There is a direct relationship between chronically elevated cholesterol levels (dyslipidaemia) and coronary heart disease. A reduction in total cholesterol is considered the gold standard in preventative cardiovascular medicine. Exercise has been shown to have positive impacts on the pathogenesis, symptomatology and physical fitness of individuals with dyslipidaemia, and to reduce cholesterol levels. The optimal mode, frequency, intensity and duration of exercise for improvement of cholesterol levels are, however, yet to be identified. This review assesses the evidence from 13 published investigations and two review articles that have addressed the effects of aerobic exercise, resistance training and combined aerobic and resistance training on cholesterol levels and the lipid profile. The data included in this review confirm the beneficial effects of regular activity on cholesterol levels and describe the impacts of differing volumes and intensities of exercise upon different types of cholesterol. Evidence-based exercise recommendations are presented, aimed at facilitating the prescription and delivery of interventions in order to optimize cholesterol levels.

Most academics agree that emotions and moods are related but distinct phenomena. The present study assessed emotion-mood distinctions among a non-academic population and compared these views with distinctions proposed in the literature. Content analysis of responses from 106 participants identified 16 themes, with cause (65% of respondents), duration (40%), control (25%), experience (15%), and consequences (14%) the most frequently cited distinctions. Among 65 contributions to the academic literature, eight themes were proposed, with duration (62% of authors), intentionality (41%), cause (31%), consequences (31%), and function (18%) the most frequently cited. When the eight themes cited by both academics and non-academics were rank ordered, approximately 60% overlap in opinion was evident. A data-derived summary of emotion-mood distinctions is provided. These data should prove useful to investigators interested in developing a clearer scientific distinction between emotion and mood than is currently available.Peer reviewe

The present study was a meta-analysis of 29 published studies that used the Profile of Mood States (POMS) to investigate relationships between mood and athletic achievement or between mood and performance outcome. Results showed that effect sizes (ESs) for level of achievement were minimal (n = 15, Weighted Mean ES = 0.10, SD = 0.07), a finding consistent with a previous meta-analysis by Rowley, Landers, Kyllo, and Etnier (1995).Larger effects were found for performance outcome (n = 17, Weighted Mean ES = 0.31, SD = 0.12). Effects were moderate for Vigor, Confusion, and Depression, small for Anger and Tension, and very small for Fatigue. All effects were in the direction predicted by Morgan's (1985) mental health model. Effects were larger in sports of short duration, in sports involving open skills, and where performance was judged using self-referenced criteria.Findings suggest that the POMS has utility in the prediction of performance outcome but not in the prediction of level of achievement.Key words: Meta-analysis, Mood, POMS, Moderating variables The Profile of Mood States and Athletic Performance: A Meta-analysis There is a strong intuitive and anecdotal association between mood states and sport performance. However, empirical support for mood-performance relationships has been equivocal, despite the fact that more than 250 published studies have examined mood responses in sport and exercise settings (LeUnes & Burger, 1998) Sport psychology researchers have relied almost exclusively upon the Profile of Mood States (POMS: McNair, Lorr & Droppleman, 1971) as the measure of mood when examining links with athletic performance. The use of the POMS in sport was pioneered by Morgan and his co-workers (e.g. Morgan 1974;Morgan & Johnson, 1978;Morgan & Pollock, 1977;Nagle, Morgan, Hellickson, Serfass, & Alexander, 1975) who demonstrated that, when compared to population norms, the mood profiles of athletes particularly at the elite level were characterized by above average Vigor scores and below average scores for Tension, Depression, Anger, Fatigue, and Confusion. Morgan termed such a pattern of mood responses an iceberg profile and proposed that it was reflective of positive mental health (Morgan, 1980(Morgan, , 1985.Of the many specific research questions addressed within the area of mood and sport, three of the most frequently investigated have been (a) can mood responses differentiate the athlete from the non-athlete, (b) can mood responses differentiate athletes of varying levels of achievement, and (c) can mood responses differentiate performance outcome among athletes of similar ability? In respect of the first research question, qualitative reviews of the extant literature by LeUnes, Haywood, and Daiss (1988), Renger (1993), and Vanden Auweele, De Cuyper, Van Mele, and Rzewnicki (1993) demonstrate clearly that athletes typically report iceberg profiles, which by definition vary from population norms derived largely from nonathletes. Further, recently published normative data based on the mood res...

The placebo effect, with its central role in clinical trials, is acknowledged as a factor in sports medicine, although until recently little has been known about the likely magnitude and extent of the effect in any specific research setting. Even less is known about the prevalence of the effect in competitive sport. The present paper reviews 12 intervention studies in sports performance. All examine placebo effects associated with the administration of an inert substance believed by subjects to be an ergogenic aid. Placebo effects of varying magnitudes are reported in studies addressing sports from weightlifting to endurance cycling. Findings suggest that psychological variables such as motivation, expectancy and conditioning, and the interaction of these variables with physiological variables, might be significant factors in driving both positive and negative outcomes. Programmatic research involving the triangulation of data, and investigation of contextual and personality factors in the mediation of placebo responses may help to advance knowledge in this area.

Quantitative and qualitative data suggest that placebo effects are associated with the administration of caffeine and that these effects may directly or indirectly enhance performance in well-trained cyclists.

Our data support the ergogenic efficacy of caffeine but suggest that both positive and negative expectations impact performance.

Emotions experienced before and during sports competition have been found to influence sports performance. Emotion regulation is defined as the automatic or deliberate use of strategies to initiate, maintain, modify or display emotions (Gross & Thompson, 2007) and is proposed to occur when a discrepancy exists between current and desired emotions. Two distinct motivations to regulate emotion - hedonic and instrumental (in short, for pleasure or for purpose) - have been proposed (Tamir, 2009). The instrumental approach might provide a more fruitful area of investigation for sports researchers as some athletes hold beliefs that supposedly pleasant emotions such as happiness and calmness associate with poor performance and supposedly unpleasant emotions such as anxiety and anger associate with good performance (Hanin, 2010). Athletes are more likely to try to regulate an emotion if they believe that doing so will facilitate performance. Strategies that encourage re-appraisal of factors that trigger emotions are proposed to be preferable. In this British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (BASES) expert statement, a summary of the key theoretical issues are offered leading to evidence-based recommendations for practitioners and researchers.

The aim of this review was to determine the magnitude of the placebo and nocebo effect on sport performance. Articles published before March 2019 were located using Medline, Web of Science, PubMed, EBSCO, Science Direct, and Scopus. Studies that examined placebo and nocebo effects of an objective dependent variable on sports performance, which included a control or baseline condition, were included in the analysis. Studies were classified into two categories of ergogenic aids: 1) nutritional and 2) mechanical. Cohen's d effect sizes were calculated from 32 studies involving 1,513 participants. Small to moderate placebo effects were found for both placebo (d = 0.36) and nocebo (d = 0.37) effects and when separated by nutritional (d = 0.35) and mechanical (d = 0.47) ergogenic aids. The pooled effect size revealed a small to moderate effect size across all studies (d = 0.38). Results suggest that placebo and nocebo effects can exert a small to moderate effect on sports performance.