Pat O'Connor is and has been a Professor in the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Georgia for over 20 years. He is one of the most highly cited researchers in exercise psychology and has published seminal papers on exercise in panic disorder, the endorphin theory and much more...

Chapters

0:00 Show Intro

3:15 The Transformation of Exercise Psychology

9:50 Exercise in Panic Disorder

17:05 Mechanisms of Exercise for Anxiety

22:55 Use of Exercise in Psychotherapy

31:10 Moderators of Ex for Mental Health

37:30 Adherence in Exercise

42:40 The Time-Out Hypothesis

47:40 The Endorphin Theory

57:25 Effects of Exercise Intensity

1:01:50 Making Exercise Work For You

1:05:50 The Future of Exercise Psychology Research

Show Notes

"Physical activity does not provoke panic attacks in patients with panic disorder: a review of the evidence" by O’Connor et. al. (2000)

"State anxiety is reduced after maximal and submaximal exercise among people with panic disorder" by O’Connor (2005)

"The acute antipanic and anxiolytic activity of aerobic exercise in patients with panic disorder and healthy control subjects-" by Strohle et. al. (2009)

"Adopting and maintaining physical activity behaviours in people with severe mental illness: The importance of autonomous motivation" by Vancampfort et. al. (2015)

"Exercise-induced anxiolysis: A test of the" time out" hypothesis in high anxious females" by Breus and O’Connor (1998)

"Exercise, physical activity, and self-determination theory: A systematic review" by Teixeira et. al. (2012)

"Lessons in exercise neurobiology: The case of endorphins" by O’Connor & Dishman (2009)

"The affective interval: an investigation of the peaks and valleys during high-and moderate-intensity interval exercise in regular exercisers" by Box et. al. (2020)

"The runner's high: opioidergic mechanisms in the human brain" by Boecker et. al. (2008)