The relationships among daily exercise, sensory-processing sensitivity, and depressive tendency in Japanese university students

Abstract Sensory-processing sensitivity (SPS), the trait of being easily affected by a variety of environmental stimuli, is considered to be related to depressive tendencies. SPS can be measured on three sub-scales: low sensory threshold (LST), ease of excitation (EOE), and aesthetic sensitivity (AES). This study investigated the relationships among the levels of SPS, its sub-scales, depressive tendencies, and the frequency of physical exercise in Japanese university students. The participants ( N  = 275; mean age = 19.4, SD  = 1.1) completed questionnaires that included an item on the frequency of physical exercise each week, as well as the Japanese version of the 19-item Highly Sensitive Person Scale and the Self-rating Depression Scale. The results showed that LST and EOE were positively related to depressive tendencies, which were moderated by increasing the frequency of physical exercise. AES was negatively related to depressive tendencies, which was a different result from LST and EOE. Hereafter, longitudinal approaches will be needed to reveal the effects of physical exercise on the relationships between LST or EOE and depressive tendencies.