Affective Responses in Mountain Hiking

NCT02853760 | Completed Results

• 1 other identifier: ARMH
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 47
• Locations: 0 countries
• Sites: N/A

Brief Summary

Using a within-subject design, 42 healthy participants were randomly exposed to three different conditions: outdoor mountain hiking, indoor treadmill walking, and sedentary control situation (3.5 hours each). Measures included the Feeling Scale, Felt Arousal Scale and a Mood Survey Scale. Univariate ANOVAs were used to analyse differences between the conditions.

Conditions

Affect

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (3)

• Change From Baseline Subscales of Mood Survey Scale at 3 Hours

  Mood Survey Scale, min: 5, max: 25 higher score: better outcome All Outcome Measures are reported "per intervention", i.e., the data in Arms/Groups reflect the participants of the particular intervention.

  baseline and 3 hours

• Change From Baseline Feeling Scale at 3 Hours

  Feeling Scale, min: -5, max: +5 higher score: better outcome All Outcome Measures are reported "per intervention", i.e., the data in Arms/Groups reflect the participants of the particular intervention.

  baseline and 3 hours after baseline

• Change From Baseline Felt Arousal Scale at 3 Hours

  Felt Arousal Scale, min: 0, max: 6 higher score: better outcome All Outcome Measures are reported "per intervention", i.e., the data in Arms/Groups reflect the participants of the particular intervention.

  baseline and 3 hours after baseline

Secondary Outcomes (3)

• Change From Baseline Blood Pressure at 3 Hours

  baseline and 3 hours

• Change From Baseline Heart Rate Variability at 3 Hours

  baseline and 3 hours

• Change From Baseline Cortisol at 3 Hours (Saliva Sampling)

  baseline and 3 hours

Study Arms (3)

Outdoor mountain hiking (M)

EXPERIMENTAL

First part of the intervention: an uphill walking phase on single trails and forest roads in a sparse forest with view on the mountainous region around Innsbruck for 6 km in around 1.5 hours together with the test leader. Regarding the walking intensity, the participants were instructed to choose a "brisk without overspending" pace (average speed: 4 km/h). In the second part of the intervention, the participants were walking downhill on the same track for around 70 minutes back to the starting point to respond to the post-test (average speed: 5.2 km/h).

Behavioral: walking

Indoor treadmill walking (T)

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

To ensure that all physical parameters were simultaneous to the outdoor mountain hiking condition, the distance, the difference in height, the average inclination of the track, and the time needed for the outdoor mountain hiking situation were measured in a pilot study. First part: uphill walking, inclination: 10%, time: 1.5 hours, and speed: 4 km/h (resulting in 600 m difference in height). In accordance to possible differences in outdoor speed, the participants were allowed to change the treadmill's speed in a small range (3.8 to 4.2 km/h) to adapt to the wording "brisk without overspending". Second part of the intervention contained 70 minutes of level walking on the same treadmills (5.2 km/h, 6km).

Behavioral: walking; Device: Treadmill

Sedentary control condition (C)

NO INTERVENTION

The sedentary control situation was located in a quiet room at the university with access to computers. The participants were allowed to use the computers, to read, and to talk, but had to remain in a sedentary position. To control for possible differences in affective response due to the daytime, the sedentary control condition contained the same timing of the measurements than the intervention condition. Sociodemographic data were collected for 5 to 10 minutes in this condition using a web-based questionnaire.

Interventions

walking BEHAVIORAL

Indoor treadmill walking (T); Outdoor mountain hiking (M)

Treadmill DEVICE

Indoor treadmill walking (T)

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 70 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• voluntary participation

You may not qualify if:

• pregnancy
• breast-feeding
• chronic or acute diseases (already existing or diagnosed during the study)
• age below 18 and above 70 years
• unable to be physically active assessed by the Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire (Shephard, Thomas, \& Weller, 1991)

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Universitaet Innsbruck: lead
• Paracelsus Medical University: collaborator

Related Publications (2)

• Niedermeier M, Einwanger J, Hartl A, Kopp M. Affective responses in mountain hiking-A randomized crossover trial focusing on differences between indoor and outdoor activity. PLoS One. 2017 May 16;12(5):e0177719. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0177719. eCollection 2017.

  PMID: 28520774 RESULT

• Niedermeier M, Grafetstatter C, Hartl A, Kopp M. A Randomized Crossover Trial on Acute Stress-Related Physiological Responses to Mountain Hiking. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2017 Aug 11;14(8):905. doi: 10.3390/ijerph14080905.

  PMID: 28800067 RESULT

MeSH Terms

Interventions

Walking; Exercise Test

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Locomotion; Movement; Musculoskeletal Physiological Phenomena; Musculoskeletal and Neural Physiological Phenomena; Exercise; Motor Activity; Heart Function Tests; Diagnostic Techniques, Cardiovascular; Diagnostic Techniques and Procedures; Diagnosis; Respiratory Function Tests; Diagnostic Techniques, Respiratory System; Ergometry; Investigative Techniques

Limitations and Caveats

* not feasible to apply downhill walking in the indoor situation, which resulted in a slightly different form of physical activity during the second part of the intervention * affective responses might be influenced by at least two confounding variables: the level of social interaction and the intensity of PA. * we did not include a follow-up measurement * we are aware about a possible selection bias in the present study * the length of the washout phase was not the same in all subjects

Results Point of Contact

• Title: Martin Niedermeier
• Organization: University of Innsbruck, Department of Sport Science

martin.niedermeier@uibk.ac.at

Study Officials

• Martin Kopp, Prof.

  martin.kopp@uibk.ac.at

  STUDY DIRECTOR

Publication Agreements

• PI is Sponsor Employee: No
• Restrictive Agreement: No

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: SUPPORTIVE CARE
• Intervention Model: CROSSOVER
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Prof

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: July 27, 2016
• First Posted: August 3, 2016
• Study Start: May 1, 2015
• Primary Completion: October 1, 2015
• Study Completion: October 1, 2015
• Last Updated: May 18, 2022
• Results First Posted: January 25, 2021

Record last verified: 2022-05