Affective Responses in Mountain Hiking

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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Using a within-subject design, 42 healthy participants were randomly exposed to three different conditions: outdoor mountain hiking, indoor treadmill walking, and sedentary control situation (3.5 hours each). Measures included the Feeling Scale, Felt Arousal Scale and a Mood Survey Scale. Univariate ANOVAs were used to analyse differences between the conditions.

Official Title
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Affective Responses in Mountain Hiking: A Randomized Controlled Trial Focusing on Differences Between Indoor and Outdoor Activity

Conditions
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Affect

Intervention / Treatment
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* Behavioral: walking
* Device: Treadmill


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: voluntary participation Exclusion Criteria: pregnancy breast-feeding chronic or acute diseases (already existing or diagnosed during the study) age below 18 and above 70 years unable to be physically active assessed by the Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire (Shephard, Thomas, & Weller, 1991)

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 18 Years
Maximum Age: 70 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Crossover Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: Outdoor mountain hiking (M)<br>First part of the intervention: an uphill walking phase on single trails and forest roads in a sparse forest with view on the mountainous region around Innsbruck for 6 km in around 1.5 hours together with the test leader. Regarding the walking intensity, the participants were instructed to choose a brisk without overspending pace (average speed: 4 km/h). In the second part of the intervention, the participants were walking downhill on the same track for around 70 minutes back to the starting point to respond to the post-test (average speed: 5.2 km/h). | Behavioral: walking<br> <br> |
| Active Comparator: Indoor treadmill walking (T)<br>To ensure that all physical parameters were simultaneous to the outdoor mountain hiking condition, the distance, the difference in height, the average inclination of the track, and the time needed for the outdoor mountain hiking situation were measured in a pilot study. First part: uphill walking, inclination: 10%, time: 1.5 hours, and speed: 4 km/h (resulting in 600 m difference in height). In accordance to possible differences in outdoor speed, the participants were allowed to change the treadmill's speed in a small range (3.8 to 4.2 km/h) to adapt to the wording brisk without overspending. Second part of the intervention contained 70 minutes of level walking on the same treadmills (5.2 km/h, 6km). | Behavioral: walking<br> <br> Device: Treadmill<br> <br> |
| No Intervention: Sedentary control condition (C)<br>The sedentary control situation was located in a quiet room at the university with access to computers. The participants were allowed to use the computers, to read, and to talk, but had to remain in a sedentary position. To control for possible differences in affective response due to the daytime, the sedentary control condition contained the same timing of the measurements than the intervention condition. Sociodemographic data were collected for 5 to 10 minutes in this condition using a web-based questionnaire. | |

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Change From Baseline Subscales of Mood Survey Scale at 3 Hours | Mood Survey Scale, min: 5, max: 25 higher score: better outcome All Outcome Measures are reported per intervention, i.e., the data in Arms/Groups reflect the participants of the particular intervention. | baseline and 3 hours | 
| Change From Baseline Feeling Scale at 3 Hours | Feeling Scale, min: -5, max: +5 higher score: better outcome All Outcome Measures are reported per intervention, i.e., the data in Arms/Groups reflect the participants of the particular intervention. | baseline and 3 hours after baseline | 
| Change From Baseline Felt Arousal Scale at 3 Hours | Felt Arousal Scale, min: 0, max: 6 higher score: better outcome All Outcome Measures are reported per intervention, i.e., the data in Arms/Groups reflect the participants of the particular intervention. | baseline and 3 hours after baseline | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Change From Baseline Blood Pressure at 3 Hours | All Outcome Measures are reported per intervention, i.e., the data in Arms/Groups reflect the participants of the particular intervention. | baseline and 3 hours | 
| Change From Baseline Heart Rate Variability at 3 Hours | All Outcome Measures are reported per intervention, i.e., the data in Arms/Groups reflect the participants of the particular intervention. | baseline and 3 hours | 
| Change From Baseline Cortisol at 3 Hours (Saliva Sampling) | All Outcome Measures are reported per intervention, i.e., the data in Arms/Groups reflect the participants of the particular intervention. | baseline and 3 hours |