Effects Of Acute Aerobic Exercise On Mood And EEG Of College Students With Depressive Symptoms

BackgroundDepression has become the most common mental health problem among college students,and low positive mood and high negative mood are typical characteristics of depressed college students,while the EEG characteristics of depressed college students are also different from those of normal college students.However,the effect of single session aerobic exercise on depressed college students’ mood and EEG power value and the trend of change are still unclear,so this study selected the average EEG power value of whole brain area and whole frequency band and positive and negative In this study,the effect of single session of aerobic exercise on depressed college students’ mood and EEG average power value was investigated,and the correlation between the changes of positive and negative mood and the average power value of each frequency band in the whole brain area before and after single session of aerobic exercise was observed.This study provides reliable evidence for the development of precise exercise programs.Objectives(1)To investigate the effect of a single session of aerobic exercise on positive negative affect scores(PANAS)of depressed college students,and to understand the effect of a single session of aerobic exercise on the improvement of positive negative affect in depressed college students.(2)Based on the EEG characteristics of depressed people,the effect of single session aerobic exercise on the mean EEG power values of depressed college students was investigated by analyzing the changes of Delta,Theta,Alpha and Beta band power values in the whole leads and frontal,temporal,parietal,occipital and central regions of depressed college students before and after performing single session aerobic exercise.(3)To investigate whether there is a correlation between the changes in depressed college students’ mood and the changes in EEG power values after a single session of aerobic exercise.MethodsIn this study,40 college students with depressive symptoms who scored ≥53 on the SDS depression self-rating scale were screened as intervention subjects,and the40 subjects were divided into experimental and control groups by the random number table method.The subjects in the experimental group were subjected to 20 minutes of moderate intensity power bicycle exercise intervention,and the control group was sedentary for 20 minutes.Positive and negative mood score tests and EEG tests were administered to subjects in both groups before and after the experiment.The data measured in the experiment were analyzed mathematically and statistically using Spss23.0,in which independent sample t-tests were conducted to verify the baseline differences in mood scores and EEG mean power values between the two groups before the experiment;independent and paired sample t-tests were conducted to analyze the changes in mood and EEG mean power values in each frequency band of the subjects before and after the intervention,and a Pearson correlation analysis was used to test the correlation between the variables.Results(1)The PANAS positive mood scores increased(P=0.03)and the negative mood scores decreased(P=0.03)in the experimental group compared with the pre-intervention period,and there was no significant difference between the positive and negative mood scores in the control group before and after the intervention(P>0.05),and the positive mood scores were higher(P=0.03)and lower(P=0.02)in the experimental group compared with the control group after the intervention).(2)The mean power values of Delta rhythm increased significantly in the right frontal region(P=0.04),right occipital region(P=0.03),left temporal region(P=0.01),and right temporal region(P=0.01);Theta rhythm decreased significantly in the left frontal region(P=0.004)and left central region(P=0.023);Alpha decreased significantly in the right temporal region(P=0.03).The mean power values of Beta rhythm decreased significantly in the left frontal region(P=0.032),right frontal region(P=0.023),left central region(P=0.041),right central region(P=0.019),right parietal region(P=0.034),left temporal region(P=0.006),and right temporal region(P=0.008).(3)There was a correlation between positive and negative emotion scores due to single aerobic exercise and changes in EEG mean power values,specifically,there was a positive correlation between changes in Delta rhythm power values in the left frontal and temporal regions and changes in positive emotion scores,and a negative correlation between negative emotion in the left and right temporal regions;there was a positive correlation between changes in Theta rhythm power values in the left frontal region and negative emotion.Alpha rhythm power value changes were positively correlated with negative mood scores in the right temporal region;Beta rhythm power value changes were positively correlated with negative mood scores in the left and right temporal regions.Conclusions(1)A single session of aerobic exercise significantly increased positive mood and decreased negative mood in depressed college students.(2)A single session of aerobic exercise can produce significant changes in the EEG of depressed college students,and a single session of aerobic exercise has a certain effect on 10 brain regions in four frequency bands,Delta,Theta,Alpha,and Beta,and the average power values of EEG in each frequency band have a tendency to change towards the EEG power characteristics of normal people.(3)Changes in mood indicators of college students with depressive symptoms can be reflected by changes in EEG mean power values.