Acute effects of aerobic exercise on feelings of energy in relation to age and gender

A crossover experiment was performed to determine whether age and sex, or their interaction, affect the impact of acute aerobic exercise on Vigor-Activity (VA). We also tested whether changes in VA mediated exercise effects on performance on various cognitive tasks. Sixty eight physically inactive volunteers participated in exercise and TV-watching control conditions. They completed the Vigor-Activity subscale of the Profile of Mood States immediately prior to and 2 minutes after the intervention in each condition. They also performed the Trail Making Test 3 minutes after the intervention in each condition. Statistical analyses produced a condition × age × sex interaction characterized by a higher mean VA 10 gain value in the exercise condition (compared to the VA gain value in the TV-watching condition) for young female participants only. In addition, the mediational analyses revealed that changes in VA fully mediated the effects of exercise on TMT-Part A performance.