Effects of High-Intensity Interval Training on Mental Health Outcomes in Adolescents and Young Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

• Miguel Heres ^[2] ; Susana Pulgar ^[2] ; Marcos Quintana-Cepedal ^[1] ; Maria Fernandez-del-Valle ^[1] ; Hugo Olmedillas ^[1]
  1. [1] Universidad de Oviedo

     Universidad de Oviedo

     Oviedo, España

     
  2. [2] European University of Atlantic (Spain)
• Localización: Psicothema, ISSN-e 1886-144X, ISSN 0214-9915, Vol. 38, Nº. 3, 2026, págs. 138-148
• Idioma: inglés
• DOI: 10.70478/psicothema.2026.38.13
• Títulos paralelos:
  • Efectos del Entrenamiento Interválico de Alta Intensidad en la Salud Mental de Adolescentes y Adultos Jóvenes: una Revisión Sistemática y Metaanálisis
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo
• Resumen
  • español

    Antecedentes: Ante la creciente inactividad física y los problemas de salud mental, las intervenciones eficientes en tiempo, como el entrenamiento interválico de alta intensidad (HIIT), requieren una evaluación rigurosa. Esta revisión sistemática y metaanálisis sintetizó la evidencia sobre los efectos del HIIT en la salud mental de adolescentes y adultos jóvenes. Método: Se realizaron búsquedas sistemáticas en seis bases de datos electrónicas hasta septiembre de 2025 para identificar ensayos controlados aleatorizados que compararon HIIT (≥85% de la frecuencia cardíaca máxima) con un grupo control pasivo en poblaciones no clínicas de entre 11 y 29 años. Resultados: Se incluyeron 11 estudios con 1,401 participantes. El metaanálisis con modelos de efectos aleatorios mostró una reducción modesta del estrés percibido a favor del HIIT (DME = −0.29; IC del 95%: −0.59 a 0.004; p = .053), sin alcanzar la significación estadística convencional y con elevada incertidumbre. No se observaron efectos significativos sobre síntomas depresivos, ansiedad ni bienestar psicológico. Conclusiones: HIIT podría asociarse con reducciones modestas del estrés percibido; sin embargo, la certeza de la evidencia fue baja a muy baja. Se requieren estudios de mayor calidad para clarificar sus efectos sobre la salud mental.

  • English

    Background: Given rising physical inactivity and mental health challenges, time-efficient interventions like HighIntensity Interval Training (HIIT) require rigorous evaluation. This systematic review and meta-analysis synthesized the evidence for HIIT’s effects on mental health in adolescents and young adults. Method: Six electronic databases were systematically searched for Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) up to September 2025, comparing HIIT (defined as ≥85% HRmax) against a passive control group in non-clinical populations aged 11-29 years. Results: 11 RCTs comprising 1,401 participants were included. The random-effects meta-analysis showed a modest reduction in perceived stress associated with HIIT (SMD = −0.29, 95% CI −0.59 to 0.004, p = .053), although the effect did not reach conventional statistical significance and substantial uncertainty remained. No statistically significant effects were observed for depressive symptoms, anxiety, or psychological wellbeing. Conclusions: HIIT may be associated with modest reductions in perceived stress; however, the certainty of the evidence was low to very low across all outcomes.

    These findings should be interpreted with caution, and further high-quality research is needed to clarify the effects of HIIT on mental health outcomes.

• Referencias bibliográficas
  • Allen, A., Carlson, S. C., Bosch, T. A., Eberly, L. E., Okuyemi, K., Nair, U., & Gordon, J. S. (2018). High-intensity interval training...
  • American College of Sports Medicine. (2018). ACSM’s guidelines for exercise testing and prescription (10th ed.). Wolters Kluwer.
  • Becker, B. J. (1988). Synthesizing standardized mean-change measures. British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology, 41(2), 257–278....
  • Bélair, M. A., Kohen, D. E., Kingsbury, M., & Colman, I. (2018). Relationship between leisure time physical activity, sedentary behaviour...
  • Biddle, S. J. H., Ciaccioni, S., Thomas, G., & Vergeer, I. (2019). Physical activity and mental health in children and adolescents: An...
  • Borrega-Mouquinho, Y., Sánchez-Gómez, J., Fuentes-García, J. P., Collado-Mateo, D., & Villafaina, S. (2021). Effects of high-intensity...
  • Brown, H. E., Pearson, N., Braithwaite, R. E., Brown, W. J., & Biddle, S. J. (2013). Physical activity interventions and depression in...
  • Carter, T., Pascoe, M., Bastounis, A., Morres, I. D., Callaghan, P., & Parker, A. G. (2021). The effect of physical activity on anxiety...
  • Cipriani, A., Zhou, X., Del Giovane, C., Hetrick, S. E., Qin, B., Whittington, C., Furukawa, T. A., Salanti, G., & Geddes, J. R. (2016)....
  • Costigan, S. A., Eather, N., Plotnikoff, R. C., Hillman, C. H., & Lubans, D. R. (2016). High-intensity interval training for cognitive...
  • Costigan, S. A., Eather, N., Plotnikoff, R. C., Taaffe, D. R., & Lubans, D. R. (2015). High-intensity interval training for improving...
  • Eather, N., Riley, N., Miller, A., Smith, V., Poole, A., Vincze, L., Morgan, P. J., & Lubans, D. R. (2019). Efficacy and feasibility of...
  • Gaia, J. W. P., Schuch, F. B., Ferreira, R. W., Souza, E. L., Ferreira, V. M. S., & Pires, D. A. (2024). Effects of high-intensity interval...
  • Guthold, R., Stevens, G. A., Riley, L. M., & Bull, F. C. (2020). Global trends in insufficient physical activity among adolescents: A...
  • Guyatt, G. H., Oxman, A. D., Sultan, S., Glasziou, P., Akl, E. A., AlonsoCoello, P., Atallah, Á., Brozek, J., Dahm, P., D’Amico, R., Furlan,...
  • Harris, N., Warbrick, I., Fleming, T., Borotkanics, R., Atkins, D., & Lubans, D. (2022). Impact of high-intensity interval training including...
  • Heijnen, S., Hommel, B., Kibele, A., & Colzato, L. S. (2016). Neuromodulation of aerobic exercise: A review. Frontiers in Psychology,...
  • Higgins, J. P. T. (2003). Measuring inconsistency in meta-analyses. BMJ, 327(7414), 557–560. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.327.7414.557
  • Higgins, J. P. T., Thomas, J., Chandler, J., Cumpston, M., Li, T., Page, M. J., & Welch, V. A. (Eds.). (2024). Cochrane handbook for systematic...
  • Hoare, E., Stavreski, B., Jennings, G. L., & Kingwell, B. A. (2017). Exploring motivation and barriers to physical activity among active...
  • Hood, M. S., Little, J. P., Tarnopolsky, M. A., Myslik, F., & Gibala, M. J. (2011). Low-volume interval training improves muscle oxidative...
  • Howlett, N., Bottoms, L., Chater, A., Clark, A. B., Clarke, T., David, L., Irvine, K., Jones, A., Jones, J., Mengoni, S. E., Murdoch, J.,...
  • Javelle, F., Bloch, W., Borges, U., Burberg, T., Collins, B., Gunasekara, N., Hosang, T., Jacobsen, T., Laborde, S., Löw, A., Schenk, A.,...
  • Leahy, A. A., Eather, N., Smith, J. J., Hillman, C. H., Morgan, P. J., Plotnikoff, R. C., Nilsson, M., Costigan, S. A., Noetel, M., &...
  • Leahy, A. A., Mavilidi, M. F., Smith, J. J., Hillman, C. H., Eather, N., Barker, D., & Lubans, D. R. (2020). Review of high-intensity...
  • Little, J. P., Safdar, A., Wilkin, G. P., Tarnopolsky, M. A., & Gibala, M. J. (2010). A practical model of low-volume high-intensity interval...
  • Liu, J., Zhang, Y., Li, X., Wang, D., Shi, B., You, Y., Min, L., Luo, B., Li, Y., Di, Q., & Ma, X. (2022). Exercise improves mental health...
  • Lubans, D. R., Smith, J. J., Eather, N., Leahy, A. A., Morgan, P. J., Lonsdale, C., Plotnikoff, R. C., Nilsson, M., Kennedy, S. G., Holliday,...
  • Lubans, D. R., Smith, J. J., Morgan, P. J., Beauchamp, M. R., Miller, A., Lonsdale, C., Parker, P., & Dally, K. (2016b). Mediators of...
  • Lubans, D., Richards, J., Hillman, C., Faulkner, G., Beauchamp, M., Nilsson, M., Kelly, P., Smith, J., Raine, L., & Biddle, S. (2016a)....
  • Lucibello, K. M., Paolucci, E. M., Graham, J. D., & Heisz, J. J. (2020). A randomized control trial investigating high-intensity interval...
  • Madigan, S., Racine, N., Vaillancourt, T., Korczak, D. J., Hewitt, J. M. A., Pador, P., Park, J. L., McArthur, B. A., Holy, C., & Neville,...
  • Mason, J. E., & Asmundson, G. J. (2018). A single bout of either sprint interval training or moderate intensity continuous training reduces...
  • May, R. W., Seibert, G. S., Sanchez-Gonzalez, M. A., & Fincham, F. D. (2018). Self-regulatory biofeedback training: An intervention to...
  • McGuinness, L. A., & Higgins, J. P. T. (2021). Risk-of-bias VISualization (robvis): An R package and Shiny web app for visualizing risk-of-bias...
  • Methley, A. M., Campbell, S., Chew-Graham, C., McNally, R., & CheraghiSohi, S. (2014). PICO, PICOS and SPIDER: A comparison study of specificity...
  • Miller, A. H., & Raison, C. L. (2016). The role of inflammation in depression: From evolutionary imperative to modern treatment target....
  • Naylor, P. J., Nettlefold, L., Race, D., Hoy, C., Ashe, M. C., Wharf Higgins, J., & McKay, H. A. (2015). Implementation of school-based...
  • Noetel, M., Sanders, T., Gallardo-Gómez, D., Taylor, P., del Pozo Cruz, B., van den Hoek, D., Smith, J. J., Mahoney, J., Spathis, J., Moresi,...
  • Ormsbee, M. J., Kinsey, A. W., Chong, M., Friedman, H. S., & Panton, L. B. (2013). The influence of high-intensity interval training on...
  • Page, M. J., McKenzie, J. E., Bossuyt, P. M., Boutron, I., Hoffmann, T. C., Mulrow, C. D., Shamseer, L., Tetzlaff, J. M., Akl, E. A., Brennan,...
  • Paluska, S. A., & Schwenk, T. L. (2000). Physical activity and mental health: Current concepts. Sports Medicine, 29(3), 167–180. https://doi....
  • Patalay, P., & Gage, S. H. (2019). Changes in millennial adolescent mental health and health-related behaviours over 10 years: A population...
  • Patton, G. C., Sawyer, S. M., Santelli, J. S., Ross, D. A., Afifi, R., Allen, N. B., Arora, M., Azzopardi, P., Baldwin, W., Bonell, C., Kakuma,...
  • Pilling, S., Anderson, I., Goldberg, D., Meader, N., & Taylor, C. (2009). Depression in adults, including those with a chronic physical...
  • Racine, N., McArthur, B. A., Cooke, J. E., Eirich, R., Zhu, J., & Madigan, S. (2021). Global prevalence of depressive and anxiety symptoms...
  • Rodriguez-Ayllon, M., Cadenas-Sánchez, C., Estévez-López, F., Muñoz, N. E., Mora-Gonzalez, J., Migueles, J. H., Molina-Garcia, P., Henriksson,...
  • Ruggero, C. J., Petrie, T., Sheinbein, S., Greenleaf, C., & Martin, S. (2015). Cardiorespiratory fitness may help in protecting against...
  • Schardt, C., Adams, M. B., Owens, T., Keitz, S., & Fontelo, P. (2007). Utilization of the PICO framework to improve searching PubMed for...
  • Schmidt, N. B., Keough, M. E., Mitchell, M. A., Reynolds, E. K., Macpherson, L., Zvolensky, M. J., & Lejuez, C. W. (2010). Anxiety sensitivity:...
  • Schuch, F. B., Vancampfort, D., Richards, J., Rosenbaum, S., Ward, P. B., & Stubbs, B. (2016). Exercise as a treatment for depression:...
  • Schwarzer, G. (2025). meta: General package for meta-analysis (Version 8.2-1) [R package]. Comprehensive R Archive Network (CRAN). https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=meta
  • Shandu, N. M., Mathunjwa, M. L., Shaw, B. S., & Shaw, I. (2023). Effects of high-intensity interval training and continuous aerobic training...
  • Silva, S. A., Silva, S. U., Ronca, D. B., Gonçalves, V. S. S., Dutra, E. S., & Carvalho, K. M. B. (2020). Common mental disorders prevalence...
  • Skvarc, D. R., & Fuller-Tyszkiewicz, M. (2024). Calculating repeatedmeasures meta-analytic effects for continuous outcomes: A tutorial...
  • Stubbs, B., Vancampfort, D., Rosenbaum, S., Firth, J., Cosco, T., Veronese, N., Gaughran, F., & Schuch, F. B. (2017). An examination of...
  • Twenge, J. M., Cooper, A. B., Joiner, T. E., Duffy, M. E., & Binau, S. G. (2019). Age, period, and cohort trends in mood disorder indicators...
  • Viechtbauer, W. (2010). Conducting meta-analyses in R with the metafor package. Journal of Statistical Software, 36(3), 1–48. https://doi....