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Energy, Tiredness, and Tension Effects of a Sugar Snack Versus Moderate Exercise

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Abstract

After either eating a candy bar or walking briskly for 10 min on 12 selected days, 18 volunteers made systematic self-ratings of their energy, tiredness, and tension feelings for a fixed 2-hr period each day in the context of their normal daily activities. The snacking or walking activity was randomly selected on each test day after completion of a pretest. Results indicated that walking was associated with higher self-rated energy and lower tension significantly more than was snacking. In the walk condition reliable increases in energy and decreases in tension were observed for 2 hr. The sugar snack condition was associated with significantly higher tension after 1 hr, and a pattern of initially increased energy and reduced tiredness, followed 1 hr later by increased tiredness and reduced energy. The results partially support a general conceptual hypothesis that sugar snacking is often motivated by a low-awareness attempt to raise energy. Additionally, the results clarify an apparent conflict between neurochemical research, which indicates that sugar ingestion increases the tendency to sleep, and popular nutrition theory, which indicates that it increases tension.
Journal
of
Personality
and
Social
Psychology
1987,
Vol-52,
No
1,
119-125
Copyright 1987
by the
American Psychological Association, Inc.
0022-3514/87/500.75
Energy,
Tiredness,
and
Tension
Effects
of a
Sugar Snack
Versus
Moderate Exercise
Robert
E.
Thayer
California
State University, Long Beach
After
either
eating
a
candy
bar
or
walking
briskly
for
lOminon
12
selected
days,
18
volunteers
made
systematic
self-ratings
of
their
energy,
tiredness,
and
tension
feelings
for a fixed
2-hr
period
each
day
in the
context
of
their
normal
daily
activities.
The
snacking
or
walking
activity
was
randomly
selected
on
each
test
day
after
completion
of a
pretest.
Results
indicated
that
walking
was
associated
with
higher
self-rated
energy
and
lower
tension
significantly
more
than
was
snacking.
In the
walk
condition
reliable
increases
in
energy
and
decreases
in
tension
were
observed
for 2 hr. The
sugar
snack
condi-
tion
was
associated
with
significantly
higher
tension
after
1 hr, and a
pattern
of
initially
increased
energy
and
reduced
tiredness,
followed
I hr
later
by
increased
tiredness
and
reduced
energy.
The
results
partially
support
a
general
conceptual
hypothesis
that
sugar
snacking
is
often
motivated
by a
low-awareness
attempt
to
raise
energy.
Additionally,
the
results
clarify
an
apparent
conflict
between
neurochemical
research,
which
indicates
that
sugar
ingestion
increases
the
tendency
to
sleep,
and
popular
nutrition
theory,
which
indicates
that
it
increases
tension.
Nutrition
and
exercise
are two
self-improvement topics that
receive immense speculative attention these days.
Yet
with
all
the
talk
and
advice, there
is
relatively little controlled research
on the
relation between these factors (particularly nutrition)
and
daily mood variations.
For
example, there
is a
good
deal
of
popular theory about
the
effects
of
sugar
on
mood (e.g.,
Dufty,
1975),
but few
controlled empirical studies showing
the
time
course
of
mood changes
following
sugar ingestion
are
available
(one
relevant study
is
Spring, Mailer,
Wurtman,
Digman,
& Co-
zolino,
1983). Similarly, although there
is a
growing literature
that
indicates regular exercise programs
affect
mood
in
general
(see
review
by
Folkins
&
Sime,
1981),
the
mood
changes that
usually
occur
in the
minutes
and
hours
following
a
particular
type
and
degree
of
exercise must
be
assumed
by
generalization
from
studies
addressed
to
qualitatively
different
kinds
of
issues.
This paucity
of
research
is
curious considering
the
obviously
wide
societal
interest. Although
no
information
is
available
re-
garding
the
amount
of
research attempted
and
unreported,
the
relatively
small number
of
published experiments
on
daily
mood variations could
be due not to the
lack
of
importance
of
the
topic
or of the
mood
affecting
factors but, rather,
to the
sub-
tlety
of the
dependent
feeling
states.
In my
view
it is
possible
to
conduct good research
in
this
area,
but not
using
the
traditional
nomothetic
laboratory design
in
which measures
are
taken
on
a
single occasion (cf. Epstein, 1980; Rushton,
Brainerd,
&
Pressley,
1983). That traditional procedure
may
well
result
in
no
experimental
effects
or in
atypical self-rated
feelings
attrib-
utable
to a
variety
of
extraneous
or
error variables.
In
particu-
lar,
the
newness
of the
experience
of
being
in an
experiment,
I
wish
to
thank
Ralph
Hupka
for his
helpful
comments
on a
previous
draft
of
this
article.
Correspondence
concerning
this
article
should
be
addressed
to
Rob-
en E.
Thayer,
Department
of
Psychology,
California
State
University,
Long
Beach,
California,
90840.
the
unusualness
of
various experimental treatments,
and the
disruption
of
daily routines
to
come
to a
strange laboratory
could
affect
subtle
feeling
states
to a
greater degree than does
moderate exercise
or
nutrition manipulations.
What
may be
necessary
for
effective
research
in
this area
is a
new
experimental procedure.
For
example,
it
could
be
more
efficacious
to
focus
on
small
but
consistent mood changes over
a
number
of
occasions than
on a
sizable
effect
during
one
exper-
imental
session.
Also, naturalistic settings
and
procedures,
al-
though
they reduce experimental control, could provide
a
truer
picture
of the way
subtle moods
are
affected
by
actual exercise
and
nutrition
influences
than would
be
provided
by a
labora-
tory
setting
and
blind testing procedures.
The
present research
includes
a
number
of
these somewhat nontraditional design
characteristics coupled
with
otherwise rigorous control proce-
dures introduced
to
study
the
time course
of
subtle mood
changes
following
two
common exercise
and
nutrition-related
activities.
An
important
basis
for
this
research
was a
general conceptual
hypothesis regarding motivation
for
sugar snacking. This
hy-
pothesis holds that much
of the
time,
and
particularly
in
low-
energy
periods when personal demands
are
high,
the
primary
motive
for
choosing sugar snacks (simple carbohydrates) arises
from
an
attempt
to
raise energy. Moreover,
it is
assumed that
this
motive
is
often
outside
of
immediate awareness. Thus
the
often
stated
reasons
for
snacking—"it
relieves tension,"
"I
feel
better,"
and "it
helps
me get
through
an
activity,"—mask
the
essential energy-raising motive.
The
developmental basis
of the
energy-raising motive could
easily
be
understood
in the
following
way. Over many previous
occasions
the
ingestion
of
simple carbohydrates rapidly raised
blood
glucose,
which
in
turn provided short-term energy
for
meeting
required tasks
or
counteracting stress. This energy
surge
would probably include
subjective
energy
feelings,
partic-
ularly
if
attention
to
those
feelings
were present. However,
it is
119
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