title: Severe hypoxia during incremental exercise to exhaustion provokes negative post-exercise affects.
abstract: The post-exercise emotional response is mainly dependent on the intensity of the exercise performed; moderate exercise causes positive feelings, whereas maximal exercise may prompt negative affects. Acute hypoxia impairs peak O2 uptake (V̇O2peak), resulting in a shift to a lower absolute intensity at the point of exhaustion. Hence, the purpose of the study was to examine whether a severe hypoxic stimulus would influence the post-exercise affective state in healthy lowlanders performing an incremental exercise to exhaustion. Thirty-six male lowlanders performed, in a counter-balanced order and separated by a 48-h interval, two incremental exercise trials to exhaustion to determine their V̇O2peak, while they were breathing either room air (AIR; FiO2: 0.21), or a hypoxic gas mixture (HYPO; FiO2: 0.12). Before and immediately after each trial, subjects were requested to complete two questionnaires, based on how they felt at that particular moment: (i) the Profile of Mood States-Short Form, and (ii) the Activation Deactivation Adjective Check List. During the post-exercise phase, they also completed the Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory. V̇O2peak was significantly lower in the HYPO than the AIR trial (~15%; p<0.001). Still, after the HYPO trial, energy, calmness and motivation were markedly impaired, whereas tension, confusion, and perception of physical and general fatigue were exaggerated (p≤0.05). Accordingly, present findings suggest that an incremental exercise to exhaustion performed in severe hypoxia provokes negative post-exercise emotions, induces higher levels of perceived fatigue and decreases motivation; the affective responses coincide with the comparatively lower V̇O2peak than that achieved in normoxic conditions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Physiology, Swedish Aerospace Physiology Center, School of Technology and Health, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden; Department of Automation, Biocybernetics and Robotics, Jozef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia. Electronic address: michail.keramidas@sth.kth.se.
authors.forename: Michail E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Keramidas
authors.affiliation: Exercise and Sport Science Department, ASPETAR Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital, Doha, Qatar; Faculty of Physical Education and Sport Science, University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Nektarios A M
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Stavrou
authors.affiliation: Department of Automation, Biocybernetics and Robotics, Jozef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Stylianos N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Kounalakis
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Physiology, Swedish Aerospace Physiology Center, School of Technology and Health, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Ola
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Eiken
authors.affiliation: Department of Automation, Biocybernetics and Robotics, Jozef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Igor B
authors.initials: IB
authors.lastname: Mekjavic
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004644:Emotions; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology*; D005080:Exercise Test; D006801:Humans; D000860:Hypoxia / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D009584:Nitrogen; D010100:Oxygen; D010101:Oxygen Consumption / Q000502:physiology; D010807:Physical Endurance / Q000502:physiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: C041364:nitrox; D009584:Nitrogen; D010100:Oxygen
keywords: Effort; Emotion; Fatigue; Mood; Performance