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Not a history of a lot of physical activity, but a history of a lot of mental well-being makes you physically active now
Having a lifestyle with a lot of exercise now, does not mean that you will still have an active lifestyle in 8 years. A lot of physical activity now says nothing about how much you will exercise in 8 years, Finnish researchers report in Applied Research in Quality of Life. But mental well-being does...
Study
Gerontologists from the University of Jyvaskyla in Finland followed a group of 303 Finns through time. They interviewed the study participants when they were 42 and 8 years later, when they were 50. The Finns determined how much exercise the study participants had, and also their degree of well-being.
Well-being has a psychological, social and emotional dimension for psychologists. Psychological well-being is related to personal growth, a goal in life, self-acceptance an meaningful relationships. Social well-being is related to feelings of social acceptance, actualization, coherence and contribution. Emotional well-being mean that you you experience positive emotions, like overall life satisfaction and happiness.
Results
When the study participants were 42, and 8 years later, physical exercise was related to well-being. Just like you'd expect.
You might expect the study participants reported higer levels of well-being when they were 50, as they had more physical activity 8 years earlier. In other words, you might expect the positive effects of a lifestyle with a lot of physical exercise to accumulate as the years pass. But this was not the case.
It was the other way around, the figure above shows. The more well-being the study participants reported at the age of 42, the more they exercised at the age of 50. "Across time, good mental well-being seems to be a resource promoting engagement in physical activity," write the researchers.
Conclusion Interpretation
We feel free to interpret the findings of the Finns in a way that's right up our street. If you want to make people physically more active in a sustainable way, you have to choose a modality of exercise that makes them feel better, we deduce. The better this succeeds, the greater the chance that the lifestyle modification will last.
Source:
Applied Research in Quality of Life, 2019; DOI: 10.1007/s11482-019-09721-4.
More:
A lot of exercise (and three other things) makes you happy 30.03.2016
Boss who does weight training is a nicer boss 14.03.2012
Strength training gets rid of listlessness 03.11.2009
Archives:
Psychology
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