Want to be more satisfied with life? Exercise a little more

Researchers from the Penn State have found that exercising a little longer than usual helps in improving your satisfaction with life.

Young woman exercising in the gymUNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.: People’s satisfaction with life is higher on days when they exercise a little extra, researchers from Penn State have found.

Jaclyn Maher a graduate student in kinesiology, said, “We found that people’s satisfaction with life was directly impacted by their daily physical activity. The findings reinforce the idea that physical activity is a health behaviour with important consequences for daily well-being and should be considered when developing national policies to enhance satisfaction with life.”

Young adults between 18 to 25 years were selected for the research because it has been o that this age group’s sense of wellbeing appears to worsen more quickly than older adults.

“Emerging adults are going through a lot of changes; they are leaving home for the first time and attending college or starting jobs,” said Maher. “As a result, their satisfaction with life can plummet. We decided to focus on emerging adults because they stand to benefit the most from strategies to enhance satisfaction with life.”

The researchers recruited two groups of college students at Penn State. The first group, consisting of 190 individuals, were asked to keep a diary every day for eight days. The second group, consisting of 63 individuals, were told to update a secure website every day for 14 days. Both groups answered questions aimed at determining their satisfaction with life, physical activity and self-esteem. The personalities of all participants in the first group were assessed at the outset of the study using the Big Five Inventory short form.

For the second group (the 63 individuals who filled out questionnaires online for 14 days), the researchers wanted to further investigate it was indeed the physical activity that caused the participants’ increased satisfaction with life rather than some other factor such as mental health, fatigue, or Body Mass Index.

“Shifts in depression, anxiety and stress would be expected to influence a person’s satisfaction with life at any given point in time,” said David Conroy, professor of kinesiology. “In addition, fatigue can be a barrier to engaging in physical activity, and a high Body Mass Index associated with being overweight may cause a person to be less satisfied in a variety of ways.”

By controlling these variables, the researchers were able to conclude that the amount of physical activity in a day directly influences his or her satisfaction with life. Specifically, the team found that by exercising just a little more than usual, one can significantly improve his or her satisfaction with life.

The results appeared online this week in the journal Health Psychology.

“Based on these findings, we recommend that people exercise a little longer or a little harder than usual as a way to boost satisfaction with life,” said Conroy.

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