Author(s): BATRAKOULIS, A., MORRES, I., JAMURTAS, A., POULIOS, A., DRAGANIDIS, D., LOULES, G., PAPANIKOLAOU, K., TSIMEAS, P., ANGELOPOULOS, T., DELI, C., HATZIGEORGIADIS, A., FATOUROS, I., Institution: UNIVERSITY OF THESSALY, Country: GREECE, Abstract-ID: 753

INTRODUCTION:
The increasing prevalence of overweight/obesity is a serious public health challenge negatively affecting more than one in two adults globally. Physical exercise is an essential component of an all-inclusive strategy for preventing, managing and treating obesity-related mental health disorders. In particular, a hybrid-type, multicomponent interval training programme (DoIT) has been reported as an effective exercise solution for lowering distress while increasing subjective vitality and exercise behavioral regulation. This study investigated the dose-response relationship between a 1-year hybrid-type, multicomponent interval training and mental health-related parameters in overweight and obese adults in the real world.
METHODS:
This study was a 4-group, randomized controlled trial using a parallel-group design. Initially, 215 volunteers were interviewed, 120 met the eligibility criteria and were recruited and 97 completed the study. DoIT was a supervised, intermittent-type, multimodal exercise protocol using progressive full-body resistance training with nontraditional modalities in a circuit fashion. Following a power analysis, 97 middle-aged (44.8 ± 5.2 years) individuals (66% females) with overweight/obesity (body mass index: 31.2 ± 5.7 kg/m2) were recruited and randomly divided into four groups: i) DoIT assigned to 1 session/week (DoIT-1, n=24), ii) DoIT assigned to 2 sessions/week (DoIT-2, n=23), iii) DoIT assigned to 3 sessions/week (DoIT-3, n=21), and iv) no-exercise control group (CON, n=29).
RESULTS:
No baseline differences were detected in all outcome variables. The overall dropout rate was 19%. At post-training, all DoIT groups showed more beneficial changes than CON in (i) exercise enjoyment (+26% to +37%, p<0.001); ii) affective valence (-35% to -40%, p<0.001); (iii) physical QoL (+7% to +10%, p<0.001); (iv) mental QoL (+7% to +13%, p<0.001); (v) mood (+29% to +53%, p<0.001); (vi) depression (-21% to -47%, p<0.001); (vii), and anxiety (-19% to -40%, p<0.001). DoIT-induced adaptations were somewhat volume-dependent showing a dose-response relationship between weekly exercise volume (DoIT-3 vs. DoIT-1) and the magnitude of mental health improvements. These adaptations were observed even with a limited net exercise time (DoIT-1, 14 min/wk). Correlational analyses revealed low to moderate positive relationships (r=.29–.36, p<.05) between body mass and anxiety, depression, and mood, while both physical and mental HRQoL demonstrated a low to moderate negative relationship (r=–.25 to –.37, p<.05) with body mass at post-training.
CONCLUSION:
These outcomes indicate that a low-volume, multicomponent interval training approach integrating bodyweight movements and functional resistance-based exercises into a real-world gym setting may improve various mental health-related markers in a dose-dependent manner (3 d/wk vs. 1 d/wk) in previously inactive, middle-aged overweight and obese individuals.