Objective This study aimed to investigate the relationship between high-level physical activity (PA) and postmenopausal women's subjective experience of emotional regulation, prefrontal cortex (PFC) activation and related neurotransmitter levels, exploring the characteristics of emotional regulation in postmenopausal women who maintain long-term high PA in daily life, thereby providing a scientific basis for developing targeted protective strategies and methods to evaluate intervention effects.

Methods Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) was employed to monitor the subjective emotions, emotional regulation strategies and PFC activation in postmenopausal women with high PA during cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression tasks for emotional regulation. Serum levels of neurotransmitters — 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT), dopamine (DA) and noradrenaline (NA) — were measured using serological methods.

Results ① The high PA group demonstrated superior cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression strategies compared to the moderate-low PA group, along with enhanced positive emotional perception and emotional regulation performance. ② During emotional regulation tasks, the high-PA group exhibited significantly higher activation in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) regions of interest (ROIs) than the moderate-low PA group. ③ Serum analyses revealed elevated DA and NA levels in the high PA group, compared to the moderate-low PA group.

Conclusion Postmenopausal women who engage in sustained high levels of daily physical activity exhibit enhanced emotional regulation capabilities, higher DA and NA neurotransmitter levels, and more efficient utilization of emotional regulation strategies when confronting negative emotions. The HbO₂ concentration values in the DLPFC and VLPFC regions may serve as observable biomarkers for evaluating the benefits of PA in improving emotional regulation.