Association Between Exercise and Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms Among Trauma-Exposed Adults

摘要

The present investigation examined associations between intensities of exercise involvement and posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptom cluster severity (reexperiencing, avoidanceumbing, and hyperarousal). The sample was comprised of 108 adults (54.6% women; M-age = 23.9, SD = 10.22, range = 18-62), who endorsed exposure to a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fourth edition, Text Revision) posttraumatic stress disorder Criterion A traumatic life event but did not meet criteria for any current Axis I psychopathology. After controlling for gender and lifetime number of trauma exposure types experienced, results indicated that vigorous-intensity exercise, but not light- or moderate-intensity exercise, was significantly inversely associated with hyperarousal symptom cluster severity. This study adds to the scarce, yet growing, body of exercisePTS literatureby illuminating the inverse associations of vigorous-intensity exercise, specifically, and PTS hyperarousal symptom severity among trauma-exposed individuals.