The impact of exercise deprivation on well-being of habitual exercises.

Abstract

The literature examining the effects of exercise deprivation on well-being was overviewed. A general consensus in this area indicates that exercise deprivation has adverse effects on subjective states and/or well-being. The studies, however, do not identify the determinants of exercise deprivation and therefore numerous questions remain unresolved. The few experimental studies, performed in this field of research, support anecdotal reports on the effects of exercise deprivation. However, inconsistencies in methodologies call for substantially more work in this field. A large part of the overviewed inquiries examined solely runners and mostly within the realms of the running addiction literature. It is suggested that the impact of exercise deprivation on well-being should also be examined apart from the running-addiction perspective by using experimental paradigms. Finally, some key methodological and conceptual issues, associated with exercise deprivation research, are discussed with the aim to provide bases as well as incentives in the undertaking of future studies.