The college years represent a crucial developmental period in which unhealthy behaviors, including smoking, alcohol consumption, inadequate physical activity (PA), poor sleep quality, and unhealthy nutrition habits are often acquired, influencing the onset or exacerbation of pre-existing mental disturbances such as anxiety, depression, or difficulties in emotion regulation. Our aim was to analyze the effect of the intensity of physical activity (PA) on the emotional, behavioral, and cognitive variables in a sample of young people. We recruited 103 participants (19.85 ± 0.25) who completed several online questionnaires (IPAQ-SF, STAI-t, DERS, UPPS-P, ISP-20, and Mini-IPIP). Subsequently, face-to-face sessions were conducted to assess the cognitive variables and to collect more details about their lifestyle habits, including drug use, sleep quality, and leisure activities. Based on the IPAQ-SF results, we categorized the sample into three groups: light PA (n = 47), moderate PA (n = 29), and vigorous PA (n = 27). Vigorous PA group showed better emotional regulation, lower impulsivity, fewer prefrontal symptoms and unhealthy behaviors, better sleep quality, and more leisure activities. No significant cognitive differences were found. It seems that young people are a vulnerable group with emotional and impulsivity traits and engaging in intense PA appears to be a promising avenue for managing these symptoms. In conclusion, our study suggests that young people are a vulnerable group with emotional and impulsivity traits that may precipitate in future mental disorders. Nevertheless, engaging in PA, particularly at high intensity, appears to be a promising avenue for reducing and managing these symptoms during this critical period of life.

While physical activity has shown beneficial effects on mood, anxiety, and drug-related variables in adults with alcohol use disorder (AUD), its impact on young individuals with risky alcohol use (RAU) remains under-explored. This study examined the effects of an acute, intense exercise session on cognitive and psychophysiological outcomes in young participants with RAU compared to controls (CO). Participants engaging in >150 min/week of moderate-to-vigorous activity were excluded. Based on AUDIT scores (RAU: ♂ ≥ 8, ♀ ≥ 6; CO: ≤3), volunteers (RAU = 47 (14 men and 33 women), CO = 53 (11 men and 42 women)) were assigned to either a 12-min submaximal cycling protocol (RAU = 29, CO = 32) or a stretching session (RAU = 18, CO = 21). The mean age of the sample was 19.54 ± 0.28 years and no differences were observed in waist-to-height ratio with mean values of 0.43 in the CO group and 0.44 in the RAU group. Rate perceived exertion (RPE), lactate levels, heart rate variability (HRV), salivary cortisol (sCORT), and alpha amylase (sAA) were assessed, alongside resting EEG (rsEEG), craving, state anxiety, and neuropsychological performance. Cycling elevated lactate levels and reduced HRV. RAU men showed lower watts compared to the CO men, and this group rated higher RPE than RAU women in both types of exercise. A single short bout of cycling improved phonological fluency in the RAU group and reduced the number of d2 test omissions regardless of group and sex. Intense exercise induced changes in sCORT and sAA increased, particularly higher sCORT in RAU men. Unexpectedly, it was the stretching condition that induced greater changes in brain activity, especially in delta and theta bands. Our findings highlight how different types and intensities of exercise can distinctly influence both brain function and cognition, as well as the relevance of designing exercise interventions according to the individual needs and characteristics of vulnerable young populations.