Study Suggests Running Improves Mood Through Enhanced Body Awareness
A crossover experiment found that 15 minutes of moderate-intensity treadmill running reduced mood disturbance and increased vigor compared to seated rest, with interoceptive sensibility — awareness of internal bodily signals — partially mediating the mood benefit. The study tested 27 healthy young adults across two separate sessions, measuring heartbeat detection, body perception, and mood state. The findings suggest that how the brain processes bodily changes during exercise may be a key mechanism linking physical activity to emotional well-being.
Researchers at a crossover study published on bioRxiv tested whether interoception — the sensing and interpretation of internal bodily signals — helps explain why acute running improves mood. Twenty-seven healthy young adults each completed a 15-minute moderate-intensity treadmill run and a seated rest session on separate days. Running significantly reduced total mood disturbance and tension-anxiety while increasing vigor-activity scores on the Profile of Mood States. It also enhanced heartbeat-signal discrimination and present-moment interoceptive sensibility as measured by a state-adapted Body Perception Questionnaire. Critically, increases in interoceptive sensibility were associated with greater reductions in mood disturbance, and mediation analyses indicated that interoceptive sensibility partially — but not fully — accounted for the mood-improving effect of running. The effect was clearest for total mood disturbance, with weaker statistical evidence for tension-anxiety specifically. The authors conclude that heightened interoceptive sensibility is one proximal mechanism through which exercise influences emotional states.
What's missing
The study has several notable limitations: the sample was small (n=27) and restricted to healthy young adults, limiting generalizability. As a preprint, the findings have not yet undergone peer review. Interoceptive sensibility only partially mediated mood changes, meaning other mechanisms (e.g., neurochemical, cognitive) remain unaccounted for. Long-term or repeated exercise effects on interoception and mood were not examined, and it is unclear whether findings extend to other exercise types, intensities, or clinical populations.
What different sources said
- bioRxivCenter
Acute running improves mood via changes in interoceptive sensibility
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