SynthesisNature human behaviour2026
An individual participant data meta-analysis of how physical activity relates to affective well-being in daily life.
Synthesis in Nature human behaviour, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Buffering Effects of Physical Activity on Negative Life Events-Life Satisfaction Dynamics.Stress and health : journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
57 authors.
Funding
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.
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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.