The effect of physical activity on subjective well-being: the case for exercise

This study draws on 13 waves (2004-2016) of the Swiss Household Panel and examines the causal effect of physical activity on the three main components of subjective well-being (i.e., life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect) while controlling for a wide set of potential socio-economic, demographic, health, relational, and environmental confounders. Furthermore, to extend the current literature in the field, this longitudinal study assesses the effect of the frequency of physical activity, measured as the number of days performed per week, on subjective well-being. Based on the available literature, which suggests that underlying processes between exercise and the different components of subjective well-being may be gender-specific, analyses were stratified by gender. The results indicate that the prevalence of physical activity influences the various components of subjective-well-being differently and reveal gender-specific patterns: in fact, an incremental increase of exercise leads to significantly better ratings on life satisfaction and energy and optimism for men and only on energy and optimism for women.