The Acute Effects of Humor and Exercise on Mood and Anxiety

The hypothesis that 20-minutes of humor would result in affective benefits that are comparable to those of a 20-minute bout of aerobic exercise was scrutinized by using a within-participants research design. Thirty-nine university students were tested, at weekly intervals, three times: running/jogging at self-selected pace, watching a humorous stand-up comedy, and watching a documentary video. Mood and state anxiety were determined 5-minutes before and after each treatment by using the Subjective Exercise Experience Scale (McAuley & Cour-neya, 1994) and the Spielberger State Anxiety Inventory (Spielberger, Gorsuch, & Luchene, 1970). Both humor and exercise had an equally positive effect on psychological distress and positive well-being. However, humor exerted greater anxiety-lowering effect than exercise. Based on these results, it is tentatively concluded that humor could induce positive psychological changes that are at least comparable if not superior to the effects of exercise.