Short bouts of physical activity enhance feelings of energy and improve well-being. Circadian rhythm strongly influences mood, but its impact on the association of physical activity and mood is unknown. Intensive longitudinal data were obtained from two independent samples (Ns = 106 and 68), each comprising two groups characterized by distinct manifestations of physical activity and energy: participants with depression (nStudyA = 53; nStudyB = 32) and healthy participants (nStudyA = 53; nStudyB = 36). Participants reported their feelings of energy repeatedly across the day; physical activity was self-rated (Study A) or measured via accelerometers (Study B). Multilevel modeling with three-way moderation analyses was used to test the association of physical activity with feelings of energy as a function of time of day and depression. Across studies, physical activity was consistently related to feelings of energy throughout the day for healthy participants. In contrast, in participants with depression, the relation between physical activity and energy decreased across the day. That participants with depression only felt more energized from physical activity in the morning could be an important starting point for considering circadian rhythm in physical activity interventions for depression. Although the missing ethnicity information from Sample B and high education across samples constrain the generalizability of our findings, the within-person associations nevertheless likely provide relevance for clinical populations and further underscore the potential of intensive longitudinal naturalistic methods to understand complex multidimensional relationships. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
M. Reichert, I. Reinhard, Urs Braun et al.· Journal of Psychopathology a...· 0 citations
OBJECTIVE
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) play a pivotal role in alcohol use disorder (AUD), and evidence suggests that this role differs by sex. Neural alcohol cue reactivity may represent one pathway linking ACEs to alcohol craving and use. The authors examined whether cue reactivity is differentially associated with the relationship between ACEs and alcohol-related outcomes in males and females with AUD.
METHODS
Functional MRI data were analyzed from 231 non-treatment-seeking individuals (40.7% female; mean age=39.1 years, SD=13.5) with mainly mild to moderate AUD (mean number of DSM-5 criteria, 3.92, SD=1.6) from a 12-month prospective multicenter study. ACEs were assessed via Childhood Trauma Screener score. Participants completed a functional MRI alcohol cue reactivity task, followed by ecological momentary assessment of daily craving and consumption. Linear regression, general linear models, and sex-moderated mediation examined associations among ACEs, brain activation, and alcohol outcomes. Sensitivity analyses controlled for age, AUD severity, baseline consumption, tobacco use, Brief Symptom Inventory score, and progesterone-to-estradiol ratio.
RESULTS
Higher Childhood Trauma Screener scores were associated with significantly greater left superior frontal gyrus/anterior cingulate cortex (SFG/ACC) activation during alcohol-related cues than during neutral cues in females compared with males. This activation significantly predicted prospective daily craving only in females. Sex-moderated mediation showed opposing indirect effects of ACEs on craving via SFG/ACC activation (ab=path a × path b; females: ab=0.008, 95% CI=0.001, 0.022; males: ab=-0.013, 95% CI=-0.034, -0.002). Sensitivity analyses supported robust SFG/ACC activation and directional consistency after adjustment for covariates.
CONCLUSIONS
Sex-specific prefrontal cue reactivity patterns suggest differential neural pathways linking ACEs to craving vulnerability in early AUD, particularly in females. The findings support sex-sensitive, trauma-informed intervention strategies.
L. Rötzer, J. Zaiser, Sabine Hoffmann et al.· American Journal of Psychiat...· 0 citations
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