Eyes-Closed Interoceptive Aerobic Exercise Compared With Matched Eyes-Open Treadmill Exercise in Healthy Adults

Summary

This completed single-site pilot trial evaluated a prototype eyes-closed interoceptive aerobic exercise condition compared with a matched eyes-open treadmill control condition in healthy adults. Participants attended one baseline/familiarization visit followed by four randomized experimental treadmill visits. Each participant completed the eyes-closed interoceptive aerobic exercise condition twice and the matched eyes-open control condition twice in one of two randomized sequences. Both conditions used the same individualized 25-minute treadmill protocol, 0% incline, safety harness, front-handle contact requirement, laboratory supervision, and staff-controlled speed transitions. The conditions differed in eye status, attentional instructions, and audio environment. The broader pilot project collected feasibility, safety, fidelity, acceptability, adaptation, affective-experience, cardiovascular/autonomic, blood-pressure, and cognitive-performance outcomes.

Conditions

• Exercise
• Physical Activity
• Healthy Adult
• Interoception
• Affect and Exertion During and Post-exercise

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Eyes-Closed Interoceptive Aerobic Exercise

Eyes-closed interoceptive aerobic exercise was a prototype multicomponent treadmill exercise condition. Participants completed the individualized 25-minute treadmill protocol at 0% incline using five consecutive 5-minute phases: walking, brisk walking, jogging or faster walking, faster jogging or fastest walking, and walking recovery. Participants kept their eyes closed, wore a safety harness, and maintained light contact with the front treadmill handle for positional reference. Before the bout, participants were instructed to close their eyes, clear their mind, and focus on breathing. During exercise, soft meditative background music was played continuously, and brief prerecorded reminders were delivered every 2.5 minutes: "clear the mind," "focus on breathing," and "close your eyes." Before each experimental treadmill session in both conditions, participants were told they could breathe through the nose when possible.

BEHAVIORAL

Matched Eyes-Open Treadmill Exercise

The matched eyes-open treadmill exercise condition used the same individualized 25-minute treadmill protocol, 0% incline, five-phase structure, safety harness, front-handle contact requirement, laboratory supervision, and staff-controlled speed transitions as ECI-AE. Participants kept their eyes open. Before the bout, participants were told that a science audiobook would be played and that they could attend to or ignore it. No ECI-AE verbal reminders or meditative background music were delivered. The audiobook provided a standardized externally oriented audio context and avoided exercise-, emotion-, or meditation-related content. Before each experimental treadmill session in both conditions, participants were told they could breathe through the nose when possible.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Old Dominion University

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

OTHER

Masking

NONE

Model

CROSSOVER

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

45 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2024-10-20

Primary Completion

2025-12-22

Completion

2025-12-22

Countries

• United States

Study Locations