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Exercise intervention attenuates emotional distress and natural killer cell decrements following notification of positive serologic status for HIV-1

Biofeedback and Self-regulation volume 15, pages 229–242 (1990)Cite this article

Abstract

The impact of aerobic exercise training as a buffer of the affective distress and immune decrements which accompany the notification of HIV-1 antibody status in an AIDS risk group was studied. Fifty asymptomatic gay males with a pretraining fitness level of average or below (determined by predicted VO2 max) were randomly assigned to either an aerobic exercise training program or a no-contact control condition. After five weeks of training, at a point 72 hours before serostatus notification, psychometric, fitness and immunologic data were collected on all subjects. Psychometric and immunologic measures were again collected one-week postnotification. Seropositive controls showed significant increases in anxiety and depression, as well as decrements in natural killer cell number following notification whereas, seropositive exercisers showed no similar changes and in fact, resembled both seronegative groups. These findings suggest that concurrent changes in some affective and immunologic measures in response to an acute stressor might be attenuated by an experimentally manipulated aerobic exercise training intervention.

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Author information

Affiliations

  1. Center for the Biopsychosocial Studies of AIDS, University of Miami, USA

    Arthur R. LaPerriere, Michael H. Antoni, Neil Schneiderman, Gail Ironson, Nancy Klimas, Panagiota Caralis & Mary Ann Fletcher

Authors
  1. Arthur R. LaPerriere
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  2. Michael H. Antoni
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  3. Neil Schneiderman
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  4. Gail Ironson
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  5. Nancy Klimas
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  6. Panagiota Caralis
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  7. Mary Ann Fletcher
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Additional information

The research was supported by NIMH grant No. P50MH43455.

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LaPerriere, A.R., Antoni, M.H., Schneiderman, N. et al. Exercise intervention attenuates emotional distress and natural killer cell decrements following notification of positive serologic status for HIV-1. Biofeedback and Self-Regulation 15, 229–242 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01011107

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01011107

Descriptor Key Words

  • aerobic exercise
  • AIDS risk group
  • emotional distress
  • HIV-1, HIV-1 diagnosis
  • psychoneuroimmunology