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Cited by 1,192Physical Activity and HealthWorkplace Health and Well-beingStress Responses and Cortisol

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 443 of the 443 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

The Effects of Stress on Physical Activity and Exercise

Open access
Stults-Kolehmainen, Matthew A., Sinha, Rajita·2014·Sports Medicine
DOI 10.1007/s40279-013-0090-5PMC PMC3894304
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Abstract

Background Psychological stress and physical activity (PA) are believed to be reciprocally related; however, most research examining the relationship between these constructs is devoted to the study of exercise and/or PA as an instrument to mitigate distress.Objective The aim of this paper was to review the literature investigating the influence of stress on indicators of PA and exercise.Methods A systematic search of Web of Science, PubMed, and SPORTDiscus was employed to find all relevant studies focusing on human participants. Search terms included "stress", "exercise", and "physical activity". A rating scale (0-9) modified for this study was utilized to assess the quality of all studies with multiple time points.Results The literature search found 168 studies that examined the influence of stress on PA. Studies varied widely in their theoretical orientation and included perceived stress, distress, life events, job strain, role strain, and work-family conflict but not lifetime cumulative adversity. To more clearly address the question, prospective studies (n = 55) were considered for further review, the majority of which indicated that psychological stress predicts less PA (behavioral inhibition) and/or exercise or more sedentary behavior (76.4 %). Both objective (i.e., life events) and subjective (i.e., distress) measures of stress related to reduced PA. Prospective studies investigating the effects of objective markers of stress nearly all agreed (six of seven studies) that stress has a negative effect on PA. This was true for research examining (a) PA at periods of objectively varying levels of stress (i.e., final examinations vs. a control time point) and (b) chronically stressed populations (e.g., caregivers, parents of children with a cancer diagnosis) that were less likely to be active than controls over time. Studies examining older adults (>50 years), cohorts with both men and women, and larger sample sizes (n > 100) were more likely to show an inverse association. 85.7 % of higher-quality prospective research (≥ 7 on a 9-point scale) showed the same trend. Interestingly, some prospective studies (18.2 %) report evidence that PA was positively impacted by stress (behavioral activation). This should not be surprising as some individuals utilize exercise to cope with stress. Several other factors may moderate stress and PA relationships, such as stages of change for exercise. Habitually active individuals exercise more in the face of stress, and those in beginning stages exercise less. Consequently, stress may have a differential impact on exercise adoption, maintenance, and relapse. Preliminary evidence suggests that combining stress management programming with exercise interventions may allay stress-related reductions in PA, though rigorous testing of these techniques has yet to be produced.Conclusions Overall, the majority of the literature finds that the experience of stress impairs efforts to be physically active. Future work should center on the development of a theory explaining the mechanisms underlying the multifarious influences of stress on PA behaviors.

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Research works printed but not linked: 9

  1. Throne LC, Bartholomew JB, Craig J, et al. Stress reactivity in fire fighters: an exercise intervention. Int J Stress Manage. 2000;7(4):235–46. · DOI
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Metadata

Authors
Stults-Kolehmainen, M. A., & Sinha, R.
Affiliations
Yale University (US)
ORCID
Sinha, Rajita
Venue
Sports Medicine
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2013-09-13
Volume
44
Issue
1
Pages
81-121
ISSN
  • 0112-1642 (ISSN-L)
  • 1179-2035
DOI
10.1007/s40279-013-0090-5
PMC
PMC3894304
OpenAlex
W2019901221
Cited by
1,192
References
441
Citations by year
2026: 87 · 2025: 128 · 2024: 148 · 2023: 141 · 2022: 157 · 2021: 158 · 2020: 113 · 2019: 75 · 2018: 49 · 2017: 56 · 2016: 42 · 2015: 26 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 1
FWCI
2.87
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
Locations
  • Sports Medicine (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • National Institute on Drug Abuse (PL1DA024859)
  • National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (R01DK099039)
  • National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (UL1DE019586)
  • National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (R21AT007708)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Physical Activity and Health
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Workplace Health and Well-being
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
Keywords
psychological stress, physical activity, sedentary behavior, perceived stress, life events, job strain, role strain, work-family conflict, behavioral inhibition, behavioral activation, stress management, exercise adherence, caregivers, older adults, chronic stress, exercise intervention, stress management interventions, exercise maintenance
MeSH terms
Habits, Humans, Stress, Psychological, Health Behavior, Exercise, Sedentary Behavior

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