ArticleDepression and anxiety2018
Exercise decreases defensive responses to unpredictable, but not predictable, threat.
Article in Depression and anxiety, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
What it found
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 14 citations in OpenAlex.
- The novel vasopressin receptor (V1aR) antagonist SRX246 reduces anxiety in an experimental model in humans: a randomized proof-of-concept study.Psychopharmacology · 2021Trial
- Low-Intensity Physical Exercise Improves Pain Catastrophizing and Other Psychological and Physical Aspects in Women with Fibromyalgia: A Randomized Controlled Trial.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Trial
- How Temporal Predictability of Threat and Action Preparation Affect Defensive Freezing Responses.Psychophysiology · 2026Article
- The Microbiota-Gut-Brain Axis in Light of the Brain Axes and Dysbiosis Where Piezo2 Is the Critical Initiating Player.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Heightened subcortical reactivity to uncertain-threat is associated with future internalizing symptoms, conditional on stress exposure.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- The Effect of Acute Exercise on State Anxiety: A Systematic Review.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Aerobic exercise reduces anxiety and fear ratings to threat and increases circulating endocannabinoids in women with and without PTSD.Mental health and physical activity · 2021Article
- Interpersonal trauma exposure and startle reactivity to uncertain threat in individuals with alcohol use disorder.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundResearch supports the anxiolytic effect of exercise, but the mechanism underlying this effect is unclear. This study examines the influence of exercise in healthy controls on two distinct defensive states implicated in anxiety disorders: fear, a phasic response to a predictable threat, and anxiety, a sustained response to an unpredictable threat.
methodsThirty-four healthy volunteers (17 male, age M = 26.18, SD = 5.6) participated in sessions of exercise (biking at 60-70% of heart rate reserve) and control (biking at 10-20% of heart rate reserve) activity for 30 min, separated by 1 week. Threat responses were measured by eyeblink startle and assessed with the "Neutral-Predictable-Unpredictable threat test," which includes a neutral (N) and two threat conditions, one with predictable (P) and one with unpredictable (U) shock.
resultsResults show that exercise versus control activity reduces startle potentiation during unpredictable threat (P = .031), but has no effect on startle potentiation during predictable threat (P = .609).
conclusionsThese results suggest that exercise reduces defensive response to unpredictable, but not predictable, threat, a dissociation that may help inform clinical indications for this behavioral intervention, as well as provide clues to its underlying neurobehavioral mechanisms.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.