Abstract
How emerging adulthood, a period particularly susceptible to the onset of mental disorders, responds to acute aerobic exercise effects on mood and brain remains an open question. A challenge in addressing this question is the scarcity of open data derived from scientific intervention paradigms. We recruited 83 healthy volunteers aged 17 to 24, who were randomly assigned to either an exercise group or a control group. The exercise group performed 30-minutes aerobic exercise with moderate intensity on a cycle ergometer, while the control group read neutral textual material without any physical activity. All participants received structural MRI scans before their intervention periods and completed mood scales and resting-state functional MRI scans before and after their intervention periods. Their heart rates were also monitored during the intervention. The dataset represents the first open resource for probing the acute aerobic exercise effects on brain and mind, containing physical, mental, and brain measurements. It has been released as part of the Chinese Color Nest Community in the Science Data Bank.