The dynamic influence of exercise on emotional state among people with a history of mood disorder

Planned or motivated physical activity (exercise) is amenable to direct modification and has been inversely linked to major depression (MDD), suggesting its potential to support recovery in bipolar disorder (BD). However, it is unclear how quickly exercise may impact emotion. We characterized the association of exercise with subsequent emotional state within hours in persons with a history of mood disorders.

Euthymic participants aged 11-85 years, diagnosed with BD (n = 110), MDD (n = 157), anxiety without mood disorder (n = 96), or no disorder (n = 96), self-reported their emotional state (sad, anxious, activated, energetic) scaled 1-7 and whether they were exercising four times per day for two weeks via ecological momentary assessment. We characterized the implicit impact of exercise on subsequent emotion within-person and at the group level using dynamic structural equation modeling.

Among those with a major mood disorder (BD or MDD), exercise was associated with a strong reduction in subsequent anxiety (-1.706 (95% Credible Interval -2.296, -1.048)), overall and in males and females. However, exercise was not associated with subsequent changes in sad, activated, or energetic feelings. Exercise-emotion dynamics did not differ significantly between individuals with BD compared to MDD, Anxiety without Mood, or no disorder. However, there was variation at the individual within-person level in BD subtypes.

Exercise appears to drive beneficial impact on emotional state within hours in persons with BD or MDD-particularly by lowering anxiety. Independent replication and clinical trials are needed to draw conclusions about specificity by mood disorder subtype.