Physical activity and negative affective reactivity in daily life
Open accessAbstract
OBJECTIVE: The results from experimental studies indicate that physically active individuals remain calmer and report less anxiety after the induction of a standardized stressor. The current study extends this research to real life, and examines whether daily physical activity attenuates negative affect that occurs in response to naturally occurring daily stressors. METHOD: The current study used data from the second wave of the National Study of Daily Experiences, a sub-study of the second wave of the Midlife in the United States Study (MIDUS-II) of 2,022 individuals aged 33-84 questioned nightly for eight consecutive days about their general affect and affective responses to stressful events and their engagement in physical activity. RESULTS: Results indicated that while negative affect is significantly elevated on days with stressful events compared to days free of events in all individuals, these effects are attenuated in those who remain physically active when compared to those who were underactive. This was also true for any day participants were physically active. Importantly, negative affect in response to any specific stressor was reduced the closer in time that the stressor occurred to the bout of exercise in underactive participants, while, in active participants, negative affect in response to any stressor remained low throughout the entire day that participants reported that they were active. CONCLUSION: Given the significant mental and physical health implications of elevated affective reactivity observed in previous studies, the current study sheds further light on the importance of remaining physically active in times of stress. (PsycINFO Database Record
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Acute vigorous exercise can buffer the cortisol response to a stressor up to 45 min following the bout, a time frame similar to those found in daily diary studies.
“this study showed that acute vigorous exercise can buffer the cortisol response to a stressor up to 45 min following the bout, a time frame similar to those found in daily diary studies (Puterman et al., 2017).”
From The effects of exercise intensity on the cortisol response to a subsequent acute psychosocial stressor. (2021) · cites this paper as Puterman et al., 2017
The Results (Hypothesis 3; page unavailable) link the timing of an activity bout to negative affect after daily stressors, which supports the broad idea that activity may buffer stress reactivity. The paper does not report a cortisol response, specify vigorous exercise or establish a 45-minute effect; its Discussion also says the observational study cannot determine whether exercise mitigated the stress response in real time. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredLong-term exercise mitigates psychological and physiological responses to stressful events, both in the lab and everyday life.
“Like social support (Hostinar and Gunnar, 2015), longterm exercise has stood out as a compelling health behavior that mitigates psychological and physiological responses to stressful events, both in the lab and everyday life (Basso and Suzuki, 2017;Puterman et al., 2017).”
From The effects of exercise intensity on the cortisol response to a subsequent acute psychosocial stressor. (2021) · cites this paper as Puterman et al., 2017
The Abstract reports lower negative affect after daily stressors among physically active participants, and the Literature Review describes calmer psychological responses to laboratory stressors. The Discussion also reports a separate exercise intervention with a physiological measure during exam week. But this paper's own findings are observational and measure affect, not physiological stress responses; they do not establish that long-term exercise causes mitigation across both laboratory and everyday settings. (LLM, conf=0.86)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredA bout of exercise on any day can dampen the affective response to stressors, perhaps protecting from stress related depression and disease.
“A bout of exercise on any day can dampen the affective response to stressors (Puterman et al., 2017), perhaps protecting from stress related depression and disease (Piazza et al., 2013; Charles et al., 2013).”
From More than a feeling: A unified view of stress measurement for population science (2018) · cites this paper as Puterman et al., 2017
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More than a feeling: A unified view of stress measurement for population science
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“A bout of exercise on any day can dampen the affective response to stressors (Puterman et al., 2017), perhaps protecting from stress related depression and disease (Piazza et al.”
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- Authors
- Puterman, E., Weiss, J., Beauchamp, M. R., Mogle, J., & Almeida, D. M.
- Affiliations
- University of British Columbia (CA)
- University of Pennsylvania (US)
- Pennsylvania State University (US)
- Venue
- Health Psychology
- Published
- 2017-12
- Volume
- 36
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- 1186-1194
- ISSN
- 0278-6133 (ISSN-L)
- 1930-7810
- PMC
- PMC5709165
- OpenAlex
- W2763331897
- Cited by
- 65
- References
- 47
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 4
- FWCI
- 2.23
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Health Psychology (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Canada Research Chairs program
- National Institutes of Health (R00 HL 109247, NIH T32 HD007242)
- National Institute on Aging (P01-AG020166 and R01-AG019239)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Physical Activity and Health
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Mental Health Research Topics
- Keywords
- physical activity, negative affect, emotional reactivity, daily hassles, stress response, anxiety, middle-aged adults, Midlife in the United States study
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Emotions, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Stress, Psychological, Exercise
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