Exercise and eating fruits and vegetables can boost happiness, according to new research from the Universities of Kent and Reading.
According to a recent study, eating fruits and vegetables, exercising, and being active makes people happier, not the other way around. Women who ate more fruits and vegetables and males who exercised more reported feeling happier.
There is a positive correlation between lifestyle and life satisfaction, according to new research published in the Journal of Happiness Studies, even though the link between lifestyle and well-being has long been known and is frequently used in public health campaigns to promote healthier diets and exercise.
This study is the first of its kind to determine the cause, rather than just the correlation, between happiness, eating fruit and vegetables, and exercising. The study’s authors, Professor Uma Kambhampati of the University of Reading’s School of Economics, Dr. Adelina Gschwandtner of the University of Kent, Dr. Sarah Jewell, and Dr. Adelina Gschwandtner of the School of Economics at Kent, used an instrumental variable approach to filter out any relationship between lifestyle and happiness.
It demonstrated that people are happier when they eat fruit and vegetables and exercise rather than the other way around.
Dr. Gschwandtner said, “Behavioral nudges that help the planning self to reinforce long-term objectives are likely to be especially helpful in maintaining a healthy lifestyle. If a better lifestyle not only makes us healthier but also happier, then it is a clear win-win situation.”
Professor Kambhampati said, “There has been a bigger shift in recent years for healthier lifestyle choices. To establish that eating more fruit and vegetables and exercising can increase happiness as well as offer health benefits is a major development. This may also prove useful for policy campaigns around environment and sustainability.”
The results show that people’s capacity for self-control and the ability to postpone satisfaction greatly influence lifestyle choices, which in turn have a favourable impact on wellbeing. Men appear to exercise more, according to the findings, while women eat more fruits and vegetables.
These findings could have a big impact on public health policy because it is widely known that lifestyle diseases are a major source of illness and mortality worldwide and the UK has one of the highest obesity rates in Europe.
Parvathy Sukumaran 
