Predictors of Affective Responses to Sprint Interval Exercise

NCT05260905 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: NICR4297
• Study Type: observational
• Target: 36
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Regular exercise is needed to ensure good general health and wellbeing. How exercise makes you feel (pleasant / unpleasant) is thought to be important for whether people will stick with a given exercise routine. Sprint interval training (SIT) has been shown be a time-efficient exercise strategy for improving health, but some researchers suggest that SIT may be experienced as unpleasant and therefore unsuitable as an exercise routine for improving general health and wellbeing. However, SIT protocols are diverse, and it has previously been shown that very short SIT protocols such as 'reduced-exertion high-intensity interval training' (REHIT) are not perceived as unpleasant, at least on average. Interestingly, how REHIT is perceived appears to be highly variable between individuals. This individual variability may have important implications for whether people stick with REHIT and/or SIT in real-world settings, and therefore it is important to characterise it and better understand why some people find this exercise unpleasant while others do not. This study aims to characterise the within-participant and between-participant variability in how people perceive REHIT. Furthermore, potential relationships between psychological characteristics and how people perceive REHIT will be explored.

Conditions

General Health

Keywords

Affective valence; Affect; REHIT; Reduced-exertion high-intensity interval training

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Exercise-induced change in affective valence

  Affective valence is a measure of how pleasant / unpleasant the exercise is and will be measured using the 11-point Feeling Scale pre-exercise (ranging from 5 (very bad) to 5 (very good)), and at the end of every minute during exercise. The change in affect will be calculated as the difference between the pre-exercise value and the lowest value during exercise. This will be measured during both experimental sessions.

  Affective valence will be measured before exercise and at the end of every minute during the 10-minute exercise trials. The outcome measure will be determined as the differences between the pre-exercise measurement and the lowest value during exercise.

Secondary Outcomes (2)

• Rating of perceived exertion (RPE)

  RPE will be measured at the end of every minute during the 10-minute exercise trials.

• Felt arousal

  Felt arousal will be measured at the end of every minute during the 10-minute exercise trials.

Other Outcomes (7)

• Body awareness and autonomic reactivity

  Body awareness and autonomic reactivity will be measured at the start of the study before any exercise sessions are performed.

• Anxiety sensitivity

  Anxiety sensitivity will be measured at the start of the study before any exercise sessions are performed.

• Preference for and tolerance of the intensity of exercise

  Preference for and tolerance of the intensity of exercise will be measured at the start of the study before any exercise sessions are performed.

Study Arms (1)

Intervention

All participants will perform 2 experimental sessions, each involving a REHIT exercise session.

Behavioral: REHIT

Interventions

REHIT BEHAVIORAL

REHIt involves 10 minutes of unloaded cycling on a stationary bike, interspersed with two 20-s 'all-out' cycle sprints against a resistance equivalent to 7.5% of body mass.

Also known as: Reduced-exertion high-intensity interval training

Intervention

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 40 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64)
• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

The study population will consist of any apparently healthy individuals who are not highly physically active and who have no contra-indications to performing exercise.

You may qualify if:

• Apparently healthy
• Sedentary or recreationally active

You may not qualify if:

• Classified as highly physically active on the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ)
• Answering 'Yes' to any of the questions of a standard Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire (PAR-Q)
• Resting heart rate \>100 bpm
• Resting blood pressure \> 140/90 mm Hg
• BMI \> 35 kg/m2
• Testing positive for Covid-19
• Pregnant women

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Stirling: lead
• Swansea University: collaborator
• University of Worcester: collaborator
• University of Edinburgh: collaborator
• California State University, San Marcos: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

University of Stirling

Stirling, Midlothian, FK9 4LA, United Kingdom

Location

Study Officials

• Niels Vollaard, PhD

  University of Stirling

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: observational
• Observational Model: OTHER
• Time Perspective: PROSPECTIVE
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Principal investigator

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: February 9, 2022
• First Posted: March 2, 2022
• Study Start: March 1, 2022
• Primary Completion: May 30, 2025
• Study Completion: August 30, 2025
• Last Updated: April 29, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-04

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share
• Shared Documents: STUDY PROTOCOL, SAP
• Time Frame: After completion of data collection.
• Access Criteria: Academic researchers aiming to answer a valid research question.

Locations

GB (1)