Exercise and Therapeutic Exposure

The Effects of Acute Aerobic Exercise on Therapeutic Safety Learning

The proposed project seeks to demonstrate that a brief bout of aerobic exercise can improve a particular type of therapeutic learning among victimins of interpersonal violence with or without posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The proposed study has one aim:

Specific Aim: To examine the effects of acute exercise on the consolidation of therapeutic safety learning. It is hypothesized that participants who engage in 30-min of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise following the first session of imaginal exposure will show larger between-session (visit 2 to 3) reductions in heart rate and anxiety during imaginal exposure to trauma narratives compared to participants who engage in light-intensity exercise.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Experience of interpersonal violence
• English speaking
• Medically healthy

Exclusion Criteria:

• Any endorsed medical concerns related to physical activity (as probed in the phone screening questions regarding cardiovascular, pulmonary, or metabolic disease and as assessed via the Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire (PAR-Q), which probes into participants' history of heart conditions, chest pain, dizziness, loss of consciousness, bone/joint problems, and medication history). Participants would not be excluded if they report this condition being "controlled" or "addressed" through medication or lifestyle change, such as regular exercise.
• Major medical disorders (such as cancer, AIDS)
• Psychotic disorders
• Intellectual disabilities
• Developmental disorders
• Active substance use disorders
• Pregnancy or probably pregnancy
• Body mass index greater than or equal to 35
• Daily cannabis use
• History of any cardiac disease
• Inability to provide informed consent
• Physical disabilities that prohibit task performance (such as deafness or blindness)
• Self-reported history of loss of consciousness (greater than 30 minutes)