Bidirectional relationship of stress and affect with physical activity and healthy eating

Abstract

Objectives Physical activity and healthy eating seem to be protective against experiencing stress and negative affect as well as increase positive affect. At the same time, previous studies showed that people reduce salutogenic behaviours such as physical activity and healthy eating in the face of stress and negative affect while increasing such behaviours in the context of positive affect. Due to daily fluctuations of these behaviours, the present study examined these relationships in daily life using ecological momentary assessment (EMA). Design and methods Fifty‐one university students responded to six daily prompts during 7 days via smartphone‐based EMA. Items examined stress, emotional experience, physical activity duration, and healthy eating. Results Higher stress and negative affect, as well as lower positive affect, were related to a reduction in subsequent physical activity. Higher physical activity levels, in turn, were associated with less subsequent stress and negative affect, as well as more positive affect. No such effects for stress and affect on healthy eating or vice versa were found. Conclusions Engaging in physical activity is related to better mood and less stress/negative affect over the next several hours in daily life. Prevention efforts therefore may benefit by focusing on promoting physical activity, particularly when stress/negative affect is high to ‘break the cycle’ of inactivity, stress, and negative affect. Potential effects of healthy eating might be more subtle and characterized by interindividual differences or state effects. What is already known on this subject? Physical activity can reduce stress as well as negative emotions and can enhance positive emotions. People tend to eat less healthy food during stressful times, and healthy eating can increase general health. Physical activity and healthy eating have been mostly assessed separately and through retrospective methods. What does this study add? This is an EMA study investigating bidirectional effects of stress, emotions, and salutogenic behaviour. After physical activity, people felt less stressed/negative and more positive; feeling better and less stressed resulted in more physical activity. Healthy eating was not associated with stress or emotion level and vice versa.

Are Psychological Distress and Resilience Associated with Dietary Intake Among Australian University Students?

“…However, there is now more evidence emerging from cohort and intervention studies, and the overall evidence supports that a link exists [50,51]. In terms of the direction of the relationship between diet and mental health, this is a complex and likely bi-directional relationship [52]. There are indications for a healthy diet contributing to improved mental health.…”

“…Conversely, there are indications that dietary choices are influenced by mental health status. For example, studies have shown that individuals often make less healthy dietary choices during periods of stress or to alleviate feelings of stress [52]. The relationship between diet and mental health is complex with many more factors at play and requires further investigation among a range of population groups, including university students.…”

Emotional eating in healthy individuals and patients with an eating disorder: evidence from psychometric, experimental and naturalistic studies

“…Whereas trait emotional eating status did not explain unhealthy snacking, self-reported habitual snacking and dietary restraint did explain unhealthy snacking. Various other studies showed that negative affect did not relate to subsequent unhealthy eating (70) , snack intake (25) or subclinical pathological eating behaviour such as eating large amounts of food (71) , or even related to decreased subsequent energy consumption (72) in healthy individuals.…”

Mutual Interactions among Exercise, Sport Supplements and Microbiota

“…On the whole, the results of the relatively few animal and human studies suggest that the use of probiotics might be beneficial to mood, particularly in individuals with a history of mood disorders. In a different direction, there are also studies showing a correlation between physical activity and stress levels, with physical activity generally promoting beneficial effects on mood and affective state [180,181]. From a biochemical perspective, a positive correlation between physical exercise and the levels of tryptophan was described by Gostner et al [182]: The authors suggested that physical exercise allows for increased levels of tryptophan which-once taken-up by the brain-may boost the synthesis of serotonin, subsequently leading to an increase in mood state.…”