How optimism and physical activity interplay to promote happiness

Fortier, Michelle; Morgan, Tamara

doi:10.1007/s12144-020-01294-y

Cited by 9 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 87 publications

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“…Similarly, researchers found that among older people who exercised and had no underlying diseases, there was less reported depression (27). The literature and our current findings suggest that physical activity is integral in achieving and maintaining happiness and physical health among elderly people (28). Furthermore, the findings suggest that physical activity impacts important components of happiness, including greater job success, work satisfaction, social interactions, improvements in physical health, and self-confidence (29).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 70%

The Role of Spirituality and Social Support in Iranian Elderly Happiness: A Cross-sectional Study

Ezati,

Hosseinikoukamari,

Karimy

et al. 2023

J Educ Community Health

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Background: Spiritual well-being and social support are important factors in reducing loneliness and depression, improving the quality of life, and successful aging in elderly people. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between spiritual well-being, social support, and happiness among elderly people. Methods: This cross-sectional research was performed on 434 elderly people recruited from the health centers of Saveh University of Medical Sciences in Iran. Eligible participants who matched the selection criteria were selected through a multi-stage random sampling method. Socio-demographic information, the Spiritual Well-Being Scale, social support, and the Oxford Happiness Scale were used as tools for data collection. Finally, all data were analyzed by SPSS, and a multiple linear regression analysis was employed to determine factors associated with happiness. Results: The mean scores of happiness, spiritual well-being, and social support were 64.0±13.2, 96.4±18.6, and 42.8±10.9, respectively. Overall, 211 (48.6%) elderly people had high levels of spiritual well-being. The findings indicated that 43% (R2=0.43) of the variance of change in happiness could be attributed to spiritual health, social support, and socio-demographic variables, including membership in non-governmental organizations, age, underlying disease status, marital status, and physical activity. Conclusion: Spiritual well-being and social support play an important role in elderly happiness. The results of the current study might be considered a basis for planning health promotion programs among the elderly. It is recommended that authorities assist in meeting the social and spiritual needs of the elderly to increase their overall happiness.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 70%

The Role of Spirituality and Social Support in Iranian Elderly Happiness: A Cross-sectional Study

Ezati,

Hosseinikoukamari,

Karimy

et al. 2023

J Educ Community Health

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“…Physical activity has beneficial effects on attentional control and psychological health ( Plante and Rodin, 1990 ; Winneke et al, 2012 ; Fortier and Morgan, 2021 ), and has been shown to be associated closely with mind-wandering and flow. Current spontaneous thoughts have been demonstrated to be significantly associated with moderate-to-vigorous physical activity ( Fanning et al, 2016 ) while physical activity has been shown to influence the ability to exert flexible cognitive control, which is closely related to the mind-wandering ( Buckley et al, 2014 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impacts of mind-wandering on flow: Examining the critical role of physical activity and mindfulness

et al. 2022

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BackgroundIndividuals with mind-wandering experience their attention decoupling from their main task at hand while others with flow experience fully engage in their task with the optimum experience. There seems to be a negative relationship between mind-wandering and flow. However, it remains unclear to what extent mind-wandering exerts an impact on flow. And it is also elusive whether physical activity and mindfulness, which are as important factors that affected individuals’ attentional control and psychological health, are beneficial in explaining the association between mind-wandering and flow. The current study investigated the relationship between mind-wandering and flow, and the potential mediation effects of physical activity and mindfulness in this association.MethodsA cross-sectional exploratory study design, including multiple scales such as the Mind-Wandering Questionnaire (MWQ), the International Physical Activity Questionnaire Short Form (IPAQ), Mindfulness Attention and Awareness Scale (MAAS), and the Short Dispositional Flow Scale (S-DFS) was applied. Descriptive statistics and bivariate correlation coefficients were applied in the analysis of these data. A multiple mediation model was used to examine the relationships between mind-wandering, flow, physical activity, and mindfulness.ResultsMind-wandering was inversely associated with physical activity, mindfulness and flow, respectively; and flow was positively related to physical activity and mindfulness, respectively. Moreover, multiple mediation results demonstrated that physical activity and mindfulness, respectively, mediated the relationship between mind-wandering and flow.ConclusionThese findings are helpful to understand how our minds attend to the present moment, and the crucial roles of physical activity and mindfulness in the association between mind-wandering and flow. An implication of these is the possibility that the effective strategies aimed at enhancing both the levels of physical activity and mindfulness are needed to reduce the negative impact of mind-wandering on flow.

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“…It is well established that physical activity is positively related to various measures of wellbeing in older people (Bae et al, 2017;Dolan et al, 2014;Fortier & Morgan, 2021;Rasciute & Downward, 2010;Zhang & Chen, 2019). Participation in social activities has also consistently been shown to be positively related to older people's life satisfaction (Adams et al, 2011;Lam & Garcia, 2019;Michèle et al, 2019;Ryu & Heo, 2018) and psychological wellbeing (Shari an & Grühn, 2019), which aligns with evidence that good social relationships in old age are better for health (Musich et al, 2018;Tkatch et al, 2017), and that leisure activities can help mediate the association between social relationships and health (Chang et al, 2014).…”

Section: Leisure Activities and Subjective Wellbeing Among Older Peoplementioning

confidence: 64%

Life satisfaction, worthwhileness of life and leisure activities among older people: assessing the mediating effect of self-reported health limitations

Hancock¹,

Sherar²,

Downward³

2021

Preprint

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What makes life worthwhile is an under-researched dimension of subjective wellbeing (SWB) but important for older people. Leisure participation is positively related to SWB, but SWB reduces with poor health, and health deteriorates with age. Drawing on pooled cross-sectional Taking Part Surveydata on almost 7,000 English adults aged 50+ from 2016/17-2018/19, we investigated relationships between different leisure activities and life satisfaction and worthwhileness. The analyses further explored the mediating effects of limiting long-standing illness and/or disability. Before accounting for health limitations, participating in exercise-related physical activity (i.e., sport and exercise) and a greater number of different leisure activities were positively associated with both SWB dimensions. Passive mental activities (e.g., TV-watching) were negatively associated with SWB. Other physical activities (i.e., activities of daily living, e.g., gardening, active travel); social activities; cultural activities (e.g., visiting museums, cinemas) and hobbies (e.g., handicrafts, music-making) were associated with worthwhileness. Using Structural Equation Modelling we showed the mediating effect of health limitations varied with SWB dimension and different leisure activities. Positive associations between social and culture/hobby activities and SWB were not mediated by poor health; neither was the negative association between passive mental activities and SWB. The positive association between exercise-related physical activity and SWB was mediated by health limitations more than other physical activities. Overall, poor health mediated the association between worthwhileness and leisure activities less than life satisfaction. Promoting a range of activities contributing to feelings of worthwhileness may provide a route to enhanced wellbeing, despite declining health among older people.

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How optimism and physical activity interplay to promote happiness

Cited by 9 publications

References 87 publications

The Role of Spirituality and Social Support in Iranian Elderly Happiness: A Cross-sectional Study

The Role of Spirituality and Social Support in Iranian Elderly Happiness: A Cross-sectional Study

The impacts of mind-wandering on flow: Examining the critical role of physical activity and mindfulness

Life satisfaction, worthwhileness of life and leisure activities among older people: assessing the mediating effect of self-reported health limitations

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