What has been found?
“…exercise of light to moderate intensities was not found to decrease anxiety…” (Morgan, 1984).
After a 45 min bout of vigorous exercise, “…anxiety was found to increase slightly in the immediate post-exercise setting, but a substantial and significant (p < .001) decrease below the baseline level was observed at 20 to 30 minutes post-exercise” (Morgan, 1979). Similar findings after bouts of walking or running at 80% to 100% VO2max until volitional exhaustion (Morgan et al., 1980).
During bouts of walking and running at 80% VO2max, “state anxiety increased in a fairly linear fashion throughout the first half of both the walk and run, reached a plateau and remained stable for the second half of the exercise” (Morgan et al., 1980).