Motivation and emotion/Book/2025/Emotion regulation through exercise

Emotion regulation through exercise:
How do people use exercise to regulate their emotional states?

Overview

Figure 1: A runner on a track Imagine this ... You have been more stressed at work than usual as the workload is becoming more difficult to handle, which has been affecting your mood and you are more irritable than normal. You wish you had more energy, had a better overall mood, and were fitter. You talk to a friend about this issue and they suggest exercising, so you start going for runs before work to deal with the stress. You find that your mood improves, you feel more confident and you are able to handle your workload better.

Emotional regulation is the way an individual handles their emotions through behaviours to achieve an emotional outcome. An individual may want the benefits of exercise to deal with their stress and anxiety. The individual is participating in a behaviour to reap the benefits of that behaviour through a positive emotional outcome. These behaviours can purposefully cause pleasant or unpleasant emotions to acquire the desired outcome. The neurotransmitters and hormones that are released during exercising can aid being able to handle those emotions in productive and healthy ways by managing stress and anxiety.

Focus questions What is function of emotional regulation? What are the benefits of improved emotional regulation? How does exercise aid effective emotional regulation?

What is emotional regulation?

Emotional regulation describes a behaviour that aims to increase positive emotions and decrease negative emotions. There are a range of behaviours that an individual can exhibit depending on the desired outcome.

Definition of emotional regulation

Emotional regulation is the process of changing the emotional trajectory to the desired emotional outcome through behaviours. People are motivated to regulate their emotions due to the perceived benefit they could gain (Tamir, 2015). Emotional regulation is associated with the urge to gain control for the best possible outcome (Cools, 2017). This chapter focuses on intrinsic emotional regulation and how exercise can be used to regulate one's own emotions

Hedonic vs instrumental emotional regulation

Motives of emotional regulation can be hedonic or instrumental. These emotional regulation motives help to describe different behaviours and what they aim to acheive

Hedonic motives involve seeking immediately increasing pleasure and minimising pain (Tamir, 2015). This can be separated into to different categories of prohedonic motives and contrahedonic motives in order to maintain balance between pleasant and unpleasant emotions, also called "hedonic balance"(Tamir, 2015). Prohedonic motives aim to increase pleasure or decrease pain while contrahedonic aim to decrease pleasure and increase pain.

Instrumental motives involve behaviours that will increase pleasure and minimise pain in the future. (Tamir, 2015). Similarly to hedonic motives, there are different types of instrumental motives. These include:

- Performance motives: Behaviours that may result in the individual gaining something physical. For example, an athlete may increase an unpleasant feeling such as anger if it means they will perform better in their completion (Tamir, 2015)

- Epistemic motives: The desire to attain information. For example, an individual may seek to experience pride to verify positive information about themselves (Tamir, 2015).

- Social motives: The desire to create and maintain relationships. Someone may want to regulate their emotions to influence how others see them (Tamir, 2015). This can also be seen in cultural settings to uphold cultural ideals.

- Eudaimonic motives: The desire to have a sense of autonomy. This motive may cause people to seek experiences that are personally meaningful to them to reinforce a sense of meaningful of life (Tamir, 2015).

James - Lange theory of emotion

The James-Lange theory of emotion was developed in the late 1800s by William James and Carl Lange that attempted to explain how physiological changes can effect emotions.

What is the James - Lange theory of emotion?

The James - Lange theory of emotion states that the feeling of bodily changes which follow the perception of an exciting event (Fehr & Stern, 1970). In William Jame's book What is emotion (1884), he describes that emotions are bodily disturbances that "are said to be the manifestation of these several, emotions, their expression or natural language... these standard emotions is that the mental perception of some fact excites the mental affection called the emotion". The theory suggests that emotions are the result of how the brain interprets physiological changes in the body

William James tested his theory on three case studies in the late 1800s when the theory was developed (Fehr & Stern, 1970). Due to small sample size used to test the James - Lange theory by James in the 1800s, further testing was needed to conclude if the theory has reliability and validity.

Current research on theory

A study 2019, Emotion Recognition from Physiological Signal Analysis: A Review used the James - Lange theory as the foundation for their experiment. Using modern technology such as EEG, SR (speech recognition), VR (voice recognition), and HRV (heart rate variability), study was able to measure brain activity and arousal level in participants (Maria et al, 2019). The study found high accuracy in measuring emotions in the participants, for example "FR can provide high accuracy of up to 89 % for seven emotional states"(Maria et al, 2019). The study recommend by utilising several of these instruments, emotions and arousal levels can be measured in an effective and non-invasive way.

Another study A Comprehensive Review for Emotion Detection Based on EEG Signals: Challenges, Applications, and Open Issues, also guided by the James - Lange theory in 2021 further explored the use of EEG for measuring emotion. The study highlights the challenges of using EEG to detect emotions based on physiological responses such as accurately classify different emotions and filtering the noise from the raw data. The study concluded that when conducted properly with the correct techniques, "EEG signals achieved better results than other traditional methods" (Abdulrahman & Baykara, 2021)

Current research supports the James - Lange theory of emotion through the use of modern technology to study the relationship between physiological responses and emotion.

How does brain chemistry change when exercising?

The brain releases neurotransmitters when exercising. Using the James - Lang theory, research has shown how these neurotransmitters can evoke certain emotions and be used to help regulate emotions

Monoamine Neurotransmitter

Neurotransmitters released during acute exercise is a monoamine neurotransmitter which includes dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin (Jiang et.al, 2022). Recent research suggests that emotions are mediated by these three main neurotransmitters (Jiang et.al, 2022).

Endorphins

Research has found that light and endurance exercise can result in an increase in endorphins (Bhattacharya, 2022). This spike in endorphins is what is referred ti as the "runner's high" which describes the euphoric state someone may feel after exercise.

Quiz

What is the difference between Hedonic and Instrumental emotional regulation: Hedonic emotional regulation seeks to increase pleasure and decrease pain immediately and Instrumental seeks increased pleasure in the future Instrumental uses other people to regulate emotions and Hedonic uses one's own skills to regulate emotions Hedonic is a more effective version of emotional regulation compared to Instrumental

How does exercise effect emotional regulation?

Emotional regulation is linked to stress resistance, cognitive functions, and mood. The effects of exercise help facilitate emotional regulation due to the neurotransmitters that rise during exercise.

Stress resistance

The chemical changes that happen in the brain when exercising aid in emotional regulation. Stress management allows an individual to build resilience to stress to be able to handle everyday life stressors in a healthy way. Exercise is a stressor which increases cortisol immediately after exercising. This rise in cortisol aids in stress management and resistance by down regulating the hypothalamic - pituitary - adrenal axis and the sympathetic nervous system (Shafir, 2015).

Cognitive functions

Exercise has a long-term positive effect on cognitive function (Basso & Suzuki, 2016). Research has suggested that different intensities of exercise can target specific types of brain functions (Basso & Suzuki, 2016). Improving cognitive function through exercise is crucial in improving emotional regulation skills. (Liu, 2022)

Mood

Neurotransmitters that are released during exercise, such as serotonin, help to improve mood. This makes exercise an effective tool for emotional regulation as the behaviour (exercising) can be used to achieve a desired outcome whether that is mood, stress management, or cognitive functions.

Conclusion

Emotional regulation is a strategy to redirect emotions for a desired outcome and exercise can be used to aid in redirecting those emotions. The James - Lange theory describes how physiological responses can effect emotions.The beneficial outcomes from exercising such as stress resistance, cognitive functions, and improved mood allow for exercise to be used to effectively regulate emotions. Using the James - Lange theory, the body responds to exercise to produce positive emotions and regulates the nervous system. This is important for emotional regulation as exercise provides a way to deal with stressors while increasing positive emotions.

See also

- Motivation and emotion/Book/2014/Exercise and mood - Aerobic exercise

References

Abdulrahman, A., & Baykara, M. (2021). A Comprehensive Review for Emotion Detection Based on EEG Signals: Challenges, Applications, and Open Issues. Traitement du Signal, 38(4).

https://doi.org/10.18280/ts.380430

Basso, J. C., & Suzuki, W. A. (2016). The effects of acute exercise on mood, cognition, neurophysiology, and neurochemical pathways: a review. Brain Plasticity, 2(2), 127-152. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.3233/BPL-160040

Bhattacharya, P., Chatterjee, S., & Roy, D. (2023). Impact of exercise on brain neurochemicals: a comprehensive review. Sport Sciences for Health, 19(2), 405-452.https://doi.org/10.1007/s11332-022-01030-y

Egger, M., Ley, M., & Hanke, S. (2019). Emotion recognition from physiological signal analysis: A review. Electronic Notes in Theoretical Computer Science, 343, 35-55. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.entcs.2019.04.009

Fehr, F. S., & Stern, J. A. (1970). Peripheral physiological variables and emotion: the James-Lange theory revisited. Psychological Bulletin, 74(6), 411 https://doi.org/10.1037/h0032958

Gross, J. J. (2015). Emotion regulation: Current status and future prospects. Psychological inquiry, 26(1), 1-26 https://doi.org/10.1080/1047840X.2014.940781

Jiang, Y., Zou, D., Li, Y., Gu, S., Dong, J., Ma, X., ... & Huang, J. H. (2022). Monoamine neurotransmitters control basic emotions and affect major depressive disorders. Pharmaceuticals, 15(10), 1203. https://doi.org/10.3390/ph15101203 Li, B. (2023). The relationship between physical exercise and self-efficacy of college students and the mediating role of emotional self-regulation. ''Revista de Psicología del Deporte (Journal of Sport Psychology)'', ''32''(1), 241-249.https://rpd-online.com/manuscript/index.php/rpd/article/view/1258 Liu, J., Gao, S., & Zhang, L. (2022). Effects of physical exercises on emotion regulation: a meta-analysis. ''Medrxiv'', 2022-07. <nowiki>https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.07.04.22277120

Nicastro, T. M., & Greenwood, B. N. (2016). Central monoaminergic systems are a site of convergence of signals conveying the experience of exercise to brain circuits involved in cognition and emotional behavior. Current Zoology, 62(3), 293-306. https://doi.org/10.1093/cz/zow027 Phan, H. P., Wang, H. W., Shih, J. H., Shi, S. Y., Lin, R. Y., & Ngu, B. H. (2018). The importance of mindfulness in the achievement of optimal functioning: Conceptualization for research development. In ''Educational psychology-between certitudes and uncertainties'' (pp. 39-55). London, UK: IntechOpen. <nowiki>https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.79938

Rolston, A., & Lloyd-Richardson, E. (2017). What is emotion regulation and how do we do it. Cornell Research Program on Self-Injury and Recovery, 1, 1-5. https://www.selfinjury.bctr.cornell.edu/perch/resources/what-is-emotion-regulationsinfo-brief.pdf

Shafir, T. (2015). Movement-based strategies for emotion regulation. Handbook on emotion regulation: Processes, cognitive effects and social consequences, 231-249. https://www.novapublishers.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/978-1-63482-361-6_ch13.pdf

Tamir, M. (2016). Why do people regulate their emotions? A taxonomy of motives in emotion regulation. Personality and social psychology review, 20(3), 199-222. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868315586325

Zhang, Y., Fu, R., Sun, L., Gong, Y., & Tang, D. (2019). How does exercise improve implicit emotion regulation ability: preliminary evidence of mind-body exercise intervention combined with aerobic jogging and mindfulness-based yoga. Frontiers in psychology, 10, 1888.

External links

- The Ultimate Brain Booster: Exercise and Mental Health - https://longevity.stanford.edu/lifestyle/2024/05/01/the-ultimate-brain-booster-exercise-and-mental-health/ - Wendy Suzuki: The brain-changing benefits of exercise https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHY0FxzoKZE