Even small amounts of exercise boost happiness, finds new study

Modest levels of physical activity can have an effect on mood. © mediaphotos/Istock.com

New U.K. research has found that even minimal levels of physical activity -- even when you don't think you are really exercising -- can have a positive effect on a person's happiness.

Carried out by the University of Cambridge and the University of Essex, the findings are a result of the largest-ever smartphone-based study examining the relationship between physical activity and happiness.

Although previous research has already looked at the relationship between exercise and happiness, the results have been mixed, with some studies finding that happier people report exercising more and others finding no relationship at all. 

However the majority of previous research has mainly used small samples and self-reporting, which can be unreliable, for this new study the team looked at data gathered from more than 10,000 individuals who used a mood-tracking app on their Android phones and data on physical activity passively gathered from smartphone accelerometers.

In addition, participants were also asked to complete two short surveys during the day which asked questions about their emotional state, how their mood compared to normal, and how energetic or sleepy they were feeling.

The results showed that just modest levels of physical activity -- even activity such as walking around which couldn't be classified as exercise -- can increase a person's reported emotional well-being regardless of their baseline level of happiness.

The team also found that people reported being happier when they were physically active.

"Our data show that happy people are more active in general," commented senior author Dr. Jason Rentfrow, from Cambridge's Department of Psychology, "However, our analyses also indicated that periods of physical activity led to increased positive mood, regardless of individuals' baseline happiness. There have been many studies about the positive psychological effects of exercise, but what we've found is that in order to be happier, you don't have to go out and run a marathon -- all you've really got to do is periodically engage in slight physical activity throughout the day."

The results can be found published online in the journal PLOS ONE.