Effects of a Brief Stair-Climbing Intervention on Cognitive Performance and Mood States in Healthy Young Adults: Dose-Response Relationships

Participants will visit the laboratory on three separate occasions for a control session, a 3 x 60-s stair climbing session, and a 6 x 60-s stair-climbing session. Prior to their first visit they will be randomly assigned a session order. Upon arrival at the laboratory at the University, the participant will be asked to remain seated for 5 min to obtain a measure of resting heart rate. During a stair-climbing session, following the 5-min resting period participants will receive verbal instructions regarding how to perform the ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) using Borg's (1998) RPE scale, and the stair-climbing protocol, and watch a short demonstration video of the stair-climbing phase. Participants will then leave the testing room with the experimenter to complete the protocol. Further instructions are provided during the stair-climbing protocol. An adapted version of the 3 x 60-s 1F stair-climbing protocol from Allison et al. (2017) and Stenling et al. (2019) will be used. Participants will complete one session of 3 x 60-s 1F stair-climbing and one session of 6 x 60-s 1F stair-climbing, either one or two weeks apart (depending on their session order). The 3 x 60-s protocol includes the following phases: 2-min warm-up, 45-s instructional interval, 1-min stair climbing, 45-s recovery, 1-min stair climbing, 45-s recovery, 1-min stair climbing, and 3-min cool-down. The 6 x 60-s protocol includes the same phases, but with six stair-climbing intervals instead of three. For the warm-up, the participant walks at a moderate pace on a flat surface from the laboratory to the stairwell and then up two flights of 12 stairs (each 17 cm in height). The participant then walks at a brisk pace back and forth along the corridor for the remainder of the 2 min. During the 45-s instructional interval, the experimenter provides final instructions for the stair-climbing and recovery phases. The stair-climbing phases are completed on one flight of 12 stairs, measuring 17 cm in height. Participants receive the following instruction adapted from Allison et al. (2017): “For the stair climbing please move vigorously. This means relatively intense but not all out, so please move up the stairs as fast as you can while taking one step at a time. Maintain control and safety at all times”. Each recovery phase involves the participant descending to the landing from their place on the stairs and walking back and forth at a self-selected pace. RPE ratings are given immediately before (pre RPE) and after (post RPE) each stair-climbing interval. The cool-down phase involves walking down two flights of stairs, then back and forth on a flat surface, all at a self-selected pace. Following cool-down, the participant returns to the testing room and sits for 5 min (seated rest), after which they begin the cognitive battery. Cognitive testing takes approximately 7 min. The duration between each session (control, 3 x 60-s stair climbing, 6 x 60-s stair climbing) is one week. Reference Allison, M. K., Baglole, J. H., Martin, B. J., Macinnis, M. J., Gurd, B. J., & Gibala, M. J. (2017). Brief intense stair climbing improves cardiorespiratory fitness. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 49(2), 298-307. doi:10.1249/MSS.0000000000001188 Borg, G. (1998). Borg's perceived exertion and pain scales. Human kinetics. Stenling, A., Moylan, A., Fulton, E., & Machado, L. (2019). Effects of a brief stair-climbing intervention on cognitive performance and mood states in healthy young adults. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 2300.