Acute running improves mood via changes in interoceptive sensibility

Running can improve mood, but the proximal processes linking exercise-induced bodily changes to subjective affective changes remain unclear. Interoception, the sensing and interpretation of internal bodily signals, is central to how bodily states are integrated into emotional experience and may therefore link exercise-induced bodily changes to mood. Here we tested whether interoception links acute running to mood improvement. Twenty-seven healthy young adults completed a crossover experiment consisting of a 15-min moderate-intensity treadmill running condition and a seated rest condition, each performed on separate days. Interoceptive accuracy was assessed using heartbeat counting and tapping tasks. Present-moment interoceptive sensibility was monitored using a state-adapted Body Perception Questionnaire, and mood state was monitored using the Profile of Mood States. Compared with seated rest, running reduced total mood disturbance and tension-anxiety, increased vigor-activity, and enhanced heartbeat-signal discrimination and interoceptive sensibility. Running-related increases in interoceptive sensibility were associated with greater reductions in total mood disturbance and tension-anxiety. Mediation analyses further indicated that changes in interoceptive sensibility partially mediated the effect of running on total mood disturbance, with weaker evidence for tension-anxiety. These findings suggest that enhanced interoceptive sensibility may represent one proximal process through which acute running improves mood states.