The effect of environmental factors and physical activity on emotions and attention while walking and jogging
Ke-Tsung Han
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to provide a deeper understanding of what factors help explain the differences between the experiences of walking and jogging in natural and built environments. A total of 116 college students were recruited as participants. Their data on emotions were collected using the Chinese version of the Profile of Mood State (POMS) short form. Their attention was measured by the forward spatial span and the backward digit span tests. Regression results showed that although exercise frequency, crowding (total numbers of people and vehicles), thermal comfort (physiologically equivalent temperature), and air pollution (SO2, NOx, PM10, PM2.5, O3) did not appear to influence participants’ emotions and attention while engaging in one 15-min bout of walking or jogging in a natural or built environment, jogging increased fatigue on the POMS-SF in the participants more strongly than walking did. Engagement with nature may provide insight into human-environmental interactions during physical activity.