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Cognitive Therapy and Research, VoL 2, No. 4, 1978, pp. 323-333

A n x i e t y R e d u c t i o n F o l l o w i n g E x e r c i s e a n d M e d i t a t i o nM i c h a e l S . B a h r k e ~ a n d W i l l i a m P . M o r g a n ~University of Wisconsin--Madison

The purpose of this investigation was to compare the influence o f acutephysical activity and meditation ("noncultic") on state anxiety. Seventy-five adult male volunteers served as Ss with 25 Ss randomly assigned toeither an exercise, meditation, or control group. Physical activity was per-formed at 70% of self-imposed maximal exercise heart rate for 20 minutesby Ss in the exercise group; Ss assigned to the meditation group practicedBenson "s Relaxation Response for 20 minutes; and Ss in the control groupsimply rested quietly in a "'Lazyboy'" chair fo r 20 minutes. State anxietywas measured with the Spielberger Scale, and it was assessed (1) prior to, (2)immediately following, and (3) 10 minutes fol lowing each treatment.Oxygen consumption, heart rate, skin temperature, and blood pressurewere also measured as confirmatory variables under selected conditions.The data were analyzed by means o a two-way repeated measures ANO VA,and this analysis revealed that a significant reduction in anxiety occurredfo r each treatment. This held fo r both those Ss falling within the normalrange for state anxiety and those Ss regarded as high-anxious. It was alsonoted that none of the physiological variables differed significantly fol low-ing the control and meditation treatments. The present evidence suggeststhat acute physical activity, noncultic meditation, and a quiet rest sessionare equally effective in reducing state anxiety.P s y c h o l o g i c a l p r o b l e m s i n v o l v i n g a n x i e t y s ta t e s h a v e b e e n e s t i m a t e d t o b ef r o m 2 t o 470 i n t h e g e n e r a l p o p u l a t i o n a n d f r o m 1 6 t o 2 5 % i n p s y c h i a t r i cpa t ien t s ample s (Lade r , 1972 ; P i t t s , 1969 ; W i lk inson & La t i f , 1974).Fu r the rm ore , i t ha s been e s t ima ted tha t 30 to 70070 o f a l l pa t ien t s cu r ren t ly

' P r e s e n t a d d re s s : D e p a r t m e n t o f H e a l t h , Ph y s i c al E d u c a t i o n a n d R e c r e a t i o n , U n i v e r si t y o fKansas , Lawrence , Kansas 66045.2Presen t add ress : Exe rc i se and S por t Sc ience Lab ora to ry , D epa r tm en t o f Phys ica l Educ a t ion ,U n i v e r s it y o f A r i z o n a , T u c s o n , A r i z o n a 8 57 21 .323

0147-5916/78/1200-0323505.00/0 1 9 7 8 P l e n u m P u b l i s h i n g C o r p o r a t i o n

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324 Bahrke and Morganbeing treated by physicians in general practice are suffering from condition swhich have their origins in unreliev ed stress (Pitts, 1969). The p revalen ce o fanxiety states makes i t readily apparent that anxiety represents one of con-temporary society 's major heal th problems.

Therapies of various types, including autogenic training, biofeed -back, drugs, hypnosis, exercise, meditation, and various relaxation tech-niques have been emplo yed as a means of reducing anxiety. In this context i tis no tew or thy tha t acut e physical activity (Byrd , 1965; de Vries, 1968; deVries, 1972; Morgan, 1973; Morgan, 1978) and meditation or relaxationtechniq ues (Benson , 1975; Ben son & W allace, 1972, Ben son, Steinert,Green woo d, Klemchuk, & Peterson, 1975; Ferguson & Gow an, 1975;Wallace, 1970; Wallace & Benson, 1972), two seemingly divergent ther-apies , are both capable of reducing tension and improving psychologicalstates. This becomes an important theoretical point when one considers thatmeditation and relaxation techniques produce quiescence, whereas exerciseproduces the converse, arousal. Hence, two procedures representingopposi te ends of the quiescence-arousal cont inuum produce a s imilar effect- -anxiety reduct ion. The assumption made, however , that per ipheralneurophysical and biochemical changes reflect central alterations, is de-batable and certainly not proven. In other words, i t is possible that changesoccurring centrally are not reflected peripherally. Also while both of thesetechniques produce a decrement in tension state there has been no directcomparison of these two divergent therapies heretofore .

The pr imary pu rpose of this investigation was to com pare the effectsof acute physical activity and noncultic meditation on state anxiety. Thesecondary purpose was to assess the influence of differential anxiety stateson the anxiety response.

M E T H O D

SubjectsThe subjects consisted of 75 regularly exercising adult male volun-teers. S ubjects ' ages ranged betw een 22 and 71 years with a m ean of 51.9

years. The mean height and weight of this sam ple were 177.6 cm (SD =6.5) and 78.4 kg (SD = 9.7), respectively.

Proc e du r eThe experimental protocol was described to each subject with the

unders tanding that random assignment to one of the fol lowing three groups

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A n x i e t y R e d u c t i o n F o l l o w i n g E x e r c i s e a n d M e d i t a t io n 3 2 5

would follow: (1) exercise, (2) meditation, or (3) quiet rest (control). 'Sub-jects were asked to sign an informed consent document and complete a24-hour history dealing with consummatory behavior and activity duringthe previous day as well as their general state of health. Prior to beingrandomly assigned to a group, anxiety was assessed by completion of theSTAI X-1 (State) and STAI X-2 (Trait) (Spielberger, Gorsuch, & Lushene,1970). State anxiety (STAI X-I) was also measured immediately followingand 10 minutes following each experimental session. Electrodes for moni-toring and recording cardiac frequency were placed in a C-5 position.

Treatment ConditionsSubjects in the exercise group (N = 25) walked for 20 minutes on a

motor-driven treadmill at 70% of their self-imposed maximal heart rate(MHR) following 3 minutes of warm-up. Seventy percent of MHR wascalculated from each subject's most recent modified Balke Treadmill Test(Balke & Ware, 1959). Subjects rated their perceived exertion at 5 minuteintervals during exercise according to Borg's revised psychophysical scale(Borg, 1973). A 3 minute "wa rm-d ow n" followed each exercise walk. Heartrate was recorded during the final 15 seconds of each minute using a GilsonRecorder. Postexercise state anxiety was obtained immediately and 10minutes following exercise. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure were alsomeasured 10 minutes after cessation of exercise.

Subjects in the meditation group (N = 25) received tape-recordedinstructions describing the Relaxation Response (Benson, 1975), and theypracticed the technique while seated in a standard "Lazyboy" recliner.Resting metabolism (oxygen consumption) was continuously monitored bymeans of a Webb Metabolic Rate Monitor (MRM), and skin temperaturewas measured throughout meditation with a United Systems Digitec digitalthermometer. Electrode placement for skin temperature was 1 inch proxi-mal to the right wrist on the dorsal side, and skin temperature was recordedat 2 minute intervals. Heart rate was continuously recorded on a Gilsonpolygraph recorder with the final 15 seconds of each minute used to deter-mine cardiac frequency. As in the exercise session state anxiety wasmeasured immediately following an d again 10 minutes following thesession. Blood pressure was obtained at the completion of the 10 minutetime interval as well.

The control group (N = 25) rested quietly for 20 minutes in therecliner and subjects were provided a current issue o f the Reader's Digest toread during this period if they so desired. The magazine contained noarticles relating to relaxation, exercise, or cardiovascular health. Oxygenconsumption, heart rate, and skin temperature were monitored and

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326 Bahrke and Morganrecorded as described earlier for the meditation procedure. State anxietylevels were assessed immediately and 10 minutes following this session bymeans of the STAI (Spielberger et al., 1970).

Means, standard deviations and standard errors were computed foreach variable. A series of two-way repeated measures ANOVAs for bloodpressure, state anxiety, skin temperature, heart rate, and oxygen consump-tion was performed. In cases where significant F ratios (p< .05) wereobserved, a probe of the means was carried out utilizing the Newman-Keulsprocedure (Winer, 1971).

The results of the primary analysis are summarized in Figure 1. Stateanxiety decreased across time for the exercise, meditation, and controlgroups. A two-way repeated measures analysis of variance (Winer, 1971)demonstrated a significant decrease (p < .05) in state anxiety across time (F= 48.94). No significant differences (p< .05) were demonstrated betweengroups (F = 1.82) or for the interaction between time and group (F = .32).

When the three groups were combined and subjects were divided intohigh- (N = 10) and low- (N = 10) anxious categories based upon their initiallevel of trait anxiety, mean state anxiety values decreased significantly(p< .05) in both the high trait anxious (41.7 to 31.8) and in the low trait

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E X P E R I M E N T A L P E R I O DFig . 1 . S ta te anx ie ty be fo re and fo l low ing exe rc ise, me d i ta t ion ,and con t ro l t r ea tmen ts .

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A n x i e t y Reduclion Following Exercise and Meditation 327a n x i o u s s u b je c t s ( 2 7 . 4 t o 2 2 . 0 ) a c r o s s t r ia l s ( F = 2 7 . 0 2 ) . A n a d d i t i o n a la n a l y s i s w a s c a r r i e d o u t i n w h i c h t h e state a n x i e t y r e s p o n s e o f f o u r h i g htrait a n x i o u s s u b je c t s f r o m e a c h g r o u p w a s e v a l u a t e d . A s i g n i f i c a n t( p < .0 5) d e c r e m e n t i n s t at e a n x i e t y wa s o b s e r v e d f o r t h e t h r e e g r o u p sa c r o s s t ri a ls ( F = 9 . 7 9 ), b u t t h e g r o u p ( F = 1 .2 0 ) a n d g r o u p b y tr ia l s i n te r -a c t i o n ( F = . 29 ) e f f e c t s w e r e n o t s i g n i f ic a n t . A n e v a l u a t i o n o f s t a te a n x i e t yr e s p o n s i v i t y i n h i g h ( N = 1 1) a n d l o w ( N = 1 1) s t a t e a n x i o u s s u b j e c t s r e-v e a l e d t h a t s t a t e a n x i e t y d e c r e a s e d s i g n i f i c a n t l y ( p < .0 5 ) f o r t h e h i g h -a n x i o u s ( 4 4 .7 t o 3 2 . 1 ) b u t r e m a i n e d v i r tu a l l y u n c h a n g e d f o r t h e l o w -a n x i o u ss u b j e c ts . T h i s r e s u l te d i n s i g n i f i c a n t F r a t i o s f o r g r o u p s ( F = 1 0 2 .5 3 ) , t r ia l s( F = 1 6 .8 0) , a n d g r o u p s b y t r ia l s i n t e r a c t i o n ( F = 1 4 .7 2 ). T h e n a t u r e o ft h i s i n t e r a c t i o n r u l e s o u t s t a t i s t i c a l r e g r e s s i o n s i n c e t h e h i g h - a n x i o u s d e -c r e a s e d s u b s t a n t i a l l y , w h e r e a s t h e l o w - a n x i o u s d i d n o t c h a n g e .A s m a ll in c r e as e in s k i n t e m p e r a t u r e s o c c u r r e d f o r b o t h t h e c o n t r o la n d m e d i t a t i o n g r o u p s . A t w o - w a y r e p e a t e d m e a s u r e s A N O V A (2 5)d e m o n s t r a t e d a s ig n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e ( p < .0 5 ) a c r o s s t i m e w i t h i n g r o u p s ( F= 6 . 7 3) b u t n o s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e s b e t w e e n g r o u p s ( F = . 71 ) , n o r i n t e r-a c t i o n f o r t i m e a n d g r o u p ( F = 1 .2 8) . T h e t e m p e r a t u r e o f t h e t e st r o o m w a ss t a b l e, h a v i n g a s t a n d a r d e r r o r o f . 9 9 C a c r o s s t h e 2 0 m i n u t e s f o r t h ec o n t r o l s es s io n a n d a s t a n d a r d e r r o r o f . 7 3 C f o r t h e m e d i t a t i o n s e ss io n .

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