Differential cognitive, neurophysiological, and stress responses to acute cycling and stretching in young adults with risky alcohol use

While physical activity has shown beneficial effects on mood, anxiety, and drug-related variables in adults with alcohol use disorder (AUD), its impact on young individuals with risky alcohol use (RAU) remains under- explored. This study examined the effects of an acute, intense exercise session on...

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Authors: Elliott, Adrián S., Regodón-Virgos, B., Cordellat-Marzal, A., Stern Rodríguez, Enrique, Capilla González, Almudena, Moreno-Fernández, R. D., Sampedro Piquero, Patricia
Format: article
Publication Date:2026
Country:España
Institution:Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Repository:Biblos-e Archivo. Repositorio Institucional de la UAM
Language:English
OAI Identifier:oai:dnet:biblosearchi::c55252c6a8d50afcf6bef6b266869399
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10486/760500
https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pbb.2026.174190
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Alcohol
Cognition
Exercise
Psychophysiology
Youth
Psicología
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spelling Differential cognitive, neurophysiological, and stress responses to acute cycling and stretching in young adults with risky alcohol useElliott, Adrián S.Regodón-Virgos, B.Cordellat-Marzal, A.Stern Rodríguez, EnriqueCapilla González, AlmudenaMoreno-Fernández, R. D.Sampedro Piquero, PatriciaAlcoholCognitionExercisePsychophysiologyYouthPsicologíaWhile physical activity has shown beneficial effects on mood, anxiety, and drug-related variables in adults with alcohol use disorder (AUD), its impact on young individuals with risky alcohol use (RAU) remains under- explored. This study examined the effects of an acute, intense exercise session on cognitive and psychophysiological outcomes in young participants with RAU compared to controls (CO). Participants engaging in >150 min/ week of moderate-to-vigorous activity were excluded. Based on AUDIT scores (RAU: ♂ ≥ 8, ♀ ≥ 6; CO: ≤3), volunteers (RAU = 47 (14 men and 33 women), CO = 53 (11 men and 42 women)) were assigned to either a 12- min submaximal cycling protocol (RAU = 29, CO = 32) or a stretching session (RAU = 18, CO = 21). The mean age of the sample was 19.54 ± 0.28 years and no differences were observed in waist-to-height ratio with mean values of 0.43 in the CO group and 0.44 in the RAU group. Rate perceived exertion (RPE), lactate levels, heart rate variability (HRV), salivary cortisol (sCORT), and alpha amylase (sAA) were assessed, alongside resting EEG (rsEEG), craving, state anxiety, and neuropsychological performance. Cycling elevated lactate levels and reduced HRV. RAU men showed lower watts compared to the CO men, and this group rated higher RPE than RAU women in both types of exercise. A single short bout of cycling improved phonological fluency in the RAU group and reduced the number of d2 test omissions regardless of group and sex. Intense exercise induced changes in sCORT and sAA increased, particularly higher sCORT in RAU men. Unexpectedly, it was the stretching condition that induced greater changes in brain activity, especially in delta and theta bands. Our findings highlight how different types and intensities of exercise can distinctly influence both brain function and cognition, as well as the relevance of designing exercise interventions according to the individual needs and characteristics of vulnerable young populationThis study was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Health (Government Delegation for the National Plan on Drugs, code 2024I030 to R.D. M.-F.) and FEDER/Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and the National Research Agency (AEI) (MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011 033/FEDER, UE, code PID2022-137601OA-I00 to P.S.-P., PID2021- 125841NB-I00 and PID2024-161032NB-I00 to A.C., and PRE2022- 101613 to E.S.)ElsevierDepartamento de Psicología Biológica y de la SaludFacultad de PsicologíaGobierno de España20262026-03-25research articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_2df8fbb1VoRhttp://purl.org/coar/version/c_970fb48d4fbd8a85info:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttps://hdl.handle.net/10486/760500https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pbb.2026.174190reponame:Biblos-e Archivo. Repositorio Institucional de la UAMinstname:Universidad Autónoma de MadridInglésengopen accesshttp://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:dnet:biblosearchi::c55252c6a8d50afcf6bef6b2668693992026-06-23T12:46:27Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Differential cognitive, neurophysiological, and stress responses to acute cycling and stretching in young adults with risky alcohol use
title Differential cognitive, neurophysiological, and stress responses to acute cycling and stretching in young adults with risky alcohol use
spellingShingle Differential cognitive, neurophysiological, and stress responses to acute cycling and stretching in young adults with risky alcohol use
Elliott, Adrián S.
Alcohol
Cognition
Exercise
Psychophysiology
Youth
Psicología
title_short Differential cognitive, neurophysiological, and stress responses to acute cycling and stretching in young adults with risky alcohol use
title_full Differential cognitive, neurophysiological, and stress responses to acute cycling and stretching in young adults with risky alcohol use
title_fullStr Differential cognitive, neurophysiological, and stress responses to acute cycling and stretching in young adults with risky alcohol use
title_full_unstemmed Differential cognitive, neurophysiological, and stress responses to acute cycling and stretching in young adults with risky alcohol use
title_sort Differential cognitive, neurophysiological, and stress responses to acute cycling and stretching in young adults with risky alcohol use
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Elliott, Adrián S.
Regodón-Virgos, B.
Cordellat-Marzal, A.
Stern Rodríguez, Enrique
Capilla González, Almudena
Moreno-Fernández, R. D.
Sampedro Piquero, Patricia
author Elliott, Adrián S.
author_facet Elliott, Adrián S.
Regodón-Virgos, B.
Cordellat-Marzal, A.
Stern Rodríguez, Enrique
Capilla González, Almudena
Moreno-Fernández, R. D.
Sampedro Piquero, Patricia
author_role author
author2 Regodón-Virgos, B.
Cordellat-Marzal, A.
Stern Rodríguez, Enrique
Capilla González, Almudena
Moreno-Fernández, R. D.
Sampedro Piquero, Patricia
author2_role author
author
author
author
author
author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Departamento de Psicología Biológica y de la Salud
Facultad de Psicología
Gobierno de España
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Alcohol
Cognition
Exercise
Psychophysiology
Youth
Psicología
topic Alcohol
Cognition
Exercise
Psychophysiology
Youth
Psicología
description While physical activity has shown beneficial effects on mood, anxiety, and drug-related variables in adults with alcohol use disorder (AUD), its impact on young individuals with risky alcohol use (RAU) remains under- explored. This study examined the effects of an acute, intense exercise session on cognitive and psychophysiological outcomes in young participants with RAU compared to controls (CO). Participants engaging in >150 min/ week of moderate-to-vigorous activity were excluded. Based on AUDIT scores (RAU: ♂ ≥ 8, ♀ ≥ 6; CO: ≤3), volunteers (RAU = 47 (14 men and 33 women), CO = 53 (11 men and 42 women)) were assigned to either a 12- min submaximal cycling protocol (RAU = 29, CO = 32) or a stretching session (RAU = 18, CO = 21). The mean age of the sample was 19.54 ± 0.28 years and no differences were observed in waist-to-height ratio with mean values of 0.43 in the CO group and 0.44 in the RAU group. Rate perceived exertion (RPE), lactate levels, heart rate variability (HRV), salivary cortisol (sCORT), and alpha amylase (sAA) were assessed, alongside resting EEG (rsEEG), craving, state anxiety, and neuropsychological performance. Cycling elevated lactate levels and reduced HRV. RAU men showed lower watts compared to the CO men, and this group rated higher RPE than RAU women in both types of exercise. A single short bout of cycling improved phonological fluency in the RAU group and reduced the number of d2 test omissions regardless of group and sex. Intense exercise induced changes in sCORT and sAA increased, particularly higher sCORT in RAU men. Unexpectedly, it was the stretching condition that induced greater changes in brain activity, especially in delta and theta bands. Our findings highlight how different types and intensities of exercise can distinctly influence both brain function and cognition, as well as the relevance of designing exercise interventions according to the individual needs and characteristics of vulnerable young population
publishDate 2026
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2026
2026-03-25
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv research article
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_2df8fbb1
VoR
http://purl.org/coar/version/c_970fb48d4fbd8a85
dc.type.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://hdl.handle.net/10486/760500
https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pbb.2026.174190
url https://hdl.handle.net/10486/760500
https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pbb.2026.174190
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
eng
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
language eng
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
dc.rights.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Elsevier
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Elsevier
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Biblos-e Archivo. Repositorio Institucional de la UAM
instname:Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
instname_str Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
reponame_str Biblos-e Archivo. Repositorio Institucional de la UAM
collection Biblos-e Archivo. Repositorio Institucional de la UAM
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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