The Within-Subject Association of Physical Behavior and Affective Well-Being in Everyday Life: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

Background: The interplay of physical activity (PA) with affective well-being (AWB) is highly critical to both health behaviors and health outcomes. Current prominent theories presume AWB to be crucial for PA maintenance, and PA is evidenced to foster mental health. However, thus far, PA-AWB associations have mainly been researched in laboratory settings and with interventional designs, but the everyday life perspective had not been focused on, mostly due to technological limitations. In the course of digitization, the number of studies using device-based methods to research the within-subject association of physical activity and affective well-being (PA-AWB) under ecological valid conditions increased rapidly, but a recent comprehensive systematic review of evidence across populations, age groups, and distinct AWB components remained inconclusive.

Objectives: Therefore, we aimed to firstly review daily-life studies that assessed intensive longitudinal device-based (e.g., electronic smartphone diaries and accelerometry) and real-time PA-AWB data, secondly to develop and apply a quality assessment tool applicable to those studies, and thirdly to discuss findings and draw implications for research and practice.

Methods: To this end, the literature was searched in three databases (Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus) up to November 2022. The systematic review followed the PRISMA guidelines and had been pre-registered (PROSPERO id: CRD42021277327). A modified quality assessment tool was developed to illustrate the risk of bias of included studies.

Results: The review of findings showed that, in general, already short PA bouts in everyday life, which clearly differ from structured exercise sessions, are positively associated with AWB. In particular, feelings of energy relate to incidental (non-exercise and unstructured) activity, and PA-AWB associations depend on population characteristics. The quality assessment revealed overall moderate study quality; however, the methods applied were largely heterogeneous between investigations. Overall, the reviewed evidence on PA-AWB associations in everyday life is ambiguous; for example, no clear patterns of directions and strengths of PA-AWB relationships depending on PA and AWB components (such as intensity, emotions, affect, mood) emerged.

Conclusions: The reviewed evidence can fuel discussions on whether the World Health Organization's notion "every move counts" may be extended to everyday life AWB. Concurrently, the PA-AWB relationship findings endorse prominent theories highlighting the critical role of AWB in everyday PA engagement and maintenance. However, the review also clearly highlights the need to advance and harmonize methodological approaches for more fine-grained investigations on which specific PA/AWB characteristics, contextual factors, and biological determinants underly PA-AWB associations in everyday life. This will enable the field to tackle pressing challenges such as the issue of causality of PA-AWB associations, which will help to shape and refine existing theories to ultimately predict and improve health behavior, thereby feeding into precision medicine approaches.

Fig. 1

PRISMA flow diagram of the systematic search process [46]. AWB affective well-being, PB physical behavior

Fig. 2

Quality assessment (QA) description and number of studies fulfilling the criteria. The modified QA is displayed with 16 different categories. The numbers of studies that report information on the respective category are listed on the right. AA ambulatory assessment, EMA ecological momentary assessment, AWB affective well-being, ACC accelerometry

Fig. 3

Graphical overview across the multilayered study findings reviewed. The direction of the arrows indicates the nature of the association (i.e., PA and SB being associated with subsequent affective well-being vs. affective well-being being associated with subsequent PA and SB). The color composition of the arrows represents the direction and statistical significance of the association in relation to the number of effects reviewed in percentage. That is, blue represents the relative number of effects revealing positive significant associations in % [positive beta coefficient and P value < 0.05]; orange indicates the relative number of effects showing negative significant associations [negative beta coefficient and P value < 0.05]; and gray indicates the relative number of effects receiving non-significant associations [P value ≥ 0.05]. For example, 45% of the effects in studies reviewed that investigated the association of PA with subsequent positive affect received a positive significant result (i.e., PA increased subsequent positive affect), 10% of the effects showed a significant negative result (i.e., PA decreased subsequent positive affect), and 45% of the effects showed a null finding (PA was not associated with subsequent positive affect); see the very top left arrow. AWB affective well-being, LPA light physical activity, MVPA moderate to vigorous physical activity, PA physical activity, PB physical behavior, SB sedentary behavior

Fig. 4

Associations of real-life PB and a positive affect and b negative affect. The x-axes depict the aggregated PB time frame in relation to the e-diary prompt, i.e., the time frame (in minutes) before vs. after the e-diary prompt across which PB had been aggregated (timing-order). The y-axes depict the PB categories applied, i.e., SB, PA parameterized in a metric unit (e.g., steps, counts, movement acceleration intensity), LPA, and MVPA. The pie charts contain three pieces of information. First, their total size represents the number of investigated relationships on the respective PB-AWB feature-combinations comprising PB and AWB quantifications, their direction, order, and timing of investigated relationships. Second, the color composition represents the investigated relationship directions, i.e., blue colors equal positive significant associations (positive beta coefficient and P value < 0.05), and orange colors show negative significant associations (negative beta coefficient and P value < 0.05) relative to all effects that investigated the respective feature combinations. Third, non-significant investigated relationships are colored grey (P value ≥ 0.05). *Due to the novel statistical approach (for details see Sect. 4.5), this study could not be reviewed within the framework that we custom-developed to the methods applied by most of the AA studies in the PB-AWB field. AWB affective well-being, LPA light physical activity, MVPA moderate to vigorous physical activity, PA physical activity, PB physical behavior, SB sedentary behavior

Fig. 5

Associations of real-life PB and a valence, b energetic arousal, and c calmness. The x-axes depict the aggregated PB time frame in relation to the e-diary prompt, i.e., the time frame (in [minutes]) before vs. after the e-diary prompt across which PB had been aggregated (timing-order). The y-axes depict the PB categories applied, i.e., SB, PA parameterized in a metric unit (e.g., steps, counts, movement acceleration intensity), LPA, and MVPA. The pie charts contain three pieces of information. First, their total size represents the number of investigated relationships on the respective PB-AWB feature-combinations comprising PB and AWB quantifications, their direction, order, and timing of investigated relationships. Second, the color composition represents the investigated relationship directions, i.e., blue colors equal positive significant associations (positive beta coefficient and P value < 0.05), and orange colors show negative significant associations (negative beta coefficient and P value < 0.05) relative to all studies that investigated the respective feature combinations. Third, non-significant investigated relationships are colored grey (P value ≥ 0.05). AWB affective well-being, LPA light physical activity, MVPA moderate to vigorous physical activity, PA physical activity, PB physical behavior, SB sedentary behavior

Fig. 6

Associations of real-life PB and a energy and b fatigue/tiredness. The x-axes depict the aggregated PB time frame in relation to the e-diary prompt, i.e., the time frame (in minutes) before vs. after the e-diary prompt across which PB had been aggregated (timing-order). The y-axes depict the PB categories applied, i.e., SB, PA parameterized in a metric unit (e.g., steps, counts, movement acceleration intensity), LPA, and MVPA. The pie charts contain three pieces of information. First, their total size represents the number of investigated relationships on the respective PB-AWB feature-combinations comprising PB and AWB quantifications, their direction, order, and timing of investigated relationships. Second, the color composition represents the investigated relationship directions, i.e., blue colors equal positive significant associations (positive beta coefficient and P value < 0.05), and orange colors show negative significant associations (negative beta coefficient and P value < 0.05) relative to all studies that investigated the respective feature combinations. Third, non-significant investigated relationships are colored grey (P value ≥ 0.05). AWB affective well-being, LPA light physical activity, MVPA moderate to vigorous physical activity, PA physical activity, PB physical behavior, SB sedentary behavior