People tended to feel more energetic and positive in moments when they were more physically active than usual, according to an individual participant data meta-analysis in Nature Human Behaviour. The research, led by Johanna Rehder of the University of Salzburg, pooled 67 datasets from 14 countries covering 8,223 participants, who wore movement sensors and answered smartphone prompts about how they felt, producing more than 320,000 well-being ratings.
Activity was most strongly linked with feeling energized, followed by more positive feelings and pleasantness, while it showed no consistent link with negative feelings such as sadness or anxiety. People also tended to feel less calm when active. As PsyPost reported, physical activity here covers everyday movement such as walking, household tasks and commuting, not only workouts. The data were observational, so they cannot show that movement causes these changes, and the studies differed in devices and methods.