Affective Responses in Mountain Hiking

Affective Responses in Mountain Hiking: A Randomized Controlled Trial Focusing on Differences Between Indoor and Outdoor Activity

Using a within-subject design, 42 healthy participants were randomly exposed to three different conditions: outdoor mountain hiking, indoor treadmill walking, and sedentary control situation (3.5 hours each). Measures included the Feeling Scale, Felt Arousal Scale and a Mood Survey Scale. Univariate ANOVAs were used to analyse differences between the conditions.

Inclusion Criteria:

• voluntary participation

Exclusion Criteria:

• pregnancy
• breast-feeding
• chronic or acute diseases (already existing or diagnosed during the study)
• age below 18 and above 70 years
• unable to be physically active assessed by the Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire (Shephard, Thomas, & Weller, 1991)