Research on Exercise and Wellness Colloquium Series

Talk Abstract: Regular exercise affords many positive effects on health, longevity, and well-being. Despite its many benefits, the majority of adults in the United States do not engage in sufficient levels of regular exercise, and most people who initiate a routine of regular exercise fail to maintain it over time. One intriguing explanation for the widespread lack of regular exercise is that many people experience exercise to be affectively unpleasant, and as a result are less likely to engage in it regularly. In this talk, I will discuss findings across various studies we have conducted that focus on understanding the affective factors that are relevant to exercise and how they might be targeted for intervention. I will also discuss the implications of these findings for the maintenance of regular exercise and for theoretical models of health behavior.

Brief Bio: Dr. Austin Baldwin completed a B.S. in psychology at Brigham Young University (2000), and a Ph.D. in social psychology at the University of Minnesota (2006). He spent two years as a post-doctoral fellow at the Iowa City VA Medical Center and the University of Iowa. He has been on the faculty in the Psychology Department at SMU since 2008 where he directs the Health Behavior Lab. In his research, he and his students address theoretically-guided questions about how different psychosocial factors influence (a) decisions to engage in and maintain health behaviors and (b) health outcomes. This work cuts across different health domains, including questions that are specific to the initiation and maintenance of regular exercise.

For more information, email Dr. Lynn Romejko Jacobs at lromejko@smu.edu.