Acute Effects of Competitive Exercise on Risk-Taking in a Sample of Adolescent Male Athletes

Exercise acutely reduces cravings for tobacco and alcohol, but the mechanism accounting for this relationship is not fully understood. To explore exercise's effects on general risk-taking, we compared the performances of 20 adolescent male athletes on the balloon analog risk task (BART) immediately after periods of exercise (playing tennis) and rest. Statistically significant risk-taking effects were observed post-exercise. The established attenuating effect of exercise on desire for substance use did not extend to impulses for other risk behaviors in this study. In future studies, the moderating effects of participant characteristics and type of risk behavior should be considered.