EFFECTS OF EXERCISE TRAINING ON ANXIETY - A METAANALYSIS

A meta-analysis was conducted on 40 studies (76 effects) in order to e xamine exercise training as a method of stress-management treatment fo r adults It offered evidence of a low-to-moderate positive effect in a nxiety reduction. Exercise training studies that examined change from pre- to post-treatment and studies that examined both change over time and between group differences were examined separately. The unbiased weighted average effect sizes were .45 and .36, respectively. Thus, ex ercise training improved anxiety levels an average of .36 standard dev iations over alternative or control conditions. Adults who were more l ikely to have a stressful lifestyle benefited more from the exercise t raining than those who did not. Recommendations are made for both prac tice and research.