Abstract

Adolescence is an important developmental period for executive function as well as establishing lifelong health habits like diet and exercise. However, connections between exercise, executive function and dietary behaviors have not yet been adequately studied in adolescents, especially in terms of exercise duration. This research seeks to establish how 30 versus 60 minutes of exercise affects the association between executive function, calorie consumption and food-specific inhibition. The current research uses a within-participant design and linear mixed modeling to test the impact of exercise bout duration and executive function on calorie consumption and food-specific inhibition (food Go/No-Go accuracy and reaction time). This paper concludes that for adolescents, there may be a small impact of EF on dietary behaviors. It also concludes that 30 versus 60 minutes of non-cognitively demanding exercise (i.e., treadmill running) does not affect these associations in meaningful ways. Overall, the practical advantages of 30 minutes versus 60 minutes of exercise may make this a better recommendation for teens, but additional research on the impact of exercise is needed to inform these recommendations.

Degree

PhD

College and Department

Family, Home, and Social Sciences; Psychology

Rights

https://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/