Do all health enhancing behaviours promote wellbeing equally? An analysis of transient experiential wellbeing in the American Time Use Survey

BackgroundHealth-enhancing behaviours have been linked to long-term subjective wellbeing. However, less research has examined experiential wellbeing (how people feel in the moment). By directly comparing experiential wellbeing during different health-enhancing behaviours, we could learn which dimensions of behaviours are most important for health.MethodsWe included 11,144 participants who completed the American Time Use Survey Wellbeing Module, engaged in a health-enhancing behaviour on the previous day, and reported levels of positive (happiness) and negative (sadness, stress, tiredness, pain) affect during this behaviour. Multilevel linear regression models tested how affect differed during eight health-enhancing behaviours. We also tested whether associations differed according to the social context, location, and meaningfulness of each activity.ResultsSocial engagement was most common, followed by reading and physical activity. Attending sports events was least common. The most consistent associations were for pain and tiredness, which were higher during physical activity than other health-enhancing behaviours. Happiness was highest when doing receptive arts and lowest when volunteering and reading. Results for sadness and stress were more variable. Activities that were done with others, outside the home, and that were very meaningful were associated with most positive and less negative affect.ConclusionsOur findings demonstrate that health-enhancing behaviours can evoke complex emotional reactions, with positive and negative affect experienced simultaneously. Currently, recommendations around health-enhancing leisure activities in Western countries focus on physical activity, but our findings support calls for recommendations to include a wider range of activities and guidance on the context in which people engage.