Investigating the Reciprocal Within- and Between-Person Association Between Daily Physical Activity and Affect

The purpose of this study was to investigate the bidirectional within- and between-person associations between daily physical activity (PA) and affect. Ninety-one overweight/obese adults wore an activPAL accelerometer for 21 days, completed morning and evening daily diaries about affect, and completed evening reports about recreational moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) and strength-training. Higher average self-reported MVPA was associated with lower average evening negative activated affect (b=-0.01). Higher average levels of morning positive activated (PR=1.08) and deactivated (PR=1.12) affect were associated with greater average self-reported MVPA. Higher morning negative activated affect (PR=0.87) was associated with less average self-reported MVPA. On days when participants experienced higher negative activated affect than usual, they had 35% lower odds of participating in self-reported strength-training (OR=0.65). The results support a cyclical relationship between affect and physical activity, more positive people participate in physical activity and more active people have lower average negative affect.