ArticlePloS one2018
Dose response association of objective physical activity with mental health in a representative national sample of adults: A cross-sectional study.
Article in PloS one, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 32 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
32 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 86 citations in OpenAlex.
- Light-intensity physical activity and mental ill health: a systematic review of observational studies in the general population.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2021Pooled it
- The Association of Physical (in)Activity with Mental Health. Differences between Elder and Younger Populations: A Systematic Literature Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Pooled it
- Testosterone Treatment and Sexual Function in Men: Secondary Analysis of the T4DM (Testosterone for Diabetes) Trial.The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism · 2025Trial
- Trial
- Improving movement behavior in office workers: effects of two multi-level cluster-RCT interventions on mental health.BMC public health · 2024Trial
- Type of Physical Training and Selected Aspects of Psychological Functioning of Women with Obesity: A Randomised Trial.Nutrients · 2021Trial
- Lifestyle factors and DNA methylation-based aging clocks: cross-sectional and longitudinal associations in the Singapore diet and healthy aging cohort.The journal of prevention of Alzheimer's disease · 2026Article
- Consistency Over Intensity: The Mental Health Benefits of an 8-Week Hatha Yoga Intervention for Women.International journal of exercise science · 2026Article
- Network analysis of lifestyle behaviors and anxiety in children and adolescents: gender and school-stage heterogeneity.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Sleep Quality and Sex-Specific Physical Activity Benefits Predict Mental Health in Romanian Medical Students: A Cross-Sectional Analysis.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- Prospective Relations Between Self-Concept and Adolescent Physical Education Participation: A Sex Stratified Analysis.Journal of adolescence · 2025Article
- Feasibility Test of Personalized (N-of-1) Trials for Increasing Middle-Aged and Older Adults' Physical Activity.International journal of behavioral medicine · 2025Article
- Dose-dependent association between physical activity and mental health, and mitigation effects on risk behaviors.iScience · 2025Article
- Dose-response relationship between physical activity and anxiety symptoms in medical students from Serbia.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2025Article
- The impact of physical activity on college students' well-being: parallel and chain mediation effects of academic anxiety and social support.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Article
- Associations of weather and air pollution with objective physical activity and sedentary time before and after bariatric surgery: a secondary analysis of a prospective cohort study.Environmental research communications · 2024Article
- Association between screen time and physical activity on mental health among preschoolers: a cross-sectional study from Southwest China.BMC public health · 2024Observational
- Engaging in physical activity instead of (over)using the smartphone: An experimental investigation of lifestyle interventions to prevent problematic smartphone use and to promote mental health.Zeitschrift fur Gesundheitswissenschaften = Journal of public health · 2023Article
- Longitudinal Shifts in Movement Behaviors during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Relations to Posttraumatic Stress Disorder among University Students.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Although higher physical activity (PA) levels are associated with better mental health, previous findings about the shape of the dose-response relationship between PA and mental health are inconsistent. Furthermore, this association may differ according to sedentary levels. We investigated the cross-sectional dose-response associations between objectively measured PA and mental health in a representative national sample of adults. We also examined whether sedentary time modified the PA-mental health associations. Based on 2007-2013 Canadian Health Measures Survey data, PA and sedentary time were measured using accelerometry among 8150 participants, aged 20 to 79 years. Generalized additive models with a smooth function were fitted to examine associations between minutes per day of moderate and vigorous PA (MVPA), light PA (LPA), daily steps (combined or not with sedentary time) and self-rated mental health. A significant curvilinear relationship between average daily minutes of MVPA and mental health was observed, with increasing benefits up to 50 minutes/day. For LPA, a more complex shape (monotonic and curvilinear) was found. For daily steps, inverted U-shaped curve suggested increasing benefits until a plateau between 5 000 and 16 000 steps. The MVPA-LPA combination was significantly associated with mental health but with a complex pattern (p < 0.0005E-06). The tested PA-sedentary time combinations showed that increasing sedentary time decreased the positive PA-mental health associations. Non-linear dose-response patterns between the PA modalities and self-reported mental health were observed. Optimal doses of daily minutes of MVPA, LPA, MVPA combined with LPA and daily steps are independently associated with better mental health in adults. The results also suggest that PA-mental health associations could be hampered by daily sedentary time.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.