What is subjective well-being and how does it change

The covid-19 pandemic introduced a number of new behaviors into daily routines, such as physical distancing, the use of masks, and hand disinfection. Meanwhile, many old behaviors, such as attending events, eating out, and meeting friends, have been suspended.

However, an old behavior that has persisted and possibly amplified by COVID-19, is settled and it is not surprising to see why.

Whether one sits during transportation, work, viewing time or even meals, daily environments and activities are almost exclusively suitable for prolonged sitting.

Thus, sedentary behaviors, such as sitting, represent the majority of the day for many people.

The current daily sedentary time is likely to be even longer than before the pandemic, due to home stay orders, limitations on business and leisure facilities and increased health concerns.

This situation is a problem because excessive chronic levels of sedentary lifestyle have been linked to an increased risk of diabetes, heart disease, mortality and even some cancers.

However, for many people, their own judgments and feelings about their quality of life (also known as subjective well-being) may be more important and relevant to health decision-making and behavior than the possibility of developing chronic diseases.

Subjective well-being includes one’s own assessment of one’s quality of life.

It includes concepts such as affection (positive and negative feelings) and satisfaction with life.

Interestingly, these assessments may conflict with physical health outcomes.

For example, a person may have diabetes, but still report high subjective well-being, while someone without physical health problems may report poor subjective well-being.

This is important because it means that the way a person feels about their own health does not always align with what their body can demonstrate. Therefore, the assessment of subjective well-being is vital to paint a holistic picture of health.

Relatively little research has examined the relationship between sedentary behaviors and subjective well-being.

Exploring this relationship is important because different contexts in which it is locatedA sitting – how to socialize or spend time versus A screen – can generate different feelings or judgments of subjective well-being, in contrast to the relationships between physical health and sedentary behavior, which tend to be more consistent.

While health psychologists have focused on physical activity and sedentary behavior, we reviewed the scientific literature describing the relationships between measures of sedentary behaviors – such as physical inactivity and screen time – and subjective well-being measured by affect, life satisfaction, and well subjective – being in general.

Our analysis highlights three main findings. First, sedentary behavior, physical inactivity, and examination time demonstrated weak but statistically significant correlations with subjective well-being.

In other words, those they said sitting more often and spending longer periods without physical activity they reported less positive affect, a greater negative effect and less satisfaction with life than those who sat less and moved more.

We also found that this relationship was more evident in studies that compared very sedentary people with those with more active lifestyles.

Our second main finding concerns the context of sedentary behavior.

While many studies have examined sedentary behavior in general and physical inactivity, other investigations have looked at specific contexts in which time is spent and their relationship to subjective well-being.

These studies revealed that different contexts of sedentary behavior have unique relationships with subjective well-being.

For example, shielding time has been consistently and negatively associated with subjective well-being.

However, contexts such as socializing, playing an instrument, and actual reading demonstrated positive associations with subjective well-being.

These results differ from traditional research on health-related sedentary behavior, in which all sedentary behaviors are considered harmful.

Our review suggests that some types of sedentary behavior may be beneficial to quality of life.

Rather, not all contexts in which they sit are the same in terms of subjective well-being.

Therefore, when people strive to reduce their stay time, they need to consider not only how much to reduce, but what kind of sedentary time to reduce.

The third main finding concerns the general meeting and self-reported levels of sedentary behavior.

Most studies found a weak and statistically significant association between longer overall sedentary time and lower subjective well-being.

However, in studies in which participants were asked to compare their sedentary behavior with the amount of time they normally spend sitting, those who perceived themselves as more sedentary than usual reported well-being. significantly weaker subjective.

These findings suggest that the time one spends sitting in general may not be as important in itself as the comparison between sitting time and the usual level of sedentary lifestyle.

This means that anyone, regardless of their normal time or physical activity, can enjoy a shorter stay.

Covid-19 continues to influence daily life and routines. Even when businesses and gyms finally reopen and we feel more comfortable meeting other people and finally no longer wearing masks. we will almost certainly continue To sit down and stand will continue to change form how we feel.

Although we may not be able to eliminate all the time spent sitting, we can all be aware of how much we can reduce it and where we can reduce it to be healthier and feel better.

* Wuyou Sui is a postdoctoral researcher in the Laboratory of Behavioral Medicine, School of Exercise Sciences, Victoria University, Canada

* Harry Prapavessis is Professor of Kinesiology at Western University, Canada.

* This article was originally published in English on The Conversation and you can read it Here.