Outdoor sports recreation to improve the well-being of 45-55-year-old people

Physical activity is of a fundamental importance not only for improving the physical health, but also for increasing and improving the level of well-being. Increase of beta-endorphin (β-EP), leve ls in the blood plasma depends on the load intensity, amount and type. The trends of changes in β-EP levels as a result of physical load are connected with β-EP levels before physical activity. The level of β-EP affects a person's positive and negative emotions. A type of physical recreation affects positive and negative emotions of a human being. In order to realize the aim of research - to discover how the natural means for outdoor recreation (biking, Nordic walking, cross-country skiing) influence the beta-endorphin levels in the body and the positive and negative emotions of the 45-55 year-old people, a total of 16 participants were tested. Before and after physical recreation (50 min with personalized heart rate frequency 65-70% of HRmax) positive and negative emotions (using facial expressions analyzing tool "Face Reader 3.0" (FR)) and β-EP level in blood plasma (using the ELISA method) were tested. The most explicit increase of β-EP level was experienced in cyclists (+ 15.3%, p> 0.05). The changes detected in Nordic walkers and skiers are similar (+ 5.9% and + 6%, p> 0.05). Also the obtained results demonstrate the following link: for the people with relatively low beta-endorphin levels prior to performing physical recreation activities, it will be relatively lower also after such activity and vice versa (p <0.05 ). The average results of the group for the emotion of joy has increased by almost half - before the recreational activities it was estimated at 5.6 ± 1.8% level, while after 10.1 ± 3.2%. A similar situation was observed while analyzing such positive emotion as surprise. Before carrying out recreational activities the average percentage is 16.5 ± 3.4%, while after it has already reached 23.1 ± 3.1% margin. Clarifying the trends of changes in the negative emotions we found out that before the physical exercise the average negative emotion ratio is 29.5% ± 6.1, but after it - 28.2% ± 5.4 (p> 0.05). By analyzing separately the average changes of negative emotion in the group, "Face Reader 3.0" results demonstrate the reduction of average indicators of sorrow - 1.3%; anger - 3.3% and disgust - 2.8% (p> 0.05). The link between levels of positive emotions - joy and surprise, and beta-endorphin levels in the blood prior to recreational physical activity (Nordic walking, cycling and skiing) demonstrate the following trends: in accordance with the correlation coefficients, the changes in beta-endorphin level has no incentive effect of positive emotions. Therefore people with more joyful emotions have lower beta-endorphin levels and vice versa – people with lower beta-endorphin levels have more joyful emotions (r = -0,403; p > 0,05). Analyzing the changes of beta-endorphin level and negative emotions affected by physical recreation, moderately strong correlation was found between the emotion of anger and the level of beta-endorphin before the physical recreation activities. It is understood that for the people with higher beta-endorphin level the level of anger will be lower and for the people with low endorphin level the level of anger will be high (p <0.05).