By Did you know that sport can bring us more well-being than money? This is confirmed by a study carried out by the Universities of Yale and Oxford. We tell you more about the subject!
Physical exercise and well-being: how are they related? Do you think that sport makes you happy? If you were asked right now, what do you think makes you happier, money or sport? How would you answer?
A study by Yale and Oxford Universities has attempted to shed light on this issue through a cross-sectional study with a sample of 1.2 million American participants. No more, no less.
Research shows that regular exercise has a positive effect , even more than a very advantageous economic position can do. Find out more about this interesting study!
Exercise makes us happier than money, study finds
Sport makes us happier than money , according to a study conducted by researchers from Yale and Oxford Universities and published in The Lancet Psychiatry . The study, which analysed the mental health of participants between 2011 and 2015, involved more than one million Americans.
Specifically, the aim was to analyse the relationship between mental health and physical exercise . In the study, participants reported how many times they had felt bad emotionally in the last month, whether due to stress , emotional problems, etc. And what did the researchers find?
People who exercised regularly had significantly fewer times of feeling unwell than people who did not exercise. In addition, these people felt happier than those who had higher incomes but did not exercise.
Another fact: according to the findings of the study, the level of happiness is not proportional to the amount of sport practiced , although this does influence our mental health in a positive way.
Happiness as a function of sport
The researchers also came to other conclusions: depending on the sport, the impact on mental health varies . Thus, in popular team sports , or where socialising is required, the impact is even greater.
Following team sports, other types of sports that produce the most well-being are cycling, aerobic activities and gym activities.
Income-based welfare
The researchers also compared the participants’ reported level of well-being based on their income . They came to the following conclusion: physically active people feel just as well as those who do not exercise, but earn $25,000 more per year (equivalent to 22,000 euros).
In other words, those who earn 1,800 euros more per month are just as happy, even if they don’t exercise. As we can see, the relationship between money, physical exercise and well-being is far from linear.
Physical exercise and well-being: the importance of moderate sport
Another conclusion reached by the researchers was the following: sport is beneficial for our mental health and offers us a good dose of happiness and well-being, but this has to be in moderation. Thus, excessive physical exercise would be counterproductive .
And this is confirmed by the findings: participants who exercised excessively (more than recommended) felt as unhappy as those who did not exercise. According to the study, the “ideal” for our mental health would be to exercise between 3 and 5 times a week (with sessions of between 30 and 60 minutes).
Along the same lines, we find another study , published in the scientific journal Current Biology in 2019 and led by Bastien Blain, which states that excessive physical exercise induces cognitive fatigue similar to that caused by excessive intellectual work.
Emotional benefits of physical exercise
We have seen how physical exercise and well-being are related, and the former can lead to the latter. But, specifically, how does sport benefit us on a mental or emotional level? Among the great benefits of practising sport for emotional health we find the following:
- Prevents and reduces anxiety and stress .
- Induces states of relaxation.
- It allows us to develop self-esteem through self-knowledge.
- Provides routine and organization.
- It helps us to work, indirectly, on cognitive skills such as attention or memory.
- It increases our discipline, allowing us to overcome challenges.
Don’t forget that when you play sports, you release endorphins , neurotransmitters, hormones and various chemical substances that induce a state of relaxation and pleasure.
This is why sport is so beneficial for preventing (and dealing with) states of anxiety and stress. It is also beneficial for combating apathetic states that are so typical of depression, since sport activates us on a physical and mental level.
Sport helps you disconnect
As we can see, physical exercise and well-being are two concepts that go hand in hand. Regardless of whether sport brings us more or less satisfaction or well-being than money, what is undeniable is that sport helps us to disconnect and take care of our physical and mental health.
So, if you feel anxious or overly stressed, or if you want to fight apathy, go ahead and exercise! You don’t need to adopt a very demanding routine; sometimes, to start, it’s enough to go for a brisk walk once a week and gradually increase your activity.
-Emil Zapotek-
“An athlete cannot run with money in his pockets. He must work with hope in his heart and dreams in his head.”