A 16-week concurrent exercise program improves emotional well-being and emotional distress in middle-aged women: the FLAMENCO project randomized controlled trial. Issue 7 (July 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Aparicio, Virginia A.; Flor-Alemany, Marta; Marín-Jiménez, Nuria; Coll-Risco, Irene; Aranda, Pilar
• Is Part Of: Menopause. Volume 28:Issue 7(2021)
• Publication Date: 2021-07
• Subjects: Menopause -- Negative affect -- PANAS -- Positive affect; Menopause -- Periodicals; 618.175005
• DOI: 10.1097/GME.0000000000001760
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1072-3714

Abstract

Abstract: Objective: To analyze the influence of a supervised concurrent exercise program on emotional well-being and emotional distress in middle-aged women. Methods: This randomized controlled trial included 150 middle-aged women recruited for the FLAMENCO project. Participants were allocated into counseling ( n = 75) or exercise ( n = 75) groups. The counseling group attended conferences on healthy lifestyle (including diet and physical activity topics). The exercise group followed a 60-min concurrent (aerobic + resistance) exercise training 3 days/wk for 16 weeks. Emotional health was assessed with the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) in two diverse timeframes, state (PANAS-S) and trait (PANAS-T) ranging from 10 to 50, where higher scores reflect greater affective emotional health/experience (positive affect subscale) and greater emotional distress (negative affect subscale). The differences between the counseling and exercise groups in PANAS were analyzed by linear regression. Results: The total number of women for the per-protocol analyses was 111 divided into the counseling ( n = 53) and exercise ( n = 58) groups. After adjusting for body mass index and Mediterranean diet adherence, PANAS-S and PANAS-T-positive affect scores increased by 3.81 and 3.02, respectively, in the exercise group whereas they decreased by 0.15 and increased by 0.51 in the counseling group (both, P < 0.05). PANAS-T negative affect decreased by 4.10 in the exercise group whereas only decreased by 0.9 in the counseling group ( P < 0.05). Conclusion: A 16-week concurrent exercise program improved emotional experience in middle-aged women. Specifically, women in the exercise group significantly improved their emotional well-being and emotional distress through greater changes in positive affect and negative affect compared with the counseling group.