Alcohol & Exercise Study

NCT05955911 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 0000055296
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 68
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if exercise can reduce alcohol craving in heavy social alcohol drinkers. The main questions this project aims to answer are 1) compared to a distraction activity (i.e., coloring), will mild-to-moderate intensity exercise (i.e., walking on a treadmill) reduce alcohol craving; 2) compared to a distraction, will mild-to-moderate intensity exercise reduce the amount of consumption of an alcohol-placebo beverage.

Conditions

Alcohol-Related Disorders

Keywords

Alcohol; Exercise; Heavy Drinkers; Alcohol Craving

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Changes in alcohol craving after alcohol prime dose

  It is expected that the exercise condition will lead to larger reductions in alcohol craving (Alcohol Urge Questionnaire) at the mid- and post-intervention time points as compared to the coloring condition.

  mid-intervention (32 minutes after prime dose consumption) & post-intervention (44 minutes after prime dose consumption)

• Post-intervention alcohol beverage consumption

  It is expected that individuals in the exercise condition will consume more of the alcohol-placebo beverage (milliliters of beverage consumed) than individuals in the coloring condition.

  Post-intervention (approximately 50 minutes after prime dose consumption)

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Changes in alcohol wanting after alcohol prime dose

  mid-intervention (32 minutes after prime dose consumption) & post-intervention (44 minutes after prime dose consumption)

Study Arms (2)

Exercise

EXPERIMENTAL

Moderate intensity treadmill walking (40%-59% of heartrate reserve).

Behavioral: Exercise

Coloring

OTHER

Coloring in an adult coloring book as a distraction activity

Behavioral: Coloring

Interventions

Exercise BEHAVIORAL

20 minutes of Moderate intensity (40%-59% heartrate reserve) walking on a treadmill.

Exercise

Coloring BEHAVIORAL

20 minutes of coloring in adult coloring book

Coloring

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 19 Years - 65 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Heavy social alcohol drinkers (i.e., alcohol drinkers who consume 10-40 standard alcohol beverages per week and participate in 1-5 binge drinking episodes \[consume 4+/5+ drinks in a sitting for women/men, respectively\]) per week.

You may not qualify if:

• Meets DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for a current moderate or severe alcohol use disorder
• Meets DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for a current Moderate or Severe cannabis use disorder
• Endorses daily smoking of tobacco
• Endorses having a current DSM-5 psychiatric disorder
• Endorses having any medical conditions that may interfere with the exercise condition (e.g., knee-replacement, sprained ankle, etc.)
• Has a current level of physical activity that exceeds 20 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per day
• Endorses illicit substance use (i.e., use of illicit substances x\>2 times in the past year)
• Has self-reported allergies to pineapple juice, cranberry juice, orange juice, \&/or tonic water
• Individuals not proficient in reading, writing, or speaking in English
• Women who are trying to conceive or who are pregnant
• Women who are currently breastfeeding

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Western University, Canada: lead

Study Sites (1)

Western University

London, Ontario, N6A 3K7, Canada

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Alcohol-Related Disorders; Motor Activity

Interventions

Exercise

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Substance-Related Disorders; Chemically-Induced Disorders; Mental Disorders; Behavior

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Motor Activity; Movement; Musculoskeletal Physiological Phenomena; Musculoskeletal and Neural Physiological Phenomena

Study Officials

• Jesus Chavarria, Ph.D.

  Western University

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Assistant Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: July 13, 2023
• First Posted: July 21, 2023
• Study Start: December 1, 2023
• Primary Completion: July 14, 2025
• Study Completion: July 14, 2025
• Last Updated: July 20, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-07

Locations

CA (1)