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Running Head: EXERCISE AND ANXIETY STUDY

The Effects of Exercise on Anxiety Levels


Jenna Babcock, Rebecca Chavez, Chris Gutierrez, Austin Lepper, Kerielle Williams
Touro University Nevada

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Abstract
The purpose of this study was to measure how exercise correlates to an individuals
anxiety level. The study participants were graduate students from a small private medical
university in Henderson, Nevada. Two surveys were given out to participants. The first survey
measured the frequency of exercise during a week as well as the types of exercise each
individual accomplished. The second survey was the nationally recognized Zung anxiety used to
measure anxiety levels. The results did not show a significant correlation between exercise and
anxiety levels.

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The purpose of this study was to determine the correlation between exercise and an
individuals anxiety level. The literature indicates that those who exercise have a lower
anxiety level. We hypothesized that if participants exercised more than three times per week,
their anxiety level scores will be lower than their peers that exercised less than three times
per week.
Method
To test the relationship between exercise and anxiety, we recruited participants at Touro
University from the occupational therapy 2015 cohort. All 2015 occupational therapy
students participated in the study except for the individuals conducting the study. Individuals
were recruited from this specific cohort because a waiver of informed consent was not
required for fellow students to participate in the study. The thirty-one participants included
eight males and twenty-three females.
Study participants completed two self-report surveys; the Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale
(SAS) and the other on the amount of exercise engaged in over a one-week period. The SAS
is a 20-item questionnaire that includes a likert scale that ranges from 1 to 4, with the lower
score meaning a little of the time and the high score indicating most of the time. The
total raw score may range from 20-80 and the anxiety index is based on the following
categories: 20-44 Normal Range; 45-59 Mild to Moderate Anxiety Levels; 60-74 Marked to
Severe Anxiety Levels; 75-80 Extreme Anxiety Levels. Exercise was defined as more than
thirty minutes of physical activity. Types of exercise included running or walking briskly
enough to become out of breath, taking an exercise class, lifting weights, participating in
sports, and exercising at home. Participants were asked to report the amount of exercise per

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day for a week. To measure acceptable data, participants must have worked out for a
minimum of 30 minutes or longer to count as a workout.
Results
As noted, it was hypothesized that the more an individual exercised, the lower their
anxiety levels would be. The descriptive results indicated that the participants anxiety levels
ranged from 22 to 45. Exercise reported in one week ranged from 1 to 13. The mean for
exercise per week was 6.65 out of 20 and the mean for anxiety level was 33.58 out of 80.
The standard deviation for the exercise level was 3.2 and the standard deviation for the
anxiety level was 4.88. Results of the data can be seen in Table 1 through Table 3.
Summary of Data Analysis
The data were entered into Microsoft Excel and analyzed using a Pearson correlation.
The correlation between exercise and anxiety levels was not statistically significant, p
=.9532. Data analysis indicated that the amount of physical activity the participants engaged
in per week varied significantly across individuals. However, there was more variation in the
range of anxiety level scores.
The findings indicated that there was no significant correlation between the amount a
person exercises and their anxiety levels. The participants were asked to answer whether
they engaged in a specific exercise, ranging from zero to more than three times a week;
gender and race were not factors attributed to this study. It was hypothesized that if
participants exercised more than three times per week, their anxiety level scores would be
lower than their peers that exercised less than three times per week. The data gathered did
not support the hypothesis.

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Discussion
The background literature that was reviewed showed a positive correlation between
exercise and anxiety levels. These studies showed that the more a person exercised the less
anxiety the person had. The purpose of our research study was to verify the previous study
findings that demonstrate exercise can decrease anxiety levels. The data was collected and
analyzed using a Pearson correlation in conjunction with Microsoft Excel.
Limitations
The first study limitation is the small and homogenous sample of only n=31 participants who
share similar interests, attend the same school and share a common schedule. Second, there was
bias introduced as data collection was limited to a single point in time. This means that
individuals anxiety may have varied across days, but they had to rate it as a weekly average. A
third limitation was that participants were involved in multiple other studies during our data
collection. The primary threat to internal validity was using a convenience sample of students
who had the same schedule and medium anxiety levels related to school work. A second form of
bias may have occurred in allowing students to self-report. There was no way to verify how
many times they actually exercised in a week, which may have affected measurement. Another
limitation involved the range of exercises chosen to represent the independent variable. A threat
to external validity was the use of only two; self-report surveys measured at one time point using
a small sample of students who are alike. This would make study findings less generalizable.
Future research should include valid measures of anxiety and exercise administered over
a longer period of time that could be cross-referenced (exercise verified) to produce more
accurate findings. Other recommendations would be to have a larger and more diverse pool of
participants. Incorporating these recommendations could support previous findings. The Zung

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anxiety survey did not have an option for not at all when measuring participants data. This
option would allow for individuals anxiety levels to be lower when analyzing the data and
improve the range of measurement. In retrospect, using another nationally recognized anxiety
level survey such as Hamilton and Beck could have resulted in more statistically significant data.
Overall, current evidence does support use of exercise as an effective primary treatment
for anxiety. However, the positive effect of exercise was not proven in the current study.

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References
Salkind, N. J. (2012). Exploring research (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson
Education, Inc.
Zung, W. W. K. (1971). A rating instrument for anxiety disorders. Psychosomatics, 12, 371-379.

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Appendix A: Table 1
Individual data
50
45
40
35
30
25

Amt of exercise

20

Anx level

15
10
5
0
Participants

Note. This table reflects the amount of times a person exercised in a selected week long period.
As well as their self-reported level of anxiety during that same week.

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Appendix B: Table 2
Mean data
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Exercise

Anxiety

Note. This table reflects the mean for anxiety and exercise for all of the participants in the study.
The mean number of exercise for a normal week was 6.65 with a standard deviation of
3.2. The mean level on the anxiety scale was 33.58 out of 80 with a standard deviation of
4.9.

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Appendix C: Table 3
Correlational data

Anxiety level

50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
0

10

12

14

Amount of exercise per week

Note. As shown by the scatterplot, there was no correlation between the amount of times a
person exercised a week and their anxiety level.

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