ABSTRACT

Longstanding research suggests a positive relation between physical activity and health. However, when investigating this relation most studies focused on the absence of disease or infirmity as health indicators. The relation between physical activity and positive health-related constructs such as subjective well-being (SWB) remains oftentimes unexplored. The present meta-analysis offers a rigorous test of the relation between physical activity and SWB in healthy individuals, by including all different kinds of physical activity and SWB facets from childhood to old age. Random-effects meta-analysis using robust variance estimation revealed a positive relation (d = 0.360, 95% CI [0.301, 0.420]). Our results demonstrate a small beneficial main effect of physical activity on SWB, independent of the prior fitness level of the participants and various characteristics of the physical activity intervention. This effect was found in experimental studies as well as in correlational and quasi-experimental studies. Physical activity was more strongly related to positive affect compared to cognitive well-being and was unrelated to negative affect. Our results provide evidence for the importance of physical activity in the context of well-being. Further, we also systematically review and discuss the large heterogeneity of studies published on this relation and warrant further research regarding underlying mechanisms.

摘要

长期研究表明，体育活动与健康之间存在正相关关系。然而，在调查这种关系时，大多数研究都将没有疾病或虚弱作为健康指标。身体活动与积极的健康相关结构（如主观幸福感 (SWB)）之间的关系通常仍未得到探索。本荟萃分析通过包括从童年到老年的所有不同类型的身体活动和 SWB 方面，对健康个体的身体活动与 SWB 之间的关系进行了严格的测试。使用稳健方差估计的随机效应元分析显示正相关 ( d = 0.360, 95% CI [0.301, 0.420])。我们的结果表明，体育活动对 SWB 的主要有益影响很小，与参与者先前的健康水平和体育活动干预的各种特征无关。在实验研究以及相关和准实验研究中都发现了这种效应。与认知健康相比，身体活动与积极影响的相关性更强，与消极影响无关。我们的研究结果为身体活动对幸福感的重要性提供了证据。此外，我们还系统地审查和讨论了就这种关系发表的研究的巨大异质性，并保证对潜在机制进行进一步研究。