Stress‐related health issues are associated with mental and physical health decrements, and poor well-being. One intervention that may be useful for stress reduction is exercise. However, the research on exercise-interventions to reduce stress among non-clinical population is scarce. The purpose of the present paper was to systematically review the empirical work on the effectiveness of exercise as a treatment strategy for coping with stress. First, stress definitions and a stress-coping model are presented. Then, findings regarding the influence of exercise-interventions on stress among healthy populations are summarized. In the second half, the psycho-physiological mechanisms which underline the association between exercise and stress are reviewed. Finally, limitations, implications, and overall conclusion are presented. Altogether, the findings suggest that exercise-interventions may be effective in coping with everyday stress among non-clinical population. However, the role of the psycho-physiological mechanisms in the exercise-stress link and their interactions are yet to be established.
Although coordination between partners has been considered in the clinical literature as an indication of intimate relationships, the influence of simple motor synchrony on the experience of intimacy has not been established yet. Four studies examined whether synchrony, temporal alignment of simple motor periodic behaviors between partners, instilled a sense of intimacy. In Study 1, same-sex strangers discussed positive or neutral events while their motion synchrony and experiences of intimacy were measured. In Study 2, same-sex strangers pedaled bicycles in either synchronous or asynchronous rhythms while discussing personal events and then rated how intimate they felt. Studies 3 and 4 examined whether the effect of synchronization would generalize to perceptions of intimacy and desire among romantically involved heterosexual participants. Results showed that key aspects of intimacy were associated with synchrony or were higher following synchronized versus unsynchronized interactions, suggesting that synchrony serves as a nonverbal mechanism that promotes closeness in intimate situations.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.