Dr Matthew P. Herring

Dr. Herring is a Lecturer in Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology in the Department of Physical Education and Sport Science within the Faculty of Education and Health Sciences, a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine, and Director of the Exercise is Medicine Ireland National Centre. He is an internationally-recognized exercise psychologist whose transdisciplinary research program spans physical activity and mental health epidemiology, experimental research into acute and chronic effects of exercise on anxiety and depression among diverse populations, and mechanistic research into plausible psychobiological mechanisms of exercise dose, response, and compliance.  The overarching goals of his research are to understand the mechanisms that link physical activity and exercise to improved mental health; to understand how and in whom exercise is effective; and to identify profiles that best predict response and compliance.  His active research projects include investigations of dose-dependent associations between physical activity and Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) and Depression; plausible mechanisms of acute exercise effects among young adults with analogue GAD; randomized controlled trials of the effects of resistance exercise training in analogue GAD and Pilates training in Multiple Sclerosis; and genetic and non-genetic mechanisms of exercise training effects on anxiety and depressive symptoms.