A new study states that exercise can lighten a person's mood on a bad day, making him or her happier. Researchers state that people who exercise are more satisfied with life.
If you're having a bad day, exercise is a good way to make yourself feel better. At least that's what researchers from kinesiology say. According to a new study, people who exercise daily are more happy and satisfied in life compared to people that don't.
"We found that people's satisfaction with life was directly impacted by their daily physical activity," said Jaclyn Maher, Penn State graduate student in kinesiology.
The study included the analysis of about 250 men and women between the ages of 18 and 25; period in life when people are most dissatisfied with their lives.
"Emerging adults are going through a lot of changes; they are leaving home for the first time and attending college or starting jobs," Maher said. "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."
These 250 people were divided into two groups. The first group included 190 people who have to make daily entries into a diary for 8 days while the second group had 60 people who make similar entries into a secure website for two weeks.
These entries included answers to questions that analyzed their level of happiness and satisfaction in life along with them having to record their daily physical activities. The findings suggested that people who indulged in extended work out sassier were happier and more satisfied in life than people who didn't indulge in any physical activities.
"Shifts in depression, anxiety and stress would be expected to influence a person's satisfaction with life at any given point in time. 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," said David Conroy, professor of kinesiology.
