Self-reported mood and running under natural conditions

This paper reports the results of two field studies which examined possible changes in self-reported psychological mood with running. The participants in both studies were regularly exercising male and female university students. In the first study, mood was monitored pre- and post-running sessions during a 7-week course designed to improve individual levels of physical fitness. In a follow-up study, mood was measured pre- and post-running and subjects also made a number of colour choices as an indication of arousal preference, as they ran. In addition, subjects' times over a fixed distance were recorded and in both studies 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 ofthe running programme, subjects' mood experience was generally pleasant, characterized by high arousal and low stress. In both studies, significant increases in male and female self-reported arousal scores pre- to post-running were obtained, along with non-significant increases in preferred arousal levels. When the mood response of fast runners was compared with that of slow runners, some significant findings with respect to self-reported arousal were observed. Indicators of stress and arousal discrepancy pre- to post-running were low and mostly did not change significantly. Where significant changes did occur, scores decreased significantly with running. The implications of the findings for modulating arousal levels at work are discussed.