Effects of exercise intensities on cortisol release following the induction of a psychological stressor
department or school: Education, Faculty of
department or school: Kinesiology, School of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Hicks, Hana
issued: 2025-01-09T22:56:18Z
issued: 2024
related degree: Master of Science - MSc
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: Long-term physical activity and exercise have been shown to mitigate neurobiological responses to acute psychosocial stressors. There is also evidence that engaging in a single bout of exercise has immediate effects on reducing neurobiological reactivity to acute psychosocial stressors. However, much of this previous work applied definitions of intensity zones on American College of Sports Medicine’s global prescription recommendations, not based on individualized, physiologically meaningful cut-off points for demarcating the intensities at which participants exercised. This project expands on prior evidence by investigating the extent to which a single bout of exercise, performed at light, moderate, or vigorous intensities – established with meaningful indicators of changes in metabolic needs – alters the neurobiological response to a subsequently induced psychosocial stressor. It is hypothesized that vigorous intensity, defined as the midway point between the first and second ventilatory thresholds, will dampen cortisol output following a subsequently induced psychological stressor, compared to moderate (defined as being 10% below the VT1) and light (set at 1.7km/hour) intensities. Moderate intensity is expected to dampen the cortisol trajectory as compared to the light intensity, but to a lesser extent than vigorous. To achieve this, participants complete a modified maximal cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET) to determine their individual ventilatory thresholds. Participants then return to the lab a second time to complete the experiment, whereby they are randomized to complete a 30-minute exercise at their randomized intensity zone, followed by the Trier Social Stress Test 45 minutes later. Multilevel Growth Curve Analysis determined that participants in the vigorous group had significantly slower rates of increased cortisol compared to both the light and moderate groups. Results also indicated no significant differences in cortisol trajectories between the lig…
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/90086
note: Effects of Exercise Intensities on Cortisol Release Following the Induction of a Psychological Stressor by Hana Hicks B.A., Saint Mary’s University, 2018 B.A.H., Saint Mary’s University, 2021 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Kinesiology) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) December, 2024 © Hana Hicks, 2024 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, the thesis entitled: Effects of Exercise Intensities on Cortisol Release Following the Induction of a Psychological Stressor submitted by Hana Hicks in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Kinesiology Examining Committee: Dr. Eli Puterman, Professor, Kinesiology, UBC Supervisor Dr. Mark Beauchamp, Professor, Kinesiology, UBC Supervisory Committee Member Dr. Frances Chen, Professor, Psychology, UBC Supervisory Committee Member iii Abstract Long-term physical activity and exercise have been shown to mitigate neurobiological responses to acute psychosocial stressors. There is also evidence that engaging in a single bout of exercise has immediate effects on reducing neurobiological reactivity to acute psychosocial stressors. However, much of this previous work applied definitions of intensity zones on American College of Sports Medicine’s global prescription recommendations, not based on individualized, physiologically meaningful cut-off points for demarcating the intensities at which participants exercised. This project expands on prior evidence by investigating the extent to which a single bout of exercise, performed at light, moderate, or vigorous intensities – established with meaningful indicators of changes in metabolic needs – alters the neurobiological response to a subsequently induced psychosocial stressor. It is hypothesized that vigorous intensity, def…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2025-05
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0447716
language: eng
degree discipline: Kinesiology
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
contributor: Puterman, Eli
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/90086