SELF-REPORTED MOOD AND RUNNING UNDER NATURAL CONDITIONS

This paper reports the results of two field studies which examined pos sible changes in self-reported psychological mood with running. The pa rticipants in both studies were regularly exercising male and female u niversity students. In the first study, mood was monitored pre- and po st-running sessions during a 7-week course designed to improve individ ual levels of physical fitness. In a follow-up study, mood was measure d pre- and post-running and subjects also made a number of colour choi ces as an indication of arousal preference, as they ran. In addition, subjects' times over a fixed distance were recorded and in both studie s subjects were further subdivided into two groups: 'fast' and 'slow' runners. The results from the first study indicated that, in spite of the increasing demands of the running programme, subjects' mood experi ence was generally pleasant, characterized by high arousal and low str ess. In both studies, significant increases in male and female self-re ported arousal scores pre- to post-running were obtained, along with n on-significant increases in preferred arousal levels. When the mood re sponse of fast runners was compared with that of slow runners, some si gnificant findings with respect to self-reported arousal were observed . Indicators of stress and arousal discrepancy pre- to post-running we re low and mostly did not change significantly. Where significant chan ges did occur, scores decreased significantly with running. The implic ations of the findings for modulating arousal levels at work are discu ssed.