Craving is considered to be a vital contributor to the onset and maintenance of alcohol misuse. However, there is little known about its potential moderators and there are few interventions that specifically target these cravings. Exercise generates multiple psychological and physiological effects that in theory may reduce craving, and therefore we hypothesised that a short exercise circuit may potentially alter reward circuits. Recent research centred around neuroimaging studies suggests that similar reward circuits in the brain stimulated through exercise are also found to be activated by commonly misused substances such as alcohol. Peripheral levels of dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin, as well as the release of endorphins that would otherwise be artificially stimulated using alcohol are hypothesised to increase via alternate substitution induced by exercise. Exercise would thus replace effects of alcohol use to a substantial extent, and therefore was theorised to decrease craving and subsequently reduce hazardous alcohol use. A university student sample who reported hazardous drinking levels participated in either an exercise, colouring (as an active control) or a passive control intervention, and self-reported alcohol craving, mood, anxiety, and positive and negative affect scores were assessed. The present study found that a short exercise circuit significantly reduced alcohol craving, whilst also eliciting beneficial effects on mood and anxiety. This knowledge will help aid the utilisation of exercise as a potential therapeutic tool to reduce alcohol craving, prevent hazardous alcohol use and develop a greater understanding of the mechanisms that underlie addictive behaviour.

渴望被认为是导致和维持酒精滥用的重要因素。然而，人们对其潜在的调节者知之甚少，而且很少有专门针对这些渴望的干预措施。运动会产生多种心理和生理效应，理论上可能会减少渴望，因此我们假设短暂的运动回路可能会改变奖励回路。最近以神经影像学研究为中心的研究表明，通过运动刺激的大脑中类似的奖励回路也被发现被经常滥用的物质（如酒精）激活。多巴胺、去甲肾上腺素和血清素的外周水平，以及内啡肽的释放，否则会被酒精人为刺激，被假设通过运动诱导的替代替代而增加。因此，锻炼将在很大程度上取代酒精使用的影响，因此理论上可以减少渴望并随后减少有害的酒精使用。报告危险饮酒水平的大学生样本参加了运动、着色（作为主动控制）或被动控制干预，并评估了自我报告的酒精渴望、情绪、焦虑以及积极和消极情绪评分。本研究发现，短暂的锻炼循环显着降低了对酒精的渴望，同时也对情绪和焦虑产生了有益的影响。