Exercise Intensity on Brain & Mental Health in Stress

NCT06245538 | Completed

• 2 other identifiers: 2022-07297-012023-08181-02
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 24
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

This study aims to examine the role of exercise intensity in the acute effects of a single bout of aerobic exercise on neurotrophic factors, biomarkers of stress and inflammation, working memory task-related changes in prefrontal cortex oxygenation in adults with sub-clinical levels of stress-related symptoms.

Conditions

Healthy Adults; Adults With Stress-related Symptoms

Keywords

FNIRS; Neuroplasticity; Neuroinflammation; cerebral blood flow; Exercise intensity; Psychological stress

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Changes in cerebral blood flow in prefrontal cortex

  working memory task-related changes in prefrontal cortex oxygenation measured using functional near-infrared spectroscopy

  from before to after 20 minutes of exercise or seated rest

Secondary Outcomes (17)

• Brain-derived neurotrophic factor

  At three time points before and four time points after 20 minutes of exercise or seated rest (In total over 2 hours)

• Working memory performance

  At one time point before and one time point after 20 minutes of exercise or seated rest (In total over 1 hour)

• DNA allele of brain-derived neurotrophic factor

  At one time point at baseline

• Platelet count

  At three time points before and four time points after 20 minutes of exercise or seated rest (In total over 2 hours)

• Cortisol

  At three time points before and four time points after 20 minutes of exercise or seated rest (In total over 2 hours)

Study Arms (3)

Seated rest

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants will be resting while seated on a comfortable chair for 20 minutes

Behavioral: Seated rest

Exercise at moderate intensity

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants will perform a 20-min leg cycling exercise on a cycle ergometer at moderate intensity (60% of VO2max)

Behavioral: Exercise at moderate intensity

Exercise at vigorous intensity

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants will perform a 20-min leg cycling exercise on a cycle ergometer at vigorous intensity (80% of VO2max)

Behavioral: Exercise at vigorous intensity

Interventions

Seated rest BEHAVIORAL

Participants will be resting while seated on a comfortable chair for 20 minutes

Seated rest

Exercise at moderate intensity BEHAVIORAL

Participants will perform a 20-min leg cycling exercise on a cycle ergometer at moderate intensity (60% of VO2max)

Exercise at moderate intensity

Exercise at vigorous intensity BEHAVIORAL

Participants will perform a 20-min leg cycling exercise on a cycle ergometer at vigorous intensity (80% of VO2max)

Exercise at vigorous intensity

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 20 Years - 40 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• Participants experiencing sub-clinical levels of stress-related symptoms:
• Age: 20-40 years
• Absence of contraindications to physical exercise
• Do not participate in any other study
• Total score on the self-assessment scale 4-factor Shirom-Melamed Burnout Measure-19 lower than or equal to 4.00

You may not qualify if:

• Medical contraindication to catheterization of the antecubital vein and blood sampling
• Dementia
• Alcohol abuse
• Smoking
• Chronic medication that is considered to affect study outcomes
• Chronic disease/syndrome such as migraine, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, bipolar syndrome, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or other lung disease
• Post-COVID
• Other somatic diseases, disorders, or injuries that may affect the physical ability during physical exercise

Sponsors & Collaborators

• The Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences: lead
• The Knowledge Foundation: collaborator
• Avonova: collaborator
• SATS: collaborator
• Itrim: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

The Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences

Stockholm, 11433, Sweden

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Neuroinflammatory Diseases; Stress, Psychological

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Nervous System Diseases; Inflammation; Pathologic Processes; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Behavioral Symptoms; Behavior

Study Officials

• Maria Ekblom, PhD

  The Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences (GIH)

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Masking Details: The outcomes assessors follow standard operation procedures with automatic analyses and are blinded to study condition and individual stress ratings when analysing the collected data.
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: CROSSOVER
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Professor

Model Details: Randomized-order crossover experimental trial with three experimental conditions separated by a wash-out period of 7 days: 20-min leg cycling exercise at moderate intensity, 20-min leg cycling exercise at vigorous intensity, and 20-min seated rest (passive control condition)

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: January 28, 2024
• First Posted: February 7, 2024
• Study Start: February 15, 2024
• Primary Completion: October 6, 2025
• Study Completion: October 21, 2025
• Last Updated: December 2, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-09

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

SE (1)