Knowledge Bank

Being excluded by others is a painful experience. Because exercise can improve mood and trigger endogenous pain suppressing chemicals, we asked if exercise could reduce reactivity to social exclusion. In study 1, two hundred fifty-eight (121 female) people self-reported on their exercise frequency and were rejected from an online ball-tossing game, Cyberball. Hurt feelings, anger, and aggressive intentions were measured post-exclusion. Results demonstrated higher self-reported aerobic exercise frequency was associated with less hurt feelings, and less anger, but there was no relationship with aggressive intentions. These findings suggest that exercise reduces responses to social stressors like rejection. To determine if these effects of exercise are causal, study 2 brought forty-two (16 female) participants into the lab in groups of 3 or 4. Half of the participants completed 50 minutes of aerobic exercise (heart rate 140-160 bpm), while the other half remained inactive. After this, all participants engaged in a get to know you group discussion for 15 minutes. Subsequently they were either excluded or included from a follow-up task. Results demonstrated that exercise reduced feelings of sadness and anger, while being rejected decreased feelings of inclusion and positive affect and increased sadness with marginal increases in anger. Exercise also resulted in a significant increase in anger after the social interaction. Feelings of inclusion, sadness and positive affect were differentially responsive between the exercise and no-exercise conditions. Those who had exercised were less emotionally responsive to inclusion or exclusion. Taken together, these studies suggest that exercise reduces reactivity to social rejection and may also reduce responses to social inclusion. Possible explanations for the effects of exercise on mood as well as increased anger are discussed.