Active Today, Replenished Tomorrow? How Daily Physical Activity Diminishes Next‐Morning Depletion

Abstract

Background Physical activity is a salient input to psychological health and well‐being. Recent applied psychology research suggests that physical activity of a greater intensity is particularly important for recovery from work‐related effort expenditure. However, whether and how moderate‐to‐vigorous levels of physical activity influence recovery outside of working populations remains unclear. Further, the process through which this relationship unfolds on a day‐to‐day basis has yet to be mapped. Method We conducted a 10‐day daily diary study in a sample of 66 college students that incorporated objective measurements of physical activity and sleep to address these research gaps. Results We found that higher levels of daily moderate‐to‐vigorous physical activity were associated with leisure‐time psychological detachment from daily school demands, which in turn related to longer duration sleep that diminished next‐morning depletion. Discussion We discuss how our findings advance a dynamic perspective of the intersection of physical activity and recovery from day‐to‐day that can be applied outside of working populations.

More depleted, speak up more? A daily examination of the benefit and cost of depletion for voice behavior and voice endorsement

“…Scholars have long recognized that both depletion and voice behavior could be conceptualized as within‐person phenomena that fluctuate daily (Liu et al, 2017). For example, research on depletion has demonstrated that depletion varies between days (Li et al, 2019; Wehrt et al, 2020) as a result of a variety of factors, including sleep (Barnes et al, 2011), late‐night smartphone use (Lanaj et al, 2014), aversive morning commutes (Gerpott et al, 2021), morning routine disruption (McClean et al, 2021), childcare‐related demands (Dettmers et al, 2020), work‐related worry and planning (Casper & Sonnentag, 2020), and physical activity during the previous day (Rost et al, 2021). Likewise, voice research shows that employees may speak up with new ideas or suggestions (i.e., daily promotive voice) and/or express issues, concerns, or problems (i.e., daily prohibitive voice) more on some days than on others (Li et al, 2019; Lin & Johnson, 2015; Liu et al, 2017; Welsh et al, in press).…”

Predictors and outcomes of nursing students' engagement trajectories at the beginning of their program

“…In failing to properly stop thinking about their studies, these students often create more work for themselves (Sonnentag & Fritz, 2015), thus increasing their risk of exhaustion and making it harder for them to remain engaged in their studies (Bakker et al, 2014). Supporting these theoretical assertions, research has shown that demands are associated with multiple detrimental outcomes across multiple life areas, including lower levels of engagement in one's education (Rost et al, 2021;Salmela-Aro et al, 2022).…”

Do behavioural intentions matter? A diary study on work-related ICT-use after work hours

“…Employees who plan to engage in WICT may therefore benefit from taking additional measures or apply specific strategies that may limit the negative impact of their WICT. Employees could for instance consciously plan some quality time with the family (Brumley et al, 2021) and/or a physical or social activity (e.g., Rost et al, 2021) in addition to their intended WICT although, of course, more research is needed in this respect. More generally, employees may benefit from limiting their WICT across multiple days since this contributes to higher between-person differences in work-to-home conflict and psychological detachment.…”