The effects of exercise withdrawal on mood and inflammatory cytokine responses in humans

Figures & data

Table I.  Intensity band boundaries for accelerometer calibration (min/day).

Sedentary	0–190
Light	191–573
Moderate	574–2099
Vigorous	2100–5899
Very vigorous	5900 and above

Note: Based on data provided by Matthews (2005, p. S515).

Table II.  Characteristics of the sample at baseline.

Variable	Exercise maintenance group	Exercise withdrawal group	p
Age (years)	25.46 ± 4.45	23.92 ± 4.92	0.45
Women (%)	7 (53.8)	6 (46.2)	–
Men (%)	6 (46.2)	7 (53.8)	–
Body mass index (kg/m^2)	23.47 ± 2.61	23.84 ± 4.38	0.91
Alcohol consumption (units/week)	0.55 ± 0.47	0.46 ± 0.36	0.74
Systolic blood pressure (mm Hg)	113.31 ± 10.89	113.46 ± 12.86	0.93
Plasma cytokines (pg/ml)
IL-6	0.60 ± 0.23	0.74 ± 0.37	0.34
IL-1ra	34.24 ± 16.26	51.79 ± 27.93	0.83
Il-10	11.08 ± 8.67	11.99 ± 11.76	0.38
TNF-α	8.24 ± 10.99	13.84 ± 19.46	0.06
HRV
rMSSD (ms)	43.36 ± 25.82	63.46 ± 34.36	0.12
LF/HF ratio	3.22 ± 2.00	2.97 ± 2.71	0.79
Mood
POMS total score	32.46 ± 10.33	35.83 ± 15.94	0.53
GHQ total score^*	14.23 ± 4.25	17.15 ± 10.32	0.36
Physical activity (h/week)
IPAQ vigorous activity	3.99 ± 2.91	3.71 ± 2.61	0.81
IPAQ moderate activity^*	1.43 ± 1.81	3.74 ± 4.18	0.11
Estimated peak oxygen uptake (ml/kg/min)
Men	42.10 ± 7.80	42.83 ± 14.73	0.91
Women	46.53 ± 8.91	50.86 ± 8.95	0.40

Notes: Data are means ± SD or N (%). IL-6, interleukin-6; IL-1ra, interleukin-1 receptor antagonist; IL-10, interleukin-10; TNF-α, tumour necrosis factor-alpha; rMSSD, root mean square successive difference of R–R intervals; LF/HF ratio, low-frequency/high-frequency ratio; POMS, Profile of Mood States; GHQ, General Health Questionnaire; IPAQ, International Physical Activity Questionnaire.

Levene's equal variances not assumed.

Figure 1.  (a) Mean GHQ score at baseline and 2-week follow-up assessments in exercise withdrawal (dashed line; n = 13) and exercise maintenance (solid line; n = 13) conditions. Vertical lines represent SE of the means. Significant group difference at follow-up, and with time in the withdrawal group (independent t-tests, p < 0.05). (b) Mean POMS score at baseline and 2-week follow-up assessments in exercise withdrawal (dashed line; n = 13) and exercise maintenance (solid line; n = 13) conditions. Vertical lines represent SE of the means. Significant group difference at follow-up, and with time in the withdrawal group (independent t-tests, p < 0.01).

Figure 2.  Mean plasma IL-6 concentration (non-transformed data) at baseline and 2-week follow-up assessment in exercise withdrawal (dashed line; n = 13) and exercise maintenance (solid line; n = 13) conditions. Vertical lines represent SE of the means.

Table III.  Summary of hierarchical regression analysis for variables predicting total POMS change.

Model	B	SE B	R^2
Step 1			0.23
Baseline total POMS	0.31	0.27
Age	0.86	0.77
Sex	11.91	6.86
Step 2			0.46
Baseline total POMS	0.39	0.24
Age	0.32	0.69
Sex	13.05	5.93^*
ΔIL-6	− 14.90	5.32^*

Notes: POMS, Profile of Mood States; IL-6, interleukin-6

Significant at the p < 0.05 level.

Figure 3.  Correlation between change in mood disturbance and 2-week change in plasma IL-6 concentration (r = − 0.49, n = 24, p = 0.016). Note that an increase in POMS score reflects an increase in mood disturbance at follow-up.

Figure 4.  Mean POMS score at baseline and 2-week follow-up assessments in exercise withdrawal/low fitness (dashed line, circle; n = 5), exercise withdrawal/high fitness (dashed line, diamond; n = 6), exercise maintenance/low fitness (solid line, square; n = 7) and exercise maintenance/high fitness (solid line, triangle; n = 6). Vertical lines represent SE of the means. The exercise withdrawal/high-fitness group POMS score was greater at follow-up than the exercise maintenance high and low-fitness groups (independent t-tests, p < 0.005).

Matthews C. 2005. Calibration of accelerometer output for adults. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 37 Suppl: S512–S522.

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