Psychological Responses To Interval And Continuous Exercise In People Living With Hiv

People living with HIV (PLHIV) often exhibit lower levels of physical activity and a poor adherence to exercise programs. Therefore, it is essential to investigate how PLHIV respond psychologically to different forms of exercise to help increase adherence to exercise within this population. PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to examine the differences between a single session of high-intensity interval exercise (HIIE) and moderate-intensity continuous exercise (MICE) on psychological responses in PLHIV. METHODS: A randomized, crossover design was used for this pilot study. PLHIV were recruited and underwent three exercise sessions separated by ≥72 hours in random order: HIIE - Low Volume (HIIE-LV: 4/4 min at 90% of Wmax for 3 minutes of passive recovery), HIIE - High Volume (HIIE-HV: 10/60s at 80% of Wmax for 60 seconds of passive recovery) and MICE (60% Wmax for 30 minutes). The intensities of each session were relative based on VO2peak and maximal workload (Wmax) from exercise testing performed one week before the first exercise session. Before each exercise session affect was assessed using the Feeling Scale from -5 to +5. Rating of perceived exertion (RPE - Borg Scale from 6 to 20), and affect were assessed during the exercise. Ten minutes after the completion of each session a blind evaluator conducted assessments of affect, pleasure (Pleasure Scale) on a 7-point rating scale, and future exercise intention (FEI) on a scale ranging from 0% - 100%. Data normality was verified using the Shapiro-Wilk test. Comparisons were performed considering a general linear model. RESULTS: Seven men with HIV (years: 31.71 ± 4.42; VO2peak: 31.87 ± 3.82) were included in the final data analysis. We observed no significant differences between the methods regarding pleasure (p = 0.8), FEI (p = 0.9), and affect (p = 0.1). However, significant differences were found for RPE (p = 0.007), indicating that the HIIE-HV resulted in higher RPE compared to the HIIE-LV and MICE. CONCLUSIONS: Our preliminary data suggests that HIIE-HV elicits greater RPE than MICE and HIIE-LV. However, the responses of affect, pleasure and FEI did not differ between the exercise models tested. Further research with larger samples would be warranted to further explore preferred forms of exercise for PLHIV. PW, VQ, EF, PFAN and JAM were financed in part by a scholarship from the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES), Brazil - finance code 001.