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Mood change and marathon running: A pilot study using a Swedish version of the POMS test
Author(s) -
HASSMÉN PETER,
BLOMSTRAND EVA
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.743
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1467-9450
pISSN - 0036-5564
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9450.1991.tb00872.x
Subject(s) - mood , profile of mood states , psychology , test (biology) , physical therapy , clinical psychology , medicine , paleontology , biology
Regular exercise is said to have positive effects on mood, especially if the exercie intensity is low to moderate. However, the acute effects resulting from participation in a strenuous competition, such as a marathon race, have been studied less. The present investigation used the Profile of Mood States (POMS) test to measure mood, before and after the 1989 Stockholm Marathon. A total of 106 male runners (mean age 40.0 years), with finishing times between 3 h and 3 h 45 min participated as subjects. Results showed great changes between pre‐and post‐marathon scores, most of them significant at the p < 0.001 level. Furthermore, differences between a faster and a slower group of runners were demonstrated with regard to mood states, even though plasma glucose levels were comparable. It is concluded that participation in a marathon race greatly effects mood, mainly in a more negative way than low to moderately intense exercise does.