Objectively measured daily physical activity and postural changes as related to positive and negative affect using ambulatory monitoring assessments

Objective: To determine whether objectively measured daily physical activity and posture of sitting, standing, and sit-to-stand transitions, are associated with daily assessments of affect Methods: Participants (n=51, 49% female) wore ActivPal accelerometers for 24 hours/day for seven consecutive days. Time spent sitting, standing and being physically active and sit-to-stand transitions were derived for each day. Participants also completed a mood inventory each evening. Multilevel models examined within- and between-person associations of daily physical activity with positive and negative affect, adjusting for age, sex, BMI, education and sleep duration. Results: Within-person associations showed that a one hour increase in daily physical activity was associated with a decrease in negative affect over the same day (B = -0.11 95% Confidence Interval [CI], -0.21 to -0.01). Between-person associations indicated a borderline significant association between higher average daily physical activity levels and higher positive affect (B = 1.85 95% CI, -0.25 to 3.94). There were no between or within person associations between sitting, standing and sit-to-stand transitions with affect. Conclusion: Promoting physical activity may be a potential intervention strategy to acutely supress negative affective states.