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Physical activity has long been known to reduce depression and
anxiety, and is commonly prescribed to prevent or cure negative mental
health conditions.
However, less is known about the impact of physical activity on
positive mental health conditions, such as happiness and contentment.
Weiyun Chen,
University of Michigan associate professor in kinesiology, wanted to
know if exercise increased positive mental health in the same way it
reduced negative mental health. Specifically, researchers examined which
aspects of physical activity were associated with happiness, and which
populations were likely to benefit from the effects.
To that end, Chen and co-author Zhanjia Zhang, a doctoral student,
reviewed 23 studies on happiness and physical activity. The 15
observational studies all showed a positive direct or indirect
association between happiness and exercise. The eight interventional
studies showed inconsistent results.
The studies included health information from thousands of adults,
seniors, adolescents, children, and cancer survivors from several
countries. A couple themes emerged.
"Our findings suggest the physical activity frequency and volume are
essential factors in the relationship between physical activity and
happiness," Chen said. "More importantly, even a small change of
physical activity makes a difference in happiness."
Findings suggest a threshold effect for the relationship of
happiness and physical activity--several studies found that happiness
levels were the same whether people exercised 150-300 minutes a week, or
more than 300 minutes a week.
Specifics: Active and happy?
The review of observational studies found that compared to inactive
people, the odds ratio of being happy was 20, 29 and 52 percent higher
for people who were insufficiently active, sufficiently active, or very
active, respectively.
Several studies reviewed the relationship between physical activity
and happiness in youth. One study found that youth who engaged in
physical activity once a week compared to none had 1.4 times the odds of
being happy if they were normal weight, and 1.5 times the odds if
overweight. Another study found that adolescents who were physically
active at least twice a week had significantly higher happiness than
those who were active once or less a week. An additional study found
that college students who participated in physical activity had 1.3
times the odds of being happy than peers who didn't participate.
Three studies looked at happiness and activity in older adults. One
found that exercise was associated with happier adults. Another found
that total minutes of exercise per week was positively related to
happiness. However, the findings suggest happiness was mediated by
health status and/or social functioning.
Three studies looked at special populations. Among ovarian cancer
survivors, meeting the 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical
activity was significantly associated with happiness level. In children
and adolescents with cerebral palsy, physical activity predicted
happiness level, and among drug abusers, the number of weekly exercise
sessions, regardless of intensity, was slightly associated with
happiness.
In the intervention studies, physical activity included aerobic,
mixed school activity classes, and stretching and balance exercises or
30 to 75 minutes from one to five times a week for 7 weeks to a year.
Four of the intervention studies showed a significant difference in
change of happiness between intervention group and control group, and
three did not.
The review only looked at articles in peer-reviewed journals in
English, which could lead to publication bias and overestimating the
positive relationship between physical activity and happiness. Because
there were limited randomized control trials, the researchers could not
establish causation between happiness and physical activity.
More details can be found in thee study, "A systematic review of the relationship between physical activity and happiness," which was published online March 24 by the Journal of Happiness Studies.
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