Journal article
An individual participant data meta-analysis of how physical activity relates to affective well-being in daily life
Nature human behaviour
05/06/2026
DOI: 10.1038/s41562-026-02427-2
PMID: 42092045
Abstract
Physical inactivity constitutes a pressing societal problem. To realize physical activity's (PA) potential as a key health resource, mechanisms of PA engagement need to be understood. Laboratory and interventional studies documented that exercise relates to affective well-being (AWB) and suggested that AWB may shape PA behaviour. Digitalization enabled the investigation of how PA relates to AWB in everyday life, but findings from individual studies are ambiguous. Here we compiled 67 datasets (55.2% of eligible records) including 321,345 smartphone-based AWB ratings and nearly 1,000,000 h of accelerometer-measured PA (N = 8,223 participants) until December 2023 to clarify the nature and extent of PA-AWB associations. One- and two-stage individual participant data meta-analyses reveal that momentary AWB is associated with both prior (within, r = 0.05, 99.2% confidence intervals (CI) 0.03 to 0.06; between, r = 0.08, 99.2% CI 0.04 to 0.12) and subsequent (within, r = 0.04, 99.2% CI 0.03 to 0.05; between, r = 0.08, 99.2% CI 0.04 to 0.13) short-term PA in everyday life. Within persons, PA displays a positive association with energetic arousal, positive affective states and valence, yet a negative relation to calmness. The practical effect sizes are comparable to other daily life activities, with energetic arousal evincing the strongest relation to PA. Considerable heterogeneity in associations across individuals can be partially explained by sociodemographic moderators. Between participants, PA relates to positive affective states. The results document the critical relevance of PA-AWB relations in everyday life. They can contribute to the revision and development of health behaviour models and establish a starting point to approach behavioural, physiological and neuronal mechanisms underlying PA-AWB associations.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- An individual participant data meta-analysis of how physical activity relates to affective well-being in daily life
- Creators
- Johanna Rehder - University of SalzburgIrina Timm - Karlsruhe Institute of TechnologyGesa Berretz - Radboud University NijmegenIris Reinhard - Heidelberg UniversityAndreas B Neubauer - RWTH Aachen UniversityOnur Güntürkün - Ruhr University BochumKeisuke Takano - Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität MünchenWalter Bierbauer - University of ZurichMiriam Cabrita - ShineMatthew Bourke - The University of QueenslandJoshua Smyth - The Ohio State UniversityJinhyuk Kim - Shizuoka UniversityJohannes Michalak - Witten/Herdecke UniversityJoshua Curtiss - Massachusetts General HospitalBjörn Pannicke - University of SalzburgJacob B Gallagher - University of IowaAna M Abrantes - Providence CollegeToru Nakamura - The University of OsakaYoshiharu Yamamoto - Bunkyo UniversityPaul Cook - University of Colorado Anschutz Medical CampusLena M Wieland - DIPF | Leibniz Institute for Research and Information in EducationBirte von Haaren-Mack - Karlsruhe Institute of TechnologyBryan McCormick - Temple UniversityJustin Hachenberger - Bielefeld UniversityTomas Vetrovsky - Charles UniversityBenajmin Henwood - University of Southern CaliforniaLouise Poppe - Ghent UniversityGorden Sudeck - University of TübingenLaura Hollands - University of ExeterAndrea B Goldschmidt - University of PittsburghLynn Martire - Pennsylvania State UniversityMartina Kanning - University of KonstanzJaclyn P Maher - University of North Carolina at GreensboroYu-Mei Li - Bielefeld UniversityUlrich Reininghaus - Central Institute of Mental HealthCorina Berli - University of BernCaroline Seiferth - Freie Universität BerlinDerek J Hevel - University of North Carolina at GreensboroKate Leger - University of KentuckyAmanda E Staiano - Pennington Biomedical Research CenterAlmut Zeeck - University of FreiburgStefano Calza - University of BresciaYue Liao - The University of Texas at ArlingtonGeralyn R Ruissen - University of AlbertaAndreas R Schwerdtfeger - University of GrazMatthias Haucke - Humboldt-Universität zu BerlinLoree T Pham - University of Southern CaliforniaSiwei Liu - University of California, DavisMark C Thomas - VA Pittsburgh Healthcare SystemAndreas Meyer-Lindenberg - Heidelberg UniversityGenevieve F Dunton - University of Southern CaliforniaSteriani Elavsky - University of OstravaUlrich W Ebner-Priemer - Karlsruhe Institute of TechnologyMarco Giurgiu - Karlsruhe Institute of TechnologyJulian Packheiser - Ruhr University BochumMarkus Reichert - University of SalzburgCoCA Consortium
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Nature human behaviour
- DOI
- 10.1038/s41562-026-02427-2
- PMID
- 42092045
- ISSN
- 2397-3374
- eISSN
- 2397-3374
- Publisher
- NATURE PORTFOLIO
- Grant note
- CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16_019/0000798 / Ministerstvo ;kolstv, Ml;de;e a T;lov;chovy (Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports) TRR265, project C05 / Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation) 3092;51000-056-04A / U.S. Department of Agriculture (United States Department of Agriculture) U.S. R01 AG026010 / U.S. Department of Health; Human Services | NIH | National Institute on Aging (U.S. National Institute on Aging) 01EW2404A / Bundesministerium fr Bildung und Forschung (Federal Ministry of Education and Research) 01GL1719A/B / Bundesministerium fr Bildung und Forschung (Federal Ministry of Education and Research)
- Language
- English
- Electronic publication date
- 05/06/2026
- Academic Unit
- Health, Sport, and Human Physiology
- Record Identifier
- 9985163468202771
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