.

Scope
Acute effects of aerobic exercise sessions.
Caveat
The effect is acute and fades; the meta-analysis's abstract could not be re-verified, so study counts and effect sizes are not stated.

Last reviewed · Review due · exercise-acute-positive-affect

TheoreticalLevel DConfidence MODERATE

Relief changes how a state feels and resolution changes the conditions that produce it; relief has value of its own but, taken together with reinforcement, acute mood effects and memory biases, it can be repeated without the underlying difficulty changing.

Scope
The project's central argument, synthesised from separate lines of research.
Caveat
No study cited here tested the full loop directly; the argument is a synthesis and could be wrong for particular people or activities.

Last reviewed · Review due · relief-not-resolution-thesis

EmpiricalLevel CConfidence MODERATE

In everyday settings, physical activity consistently predicted higher positive affect over the next few hours, while evidence that it reduces negative affect over the same period was inconsistent.

Scope
Non-clinical adults in free-living studies with repeated momentary reports.
Caveat
Observational designs in which mood also predicts activity; the related laboratory meta-analysis could not be re-verified from an abstract.

Last reviewed · Review due · activity-raises-positive-affect-for-hours