Stress and repetitive negative thinking may help explain exercise trial effects
A secondary analysis explored possible pathways linking a group exercise program with changes in mental-health symptoms.
Based on the published abstract. The full paper may contain additional methods, results and limitations.
The 30-second takeaway
Statistical models linked the exercise program's effects on overall symptoms to changes in perceived stress and repetitive negative thinking. These patterns appeared at both follow-up assessments. Because this was a secondary mediation analysis, it suggests possible pathways without proving that changing either process caused the improvement in overall symptoms.
Randomization applied to the exercise program; it did not establish the proposed mediators as causes. The abstract also omits the sleep-quality mediation result.
What researchers found
Change in overall symptom severity
Exercise plus usual care versus usual care alone: stress and negative-thinking changes mediated symptom changes at 6 and 12 months.
Testing possible pathways
The researchers modeled whether changes in perceived stress, repetitive negative thinking and sleep quality helped explain treatment effects. These were measured with rating scales alongside overall symptom severity, allowing relationships between changes to be examined.
An incomplete sleep result
The abstract reports significant mediation for stress and negative thinking at both follow-ups. Sleep quality was included as a candidate pathway, but its result is not given, so its contribution remains unclear here.
The original publication
Changes in repetitive negative thinking and stress perception mediate treatment effects of a transdiagnostic exercise intervention.
Frei AK, Studnitz T, Seiffer B et al.
Psychol Med · 2026
- PubMed ID
- 41508826
- Record checked
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