Affective Responses in Mountain Hiking

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Affect
• Interventions: Behavioral: walking; Device: Treadmill

• Registration Number: NCT02853760
• Lead Sponsor: Universitaet Innsbruck

Brief Summary

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.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2015-05
• Primary Completion: 2015-10
• Study Completion: 2015-10
• Study First Submitted: 2016-07-27
• Study First Submitted QC: 2016-08-02
• Study First Posted: 2016-08-03
• Results First Submitted: 2020-11-03
• Results First Submitted QC: 2021-01-22
• Results First Posted: 2021-01-25
• Status Verified: 2022-05
• Last Update Submitted: 2022-05-16
• Last Update Posted: 2022-05-18

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 47

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)

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: CROSSOVER

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Indoor treadmill walking (T)	walking	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).
Outdoor mountain hiking (M)	walking	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).
Indoor treadmill walking (T)	Treadmill	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).

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Change From Baseline Subscales of Mood Survey Scale at 3 Hours	baseline and 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.
Change From Baseline Feeling Scale at 3 Hours	baseline and 3 hours after baseline	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.
Change From Baseline Felt Arousal Scale at 3 Hours	baseline and 3 hours after baseline	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.

Secondary Outcome Measures

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