A NATURALISTIC STUDY OF THE IMPACT OF ACUTE PHYSICAL-ACTIVITY ON FEELING STATES AND AFFECT IN WOMEN

This field study used experience sampling procedures to examine the re lationship of feeling states and affect to acute bouts of physical act ivity in women. Participants (N = 86) completed brief affect and feeli ng state measures (a) in response to random stratified pager tones and (b) before and after acute bouts of vigorous physical activity for 6 weeks. Analysis of averaged difference scores revealed that acute vigo rous physical activity was associated with significant improvements in affect and feeling states, particularly in feelings of revitalization . Moreover, within-subject analyses indicated that the effects were mo derated by preactivity scores, with the greatest improvements seen whe n women felt worst before activity.