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How a Phone App Showed 1000's of People That Happiness and Exercise Are Linked

Posted by Laura

We are frequently warned about the dangers of a sedentary lifestyle to our health, however how much effect does inactivity have on our happiness levels?

A study conducted by the University of Cambridge has looked at the link between body movement and happiness levels. The team developed a free mobile phone app that was advertised as a tool to understand your life choices, mood and physical activity. The app was downloaded by 10,000 men and women

Users were sent questions throughout the day about their moods, and were asked specific questions about their sitting, standing and activity levels in the past 15 minutes.

 

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Images courtesy of http://journals.plos.org/

Their responses were tracked over a period of 17 months and the results suggested that happier people engage in slightly more physical activity (including non-exercise activity) than less happy people.

 

It comes as little surprise to us that exercise is shown to make us feel happier and calmer - after all it's at the very core of our mission here at Move!

However, there were some interesting takeaways from the study...
 
It appears to suggest that it’s not just exercise that makes us happier – the act of simply moving our bodies appears to be enough to create happiness. 
 
We know it sounds simple, but really think about that - it doesn’t have to be a workout, just moving is proven to make you happier!
 
 
This feeling of happiness in movement is crucial for motivation, so next time you decide to skip a workout because you don’t have time to dedicate a whole hour to it, don’t flop on the sofa. Doing anything that moves your body (even if that’s dancing round your kitchen for 10 minutes!) has been proven to make you feel happier. Great ways are a quick video yoga class (this is one of our faves), a fast paced walk around the block, taking the long route home from work or 20 minutes of house chores done fast with your headphones in!
 
 

Topics: Fitness and motivation, Health and happiness, fit

Written by Laura

Laura

After 3 years of excess at uni took a serious toll on my waistline and wellbeing, I found that a love for strength training, HIIT and spin classes were key to keeping me healthy and happy. I'm at the forefront of finding out and creating awesome stuff about health, fitness and happiness and when I'm not at work I love nothing more than pizza and prosecco in the sun with friends. What motivates me? Knowing that life is short...

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