6.30.21
This is the fifth post of The Context a biweekly series of archival stories offering our readers a useful background to some of the most important subjects in the news today. We hope you enjoy it.
When studies describe the benefits of exercise, they often do so in negative terms. Physical activity makes men and women
less likely to develop depression and anxiety, for instance. The reverse is true too: people who feel depressed or anxious tend not to work out.
The New York Times highlights research focused on the positive emotions linked to exercise. Led by Ayse Yemiscigil, a postdoctoral student at Harvard’s Human Flourishing Program, the study describes the relationship between exercise and a sense of purpose. “Active people often talk about how exercise gives structure and meaning to their lives,” Yemiscigil told the
Our exercise habits may influence our sense of purpose in life and our sense of purpose may affect how much we exercise, according to an interesting new study of the reciprocal effects of feeling your life has meaning and being often in motion. The study, which involved more than 18,000 middle-aged and older men and women, found that those with the most stalwart sense of purpose at the start were the most likely to become
active over time, and vice versa.
The findings underscore how braided the relationship between physical activity and psychological well-being can be, and how the effects often run both ways.