The Power of Friendship: How Sports and Exercise Boost Your Mood

Sports and physical activities are not just about getting fit. They also play a big role in how happy we feel. This is because they help us build strong friendships and connections, which are key to our happiness. Researchers looked into this idea by checking out 475 studies. They found that most of the studies, about 70. 8%, showed that having good friendships and connections in sports and exercise makes us feel happier. This is what we call hedonic well-being, or simply, feeling good. But, not all studies agreed. Some, about 16. 7%, found no direct link between friendships and happiness in sports. A few, about 12. 5%, had mixed results. This shows that the link between friendships and happiness in sports is not always clear. Researchers also found that while everyone agrees on how to measure happiness, they don't agree on how to measure friendships in sports. This is a problem because it makes it hard to compare results from different studies. So, what does this all mean? It means that sports and exercise can make us happier, but we need to be careful about how we measure friendships in sports. We also need to think about if there are any downsides to having too many friendships in sports. Future research should look into these questions. They should also think about how to measure friendships in sports in a way that everyone agrees on. This will help us understand the link between friendships and happiness in sports better. It's also important to remember that happiness is not just about feeling good. It's also about having a sense of purpose and meaning in life. So, while sports and exercise can make us feel happier, they should not be the only thing we rely on for happiness.